A lot of sales training misunderstands how salespeople learn. Most learning in sales is through peer learning in specific contexts, and the effects are cumulative because modeling behavior is a big driver of how salespeople develop. Reps improve by seeing how their peers perform key tasks. They pick up lessons about how to pitch, answer objections, use marketing collateral and other aspects of selling for that product in that market, while gaining confidence in their abilities.
This is very different from the experience in most training seminars, especially if the instructor lacks the credibility of successful peers. Some companies are augmenting current training practices and, as by-products, improving hiring, onboarding, best-practice dissemination and performance management as well as selling skills.
Blended Learning
Sharon Ruddock, global vice president of digital commerce at SAP, has moved to an approach that includes virtual support and classroom-style exercises. “We use interactive video, face-to-face meetings and experiential learning as part of a larger learning arc,” Ruddock says. “Instead of a single face-to-face where reps dive in for days and are done, having a digital component allows for reinforcement and peer mentoring. With these methods, the lines between formal and informal learning are blurring.”
For example, comparing a rep’s performance on digital learning assignments with their deal history helps to indicate why and how a rep would benefit from coaching about objection handling or how to conduct executive-level conversations. Managers can then coach to specific topics and skill sets, and reinforce the learning with relevant peer-created resources from the field.
Ruddock notes that reps want information when and where they need it. “When a rep is heading to a meeting and trying to hone in on a customer’s industry- and role-specific pain points, we want to make sure they can quickly access that information via video on their mobile device.” There is a more general point at stake here. In business, what’s the value of relevant information that arrives too late to be used? The answer is less than zero, because resources were expended in finding and delivering that information. Ruddock notes that just-in-time content has to be short, two- to five-minutes per video, tailored to a specific question, and tagged correctly using keywords so targeted answers can be located.
A next step is to use these materials in onboarding reps. SAP Academy, the company’s program for recent college graduates, introduces reps to core sales concepts and employs continuous learning and reinforcement through classes, digital learning, and on-the-job exercises. As part of the program, reps record and share videos of themselves delivering product pitches. SAP reps and Academy students have access to the growing library of peer-generated video content, which contains examples of how reps handle specific situations. As Ruddock notes, “We’ve found people are more open to learning from peers who have been-there-done-that. It’s one of our most powerful learning tools. We’ve had over 100K views and 10K videos created by our more than 8,000 salespeople worldwide.”
Sales training at SAP reflects what research shows about the reality of adult learning: focusing on behaviors as well as concepts, the importance of periodic reinforcements, and micro-learning lessons that are easy to revisit via flash drills, best-practice videos, and coaching exercises.
Faster and Personalized Learning
Citizens Bank has cut its training time in half. The retail division’s “Monday Morning Mission” meetings and Friday wrap-up calls are now accompanied by short videos that communicate a behavior or best practice and weekly action items with branch managers. Kimberly Dee, executive vice president and customer transformation director, notes, “Our meetings have gone from about 45 to 20 minutes, and we’re getting more information across. Video is more engaging than the email recaps previously shared post-meeting, and opens lines of communication: managers respond within the video platform with questions or clarifications easier and sooner.”
Moreover, not everyone learns the same way and reps have different starting points depending upon their experience and customers. But the path of least resistance for most training departments is a standardized approach pitched at the lowest common denominator. Some people are visual learners, some respond to audio narrative, and others need to see it in writing. Dee emphasizes that “by augmenting our content with video, we’re able to connect the dots for many people in a way we couldn’t before. 52% of our employees are millennials. Multi-day training classes are disappearing, because it’s inefficient and it’s not the way those people learn.”
Access to Collaborative Knowledge
There are broader lessons in these companies’ practices. Relevant videos from peers turn advice into a narrative that sticks and is easily refreshed when outdated. Further, the benefits go beyond sales. Once established, these processes help to unlock knowledge that in most firms is trapped in inboxes or tedious PowerPoint presentations.
Second, SAP and Citizens operate in selling environments where consistent messaging is required, but so is adaptation to diverse customers and usage contexts. These cross-cutting demands for adaptation with consistency are now common and reflect a growing need in firms to better connect the decision makers with those seeking a decision. They help to improve sales training and organizational agility. Customers now have easy access to online comparisons of products and prices, and expect your company to present them with a coherent face. Use tools that make your organization easier to navigate and your people better and more-willing navigators.
Frank Cespedes teaches at Harvard Business School and is the author most recently of “Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing” (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021).
Yuchun Lee is CEO and co-founder of Allego, a software company focusing on transforming corporate learning and development.
Mark Magnacca is the president and co-founder of Allego, a global sales learning and enablement platform, and is the author of “So What? How To Communicate What Really Matters to Your Audience.”
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