Table of Contents

Introduction 3
The Big Six 4
Pitfall 1 Focusing on the What vs. the Why 5
Pitfall 2 Investing More in What Happens IN the Workshop
than AFTER the Workshop 9
Pitfall 3 Measuring Post Training Behaviors Rather Than Outcomes 11
Pitfall 4 Believing its a Front Line Problem 13
Pitfall 5 Throwing in Everything but the Kitchen Sink 14
Pitfall 6 Implementing a Sales Program 15
Assess Your Program 16
About The Author 17
About ASLAN/Contact Information 17

Why Do Most Training Initiatives Fail?

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Introduction
What can be more daunting than launching a company-wide initiative where the people who judge
its success talk for a living? And to add a few more bricks to your shoulders, the time and
resources required to pull it off are extensive. Bottom line it better work. Bad news most
sales training initiatives fail to deliver. At a minimum, the ROI is fuzzy, bolstered by only a few
anecdotal stories strategically captured to make everyone FEEL a bit better about making the
investment.

So why do most training initiatives It can be helpful in evaluating potential

fall short?
This paper is designed to be a simple checklist
of the top six pitfalls to be avoided (all learned
from implementing hundreds of sales training
initiatives over the last 20 years). Its not a
comprehensive list of how tos but rather the
most common mistakes organizations make
when rolling out a training program.
outside training partners or in ensuring that
your internal program is a success. Or
maybe youre an experienced learning
executive who just needs a little support in
convincing your client to embrace your
recommended path. Regardless of the need,
our hope is that the information provided will
ensure you successfully transform your
organization.

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The Big Six:
[6] pitfalls of a sales training initiative
Here is a list of the big six. We will provide a brief overview of each and then offer a simple template
you can use to expose any gaps in your development plan.

[1] Focusing on the WHAT vs. the WHY

[2] Investing more on what happens IN the workshop than AFTER the workshop
[3] Measuring the post-training BEHAVIORS and not customer OUTCOMES
[4] Believing its a front line problem
[5] Throwing everything in but the the kitchen sink
[6] Implementing a sales program

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Pitfall 1
Focusing on the WHAT vs. the WHY
All too often when developing a program, we overlook the fact that if the participants dont believe
they need to change, then training, regardless of the level of quality, is irrelevant. The first hurdle
of any change initiative, whether in a one-to-one coaching session or in a classroom, is ensuring
there is actually a desire to change and grow. With so much to learn, most programs are designed
to jump into the learning without investing the appropriate time to ensure participants:
(a) understand that change is needed, and
(b) understand that its in their best interest to change

Often those who are behind the change initiative (very often senior leadership) are so connected to
the problem that they rush, or skip altogether, the steps required to get the troops on board. if
you are concerned that engaging the learning will be a challenge, consider the four Ps to ensuring
participants will embrace the need to change.

THE FOUR Ps:

