3 Strategies to Enable Sales With Learning and Development
This week our partners at Findcourses.com are sharing how learning and development is crucial to building a winning sales team.
By Max Maccarone on December 21, 2020
Our friends at Findcourses.com shared how learning and development are crucial to building a winning sales team with us. We hope you enjoy this article from guest author Max Maccarone, in which he explains how to support sales enablement with L&D.
Let’s jump in –
Did you know?Only 10% of companies are giving sales training precedence in their Learning and Development strategies.
Is this a key oversight for enabling sales? Recent research points to yes.
Where Learning and Development fits into Sales Enablement
It’s no trade secret that Learning and Development (L&D) training is a key way for firms to keep their sales teams well-informed and at the cutting-edge of business practices.
But according to findcourses.com’s 2019 L&D report, sales skills training is frequently overlooked as an L&D area that can lead to successful sales enablement.
A majority 57% of respondents reported that Leadership and Management as their number one training priority. However, sales were prioritized by only 10% of respondents as a prime training concern.
In the same report, direct links between increasing L&D budgets and generating more revenue growth proved true.
L&D is a central facet of ensuring your organization’s continued growth and success. But with the oversight in sales skills training, businesses are missing out on an opportunity to cement that success over time.
And of course, sales teams’ influence goes far beyond generating revenue. They can also impact brand recognition, brand reputation, and building long-term customer relationships.
In fact, 37% of companies see sales enablement as a top marketing priority. But without the right training, salespeople are hard-pressed to meet quota and contribute at their maximum potential.
A strategic increased investment in L&D can improve your organization’s sales enablement strategy. You can translate L&D into increased revenue, brand awareness, and overall sales improvements.
So here are the three key strategies to take into account:
1. Invest upfront to see past tomorrow
Markets today are developing too fast for one-day, surface-level sales training sessions to still be effective. L&D is a cost-based function and will prove its worth over the long term.
Without the right training, salespeople are hard-pressed to meet quota and contribute at their maximum potential.
Taking home three awards at the 2018 HR Distinction Awards, Director of Learning and Development at HomeServe Rebecca Edwards has seen first hand how only upfront investment in L&D will reveal its protracted potential.
Responding to findcourses.co.uk’s 2019 L&D report, Edwards explained that, “Even when the going gets tough, if you’re willing to invest in the right types of development, for the right people, you will get your return on investment in many ways.”
Upfront and long-term strategies will not only provide your organization with prolonged benefits, but foster a culture of learning and innovation to keep employees motivated and interested in seeking out professional development on their own.
Nonetheless, the right sales-training options might not be available to you in-house. Take the extra step of looking outside the walls of your organization to find the right sales training option for you.
Make sure to garner inspiration from others’ L&D techniques. And streamline the flow of innovative sales practices from the training room directly to market.
2. Tech-based innovation starts with training
But what kind of innovation will your upfront investment bring? During 2019, quality sales enablement means content, process, and technology. All of which can be built from the ground up with the right innovative L&D practices.
Findcourses.com’s report finds that companies with revenue growth are more than twice as likely to use innovative technology in their L&D offerings. For example, game-based learning or augmented reality are making their way on the scene.
One such technology, Virtual Reality (VR) has been a key tool to help L&D professionals put training into immediate practice. VR is an innovative way to concretize sales training content in real-time.
Danny Belch, Chief Strategy Officer at the VR training company STRIVR, gives trainees the necessary repetition to make training fundamentals an inherent part of their everyday work. He finds that “With VR, because of the on-demand nature, a real-life experience can be fired up with the click of a button … it’s not a role-play.”
The rapid-fire development of sales enablement processes and technologies is an ongoing endeavor. And sales training is developing right alongside it. Adaptability to today’s complex business market is a necessary function for successful growth.
3. Think agility to seal the deal
Technology continues to center itself in most industries’ business practices. But, fostering sales enablement and innovation can’t be achieved solely with technology.
As conversion rates are dependent on the personalization of content, the same principle should apply to your training content.
Anthony Sandonato, VP of Learning and Development at Wyndham Destinations is responsible for the L&D opportunities of over 25,000 employees in 110 countries. He sees success in L&D programs “built upon that flexible framework, and designed to adjust to continuous changes without compromising either the speed or quality.”
While technology can make training options more efficient, prioritizing agility over productivity gains will help you implement sales enablement solutions that are less process-based. You’ll solve problems faster to keep pace with the developments in your industry.
As conversion rates are dependent on the personalization of content, the same principle should apply to your training content. Personalization in L&D allows employees to internalize and relate to what they’re learning, which can facilitate the implementation of sales skills training fundamentals into their everyday work.
The bottom line
Overall, with an established culture of learning through upfront investment, innovative training techniques, and a personalized more agile approach to L&D, you can your sales training strategy for success. With these approaches you’ll create an environment where sales enablement thrives and your organization will reap the rewards.
Want to learn how modernize your B2B sales practice? Check out this webinar.
