How can you get real results from your sales training programs? With accountability, sustainability, and scalability. At the recent Association for Accounting Marketing’s Summit, I shared key strategies on building these elements into your sales training to ensure your sales program delivers results and continues to be funded. Stay tuned for my three-part series starting below with defining and improving accountability.
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It’s a question I get asked often by firm partners or CEOs.
“How do we create sales training programs that deliver real results, and continue to be funded?”
The answer is that no amount of great sales training content can overcome a sales training program that lacks accountability, sustainability, and scalability.
I recently spoke at the Association for Accounting Marketing’s Summit, on these three elements that every sales training program must have to get and keep support from senior leadership. There are some simple but effective ways to build these elements into your sales training,
I’m breaking my talk down into a series of three articles. This first article shares strategies for defining and improving accountability in your sales training programs.
How Can You Develop Sales Training Programs that Are Accountable?
1. Create a definition of accountability for your sales training program that’s agreed upon and revisited regularly.
Accountabilities are the quantitative and qualitative metrics you commit to measuring and reporting through the life of the program. They might change depending on firm or company growth strategy and market dynamics. An important piece to creating accountability is that what you measure doesn’t become outdated or stagnant.
What are some questions you can ask to guide you in setting accountabilities for sales training?
- What are our major growth areas for the next one-three years?
- What are the indicators that will tell us we’re making progress toward those growth areas?
- Can this accountability be measured quantitatively? Is it more qualitative in nature?
- Who will own this accountability within sales enablement or practice growth?
- Which senior leader will sponsor this accountability?
- What remedies are available to us when accountabilities aren’t being met?
2. Determine which accountabilities matter most right now, and which ones are fit for the future.
Not all accountabilities are created equally, and I see many scenarios where there are too many accountabilities being tracked. When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.
A good balance to that challenge is to create no more than 3-5 near-term accountabilities for your sales training program. They can be a mix of quantitative and qualitative. Managers and individuals can then create their own accountabilities that roll up those within your sales training program.
What is an example of an accountability resulting from your sales training program?
Let’s say that one accountability for your sales training program is contribution to opportunity growth in a certain sector. That growth can be quantitatively measured by the number and value of opportunities created in the sector.
At a management level, that accountability can be measured with their sales territory or client base. At the individual level, that accountability can be measured within their sales pipeline as well as opportunities that have been won. Each individual, manager, and leader are accountable for the result, which can be tracked through your CRM.
3. Be clear and candid about the barriers that will prevent success for your sales training program.
It takes confidence and leadership support to call out what will prevent your sales training program from being successful and funded for the next three-five years. The more candid you are, the more trust you can build. The more trust you build, the more you will have senior leaders on your side.
What are some questions to help you find and eliminate barriers for your sales training program?
- What has prevented us from realizing the level of success we want to achieve? (You’re looking for things like behaviors, structures, and priorities.)
- Are those barriers still with our firm today?
- On a scale of 1-5, how critical is this barrier to our success?
- What is our level of willingness to work through the barriers we’ve identified?
4. Communicate regularly with stakeholders and senior leadership.
This is a common best practice you’ll see shared about sales training programs. But what doesn’t get talked about is the business acumen required of you to ensure you’re sharing the appropriate information and telling the story of your sales training program to senior leadership. Business acumen means that the focus remains on business metrics and contribution to firm culture, and not training metrics.
When communicating to your senior leadership, these are a few elements to confirm you have:
- An agreed-to cadence. In the beginning stages this might be monthly, that then moves to quarterly. This will depend on the level of financial investment and urgency of your alignment to growth goals.
- The level of detail your leaders wish to receive, along with what deliverables will help them best digest the information.
- Agreed-to business metrics and ownership, along with evidence that metrics are being met or not met.
- Key successes and key needs for improvement. With key needs for improvement, at least one potential solution to discuss.
Accountability in Your Sales Training Programs Can Be Simple
In fact, the simpler, the better. I recommend you begin with no more than three to five. These can be adjusted during your sales training program design, your initial pilot phase, and then your firm-wide launch.
When your initial accountabilities are clear, measurable, and agreed-to, you’ll put yourself in the best possible position to get leadership support and long-term funding.
Don’t let your sales training investment go to waste.
Transform your team’s performance and secure long-term funding for your programs with our proven accountability-focused approach. Take the first step towards measurable results and sustained growth. Let’s talk about how we can create a sales training program to reach your growth goals. Contact me.
Frequently Asked Questions about Accountability in Sales Training Programs
How do we create sales training programs that deliver real results, and continue to be funded?
Sales training programs must have accountability, sustainability, and scalability.
How can we ensure accountability in our sales training programs?
You can ensure accountability in sales programs by defining clear accountabilities with agreed-upon metrics, both quantitative and qualitative, and regularly revisit them to ensure they remain relevant and effective.
What should we do if our sales training program is not meeting its accountabilities?
If your sales program is not meeting its accountabilities, identify and address barriers to success, and develop remedies for when accountabilities aren’t being met, fostering a culture of candid communication and trust.
How do we communicate the progress of our sales training programs to senior leadership?
To communicate the progress of your sales training programs to senior leadership, establish a regular communication cadence, focus on business metrics and contributions to firm culture, and provide key successes and areas for improvement with potential solutions.