1. Personal goals
2. Principles
3. Problem-Based Learning
4. People

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The Four Ps
[1] PERSONAL GOALS
People change for two simple reasons. One -
because they believe its in their best interest
to change and two because they believe that
change is possible. We will focus on the latter
when we dive into Pitfall 5. As for the first, it is
critical to position any sales training initiative
as a resource to help reps ensure they reach
THEIR personal goals and not a workshop
designed to fix them for the sole benefit of the
company with the underlying message, if you
learned how to sell, we would hit OUR number.
Its critical that the tone of the program is not
about fixing them but rather providing a
resource for them. And the best way to
accomplish this is to start with whats on THEIR
whiteboard - not whats on yours. Now thats a
pretty easy concept to grasp but if you have a
large sales force, it sounds like a daunting
challenge. The key? Delegate it to the front line
managers.
If possible, have the managers align the sales
training to the reps personal goals prior to the
workshop. Gaining this knowledge (their
personal goals) is critical to the managers
ability to lead most effectively and should
already be part of their approach to motivating
their team. If involving the front line leadership
is just not an option, then allocating time at the
beginning of each core component of the
program to ensure participants understand the
personal payoff for change is a must a non-
negotiable.
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[1]
Another benefit to this approach is that
you will expose those who resist change
simple because they have nothing on their
whiteboard - those participants that are
desperately holding on to the status quo.
By doing so, youll help avoid future
arguments about the new way to sell. If
they do arise, you can quickly defuse them
by returning to your Other-centered
objective We all agreed earlier in this
section that if you were able to_______
it would help you . In my
experience, if you successfully establish
an Other-centered objective for change,
the unconverted resistors will quickly
determine that its better to remain silent
than expose their emotional barriers to
change.
If you plan to conduct pre-training
assessments (always recommended), be
careful of the message you deliver.
Assessments are often designed to
expose gaps vs. uncover the challenges
reps face every day. Its a subtle
difference but one that greatly shapes the
underlying message on the one hand -
we are here to serve you or on the other
- we are here to fix you. By focusing on
their challenges, you will expose the sales
gaps while ensuring the appropriate
message is delivered We just want to
make sure we understand the challenges
you face every day. If this is your
approach, participants end up feeling
heard and see this as an initiative for
them.
6
The Four Ps
[2] PRINCIPLES
The second P for ensuring you address the
WHY to change, is identifying the principles
that support every pillar of the program.
There are fundamental laws at work for every
effective approach to selling. Whether you are
trying to improve response rates to emails or
creating receptivity to a presentation, there are
principles that, if understood, remove the
mystery as to why one approach may fail and
others succeed. and what makes principles
so powerful in learning, is that we intuitively
realize the truth.
We are all customers. We have all been on the
receiving end of a message designed to
influence our behavior. We know what works. So
when our behavior is distilled down into a
principle, the complicated gets simple and we
break out of our memorized and stagnant way of
doing things. once understood, these principles
provide a framework to guide hundreds of
decisions. So how does this help participants
embrace the need to change?
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[2]
If you define and gain agreement to the
guiding principles for each core
competency or methodology to be learned,
you ensure that the recommended
approach will be embraced. By effectively
establishing the first building block for all
concepts to rest on, you establish a sound
platform for learning. every time you offer
an alternative approach to selling or you
see participants return to bad habits
during and exercise, youre able to return
to the established principle. The principle
that was embraced 30 minutes prior
becomes your strongest advocate for
change.
As you think about the content in your
program, have the fundamental principles
been defined for:
Building the relationship?
The sales process?
How you engage a new prospect?
Discovering needs?
Building value or advancing the
opportunity?
Negotiating and responding to
resistance?
7
The Four Ps
[3] PROBLEM-BASED
LEARNING
[3]
Once the principle has been embraced, the next
step is to describe situations in which
the desired outcome was not achieved and the
principle was ignored (the problem). Buy-in
grows as participants roll up their sleeves
to address the problem and share their
assessments of the recommended approach.
The student becomes the teacher and, if the
principle is sound and applied to the situation,
success is guaranteed. now ownership of the
learning objective is all but certain.
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The Four Ps
[4] PEOPLE [4]
Lastly, the person chosen to deliver the
program is as important, and in some
cases more important, than the content
itself.
The recommended standard is to choose a
facilitator the participants would want to
emulate. When they throw out situations
or challenges they face (sometimes the
greatest learning opportunities), will the
facilitator be able to respond in way that
quickly builds credibility with the
audience? Can they go off script and apply
the model to any situation, based on real
life experiences? If not, buy in diminishes
and the learning objectives are
jeopardized.
This also holds true for the development
of exercises, examples, and training
simulations. If left up to an instructional
designer without street experience,
participants will immediately sniff that
something is off: Thats not how we
would say it! It would never happen that
way! Customers dont say that! This
situation isnt relevant to what I face
every day! As soon as participants decide
the program was built by a person who
never carried a bag, the engagement
level plummets.
8
Pitfall 2
Investing more in what happens IN the workshop
than AFTER the workshop
Everyone understands that training is a process and not an event its almost clich. But because
most either dont understand the process or lack the buy-in to implement the process, the truth
doesnt get applied.

So what is the process? What do most organizations miss in creating their sustainment plan? They
lack a plan to ensure that managers are equipped to drive change a process that holds sales
leaders accountable to develop the competency to lead and coach and the discipline to follow the
process. At ASLAN, we address this through certification.

