What Should Your Sales Training Cost in Terms of Money, Time and Results?

The goal to increase sales is within the majority of all strategic plans. Sales skill sets need to keep pace with this high-tech and global economy. This is probably one reason why sales education and training are so prevalent from the Internet to business journals.

If you as a small business owner or corporate executive are looking fcr some sales education and training, there are 3 simple factors that need to be considered. These are money, time and results. Each factor needs to be reviewed separately and collectively to determine the best sales training solution to increase your sales. Remember: Any decision needs to be aligned to the short and long term goals within your strategic plan.

1. Money: Much of the sales training ranges from the half day (4 hours), $50 seminars to the off site 3 day (18 hours) $1,500 workshops to the onsite 5 day (30 hour) or 10 weekly 3 hour sessions for $2,000.
2. Time: Is the time invested enough for the results desired? As a former corporate salesperson and now a business coach, I am continually surprised that management believes a 4 hour seminar to an 18 3 day workshop will change 10 to 30 years of previous experiences.
3. Results: What results do you desire from the sales education and training? This is the desired end and should be weighted more than the other 2 factors.

For example, local half day or full day workshops provide an opportunity to get to know the sales training provider unless it is a national seminar series. The lower investments of $50 to $200 allow the participants to determine if this sales training information and approach works for them and for their businesses. However, this solution may not be viable if you are seeking sustainable results or have other issues such as multiple locations in different states.

Off site 3 day workshops may provide a lot of content and may be delivered by exceptional trainers or facilitators. However, is the goal content or retention? Research suggests multiple exposures to the same learning objective increase cognitive retention up to at least 60%. One time exposure (traditional sales training) to that same learning objective reduces long term retention to just 2% after 16 days.

Weekly 2 hour to 3 hour long training sessions delivered over the course of 10 to 12 weeks (non-traditional training) strengthen cognitive retention and performance improvement by allowing opportunities for practice between sessions. These sessions should also be aligned to your strategic plan and should include ongoing reinforcement such as executive coaching.

Only after reviewing all factors separately and together can you as a business owner, entrepreneur or corporate executive truly determine the best cost. Remember the best cost should deliver the highest return on investment and be sustainable so that you will not have to experience those frequent and expensive re-dos that drain your K.A.S.H. Box for Sustainable Change.