Training and Coaching Are Not the Answer

All the sales training and coaching programs in the world will not help businesses grow, unless the business itself understands what constitutes an effective revenue growth model.

The behaviors and the skills necessary for effective revenue growth in a business are generally in the hands of the sales professional.  Most organizations rely on sales training and coaching to develop these skills for their team.  Many businesses believe that parading their team through a sales training program is going to help improve their performance.  Training alone is not the answer.  According to Paul McCord in his blog,  “training does not change the behavior, attitudes, or results of the vast majority of salespeople. To be effective, sales training requires that negative of ineffective behaviors be replaced with positive or effective behaviors.”

Unfortunately, effective coaching is not the answer either.  In one of  my previous blogs, I advocated for an effective coaching methodology to augment,  support, or even replace the training regimen.  I argued that participating in actual sales calls and observing sales behaviors in their actual environment provided a more effective development environment for the sales team.  McCord agrees with this also, saying that behavioral changes can only be implemented with the support and guidance of a coach actively encouraging those changes.

At the end of the day, neither will work effectively unless the organization itself understands and is committed to the effective and productive behaviors required to grow the business.  There is a sense that the sales team is responsible for sales.  Revenue growth is their problem.  And they are the only ones who need to know how to accomplish this effectively.  I disagree.

Growth is an organizational issue.  Effective revenue generating behaviors requires the full engagement of the entire business.  Too many sales managers, executives, owners, and other functional departmental heads have determined they are exempt from the developmental activities they put their salespeople through.  They are wrong!

Effectively applying all the requisite behaviors and skills that lead to great sales results requires the full participation and skills of your entire organization.  Without it, the message is lost, diluted, and unsustainable without the cultural influence of an entire organization embracing it.   Salespeople behave independently from the organization and selectively choose to embrace the coaching methodologies presented them not because they don’t get it, it is because they don’t have to.  No one else in their organization gets it either.

If you are looking to effectively develop your growth team, remember to find someone who can customize a program that reflects how you envision adding value to and how you desire to communicate with your customers.  Then, create a development program for your entire organization so that everyone engages in these behaviors in a productive and effective manner.