MANAGER CERTIFICATION
Significant change happens one-to-one, not in a
workshop. Therefore MORE investment is
required in developing front line managers than
in developing reps, but all too often the reverse
is true. To ensure managers are equipped to
drive change, a certification process should be
created that holds managers accountable to:
1. Understand the terms and language of the
program. They may understand the concepts
but if they fail to use the exact terminology,
confusion sets in and reinforcement is lost.
2. Role-model the core competencies. Its not
enough that they understand the terms,
they must be able to role-model the basic
skills and strategies taught in the program.
3. Accurately diagnose the root cause of the
performance gap and prescribe the most
effective development plan to bridge the gap.
4. Consistently coach their reps not just talk
to their reps about performance or provide tips
about how to improve but coach observing
reps performance in the field or on the phone.
This is THE biggest barrier in sustaining a
sales training initiative. If managers dont free
up the bandwidth to consistently observe a
rep on a call and create a development plan,
training becomes little more than a
motivational session, with a few additional
tips added to the reps bag of tricks.

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WHAT ABOUT THE REPS
Similar to the manager, reps need accountability
to kick start the learning. If the program was
successful, participants will leave the
classroom with a strong desire to apply what
they learned but change is hard and they need
a boost to get over the hump. The key is to
break the program down into a 90 day, self-
development plan focusing on one major
concept at a time. Very shortly after the
workshop, ask the reps for a commitment to the
plan. Then create a mechanism for reporting
their progress to both the rep and management.

Our recommendation is NOT to make the

application punitive. If you do, the program will
be seen as the enemy and not as a resource.
Results are always the goal, the program and
reinforcement tools are just tools to accomplish
what THEY want to accomplish. (In the case of
a rep that has been consistently below quota or
new to the company, we would make adherence
mandatory).

Results are always the goal, the program and

reinforcement tools are just tools to
accomplish what THEY want to accomplish.

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Pitfall 3
Measuring post-training BEHAVIORS rather than
OUTCOMES
We all know that measuring the results of training is critical to long term sustainment of the
program. But what do you measure? Most would say sales results or revenue. While obviously
important, there are often too many market conditions to accurately associate the effects of
training on the overall revenue number. If, however, you can link the core outcomes or milestones in
the sales process those that always predict success, then you can remove the variables and
confidently assess whether your program is actually moving the dial.

The key is to zero in on the 5 to 8 simple
outcomes the program (how we define
competencies) was designed to achieve. Most
sales organizations get overwhelmed or
distracted by 50+ sales behaviors the
technique vs. the desired result. The key is to
define the competencies by CUSTOMER
outcomes and NOT by what the rep attempted
to do (e.g., questions asked, communicated
prescribed benefits, etc.).
Lets consider a golf analogy. a golfers success
is based on a score (similar to a reps quota) but
how do you measure the competencies golfers
must possess that ultimately will determine
that score? Some would say look at their short
game thats a key competency or look at
their tee shot thats a key competency. And
theyd be right and thats like saying look at
their prospecting thats a key sales
competency. Also right. But again, how do you
measure that competency?
The key is to break sales down into
competencies that can be measured by a pre-
defined outcome. Lets go back to the golf
analogy. What if we broke down the short
game into three competencies: chipping, sand
shots, and putting? Now it becomes a bit easier
to define and measure competencies. We can
easily measure putting by number of putts per
round or sand shots by how close the ball
consistently lands near the hole. It really
DOESNT matter how the golfer holds the putter
or how by the book their stance is this is
key. If they consistently have a low number of
putts, theres no need to get bogged down in all
the elements that go into successful putting.
Success is determined by the outcome (i.e. the
ball consistently goes in the cup within an
acceptable number of putts).

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Lets translate that into the sales environment.
Consider measuring a reps ability to effectively
communicate the relevant Other-centered
benefits of their solution to the customer, the
step of the sales process we refer to as Build
Value. Should you first focus on the reps ability
to communicate benefits, identify barriers or
handle objections? No. Successfully Building
Value should be measured simply by whether the
CUSTOMER embraced the recommendation
and/or positively changed their opinion of the
product/service/company and was willing to
advance. If the rep achieved this outcome,
they were successful. If they achieve this
outcome consistently, they are competent at
building value and the training was successful.
The why or how really doesnt matter. the program, focus on the outcomes of the key
If they failed to achieve the desired outcome,
then the coaching begins. The manager zeroes
in on the 5 or 6 key behaviors that contribute to
success in Building Value (e.g., communicating
benefits vs. features, handling objections,
delivery) and diagnoses which behavior is
causing the rep to miss the mark. Here the
manager refers to the resources offered in their
leadership training, to create a development
plan.
To measure the effectiveness of the program, focus
on the outcomes of the key competencies the
program was designed to develop.
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Beyond creating a simple way to measure the
success of the program, this approach to
assessing performance offers two major
benefits to the manager. First, the manager is
able to quickly narrow the focus to the root
cause of the problem (vs. wasting time
measuring 50+ sales behaviors on every call).
Secondly, managers will eliminate arguments
with reps who are achieving results but dont do
it the company way.
If they can consistently hit the ball 300 yards
down the middle of the fairway with their putter,
leave them alone.
In summary, to measure the effectiveness of
competencies the program was designed to
develop. Results will be easy to measure and
reps will embrace the assessment. Every golfer
who wants to lower their score is motivated to
learn their statistics on driving the ball, greens
in regulation, etc. Additionally, senior leadership
can easily connect the development of these
competencies to overall results, ensuring the
support and investment continues.
12
Pitfall 4
Believing its a front line problem

It makes perfect sense to focus the initiative on those who interact with the customer and their
managers but without senior leadership buy-in, the program often gets derailed. To ensure the
transformation occurs, you need the involvement of the mid-level and top level leaders in order to:

Remove barriers to coaching. If front line
managers truly dont have the bandwidth to
coach, senior leaders need to honestly assess
what needs to be removed from their plate.
Embrace the sales philosophy and
methodology being promoted in training. For
example, if you are teaching a more
consultative, long-term approach to building
business but the senior leaders focus on a
short term transactional approach to selling,
guess what the reps and front line managers
will do? Go right back to pushing their favorite
product. The key is alignment and without it,
the most powerful will always dictate what
actually happens in the field.
The key is to ensure key leaders are invited in
early in the development process. Stand your
ground if you encounter push back. if they dont
have the time to invest in the development of
the program, we promise you they wont have
time to lead the development process once the
program is launched.
Secondly, be armed with case studies that
demonstrate the ROI for doing it right. Every
investment requires a return and there are
numerous examples of best-in-class
organizations that see the payoff for making
the commitment.

Support the long term investment in the

process. As you know, your goal is not to put
on a workshop but to institutionalize a new
approach to selling. That requires a top down
commitment of resources to the
transformation process.

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Pitfall 5
Throwing in everything but the kitchen sink

When making the huge investment to bring the sales force together for a training event, the
temptation is great to cram everything into one program and to apply the training to every possible
product, solution, and service. Dont fall for that temptation. Self-efficacy (ones belief in their ability
to reach a goal) is a critical component to learning. When you overwhelm participants with too much
information, they quickly make the decision that while change may be beneficial, its just not
possible. The key to training is not to raise the bar but to lower it, ensuring reps quickly develop
momentum in a new direction.

Here are a couple of recommendations to help ensure you calibrate the correct amount of content to
your audience:

Apply training to just one solution, product
set, or customer type. for example, avoid
building your discovery models and exercises
around uncovering the needs for every
solution. Instead, apply to just one specific
solution. This is not the time to educate the
reps on all the solutions your organization
offers. The focus is to develop the skill. if you
try to accomplish both, you will accomplish
neither. Build the skill models around one
solution throughout the program. if they
develop the new skill by applying to just one
solution, they will quickly see and be able to
apply it to their remaining solutions. After the
initial training, you can develop your
reinforcement sessions applying the same
skill model to the remaining solutions. If your
sales organization is more transactional in
nature and doesnt sell solutions, then focus
on one customer type and the relevant
products associated with that unique profile.
Measure the percentage of time spent in
interactive exercises. If application of the
concepts taught in the program is under 50%,
you have too much content. The actual
percentage should be determined by the
availability of the managers to reinforce the
program. The less management support
offered, the higher the percentage should be
spent on application. The more you can lean
on the managers to coach and develop their
team, the less dependent you are on the
training event to develop new skills.
Regardless, the time spent on application
should never drop below 50%.

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Pitfall 6
Implementing a sales program
Generic sales development programs always miss the mark. Would you train an ice skater the same
as a hockey player? Of course not. The same is true in sales. An inside account manager selling in
the SMB space is vastly different than an account manager working with channel partners who sell
to complex, enterprise accounts. Account managers are not biz dev people and biz dev reps are
vastly different than an outbound telesales rep. In reality there are 11 unique sales roles and each
requires a different set of skills and training. If you fail to address the unique challenges of each
role, reps hyper focus on the 10 to 20% that isnt relevant to their role.

Therefore, if you are investing in outside
curriculum, ensure that it was created for the
role you have chosen to develop. If the partner
you are considering hasnt identified the unique
roles and built their library of content
accordingly, raise the red flag. More
investigating is required.
Secondly, all the conceptual models must be
linked to the specific challenges faced by the
participant. Time must be invested in creating
the exercises, examples, and case studies,
specific to their role. To be blunt, generic
content, even if its uniquely created for the role,
simply doesnt work. As stated earlier, change is
hard. Most reps will not put in the additional
effort to link the concepts to their world. The
application must be built in from the start or the
participants will walk out complaining, They
just didnt understand my world and the
investment will be lost.
Finally, generic coaching and leadership models
that are often deployed to develop the front line
managers while effective at teaching
leadership principles and a conversational guide
for conducting a coaching session, will fail to
provide the tactical tools needed to address
the root cause of the performance gap. Sticking
with the golf analogy, if they learned how to
have a collaborative discussion with the golfer
about how to improve their game but have no
idea how to fix their slice, the coaching session
may be well received but the player will still
walk away with the same gap.
Again the core problem is in the linkage. An
effective coaching program will move beyond
the conceptual model and provide leaders with
the insight to diagnose the root cause of the
problem and then accurately prescribe an
effective developmental plan. Since most
leadership programs were created for every
possible role, from engineers to accountants,
this critical step of the program is missing.
Unless the content was specifically built for
equipping sales leaders, the linkage is candidly
just not possible. and without this critical
element of the program, managers will either
revert back to show and tell (give me the club
Ill show you how to hit the ball) or just bail on
coaching all together. and both paths lead to
pretty much the same results.

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Assess Your Program
BEST PRACTICE ASSESSMENT (1-5)
1 (Missed that one) 5 (Totally nailed it)
Ensuring Participants Developed the content or plan to connect all core elements of the program to the
Embrace the Need to participants personal goals.
Change
Identified and defined the irrefutable principles that serve as the foundation for all the
philosophies, models, and concepts included in the program.

Subject matter experts (SMEs) are heavily involved in the customization of the program.

Former or current sales professionals are chosen to deliver the program.

Sustainment Plan Managers have the bandwidth to Coach (minimum of one coaching session per rep per
month).
A plan is in place to certify (i.e., pass or fail) that managers can role-model the core
competencies, accurately assess the barriers to performance, and are following the
prescribe development plan.

A 90 day, self development plan has been engineered for the participants.
Measuring Success All relevant competencies are identified and defined by customer outcomes.

The behaviors (skills and knowledge) associated with each competency are cataloged.

Developmental exercises and activities are available for each of the identified
behaviors - ensuring the coach can easily create a plan to shore up the performance gap.

Mechanism is created to measure and track the reps ability to achieve these competencies.

Sr. Leadership Buy-in If necessary, barriers to coaching have been removed.

Willing to invest the necessary resources in the process to drive change.

Understand and embrace the new sales philosophy/process.

Amount of Content A detailed curriculum outline has been created and ensures a minimum of 50% of the
workshop is allocated to applying the concepts taught in the program.
Percentage of time allocated for exercises is consistent with the support participants
will receive from their manager (i.e., less content for low level of leadership and
reinforcement support).
Relevancy to Each Reps role is mapped to one of the 11 roles & content has been customized/designed
Unique Sales Role specifically for the identified sales role.
All exercises, examples, and simulations have been created for the reps unique role
ensuring all generic content has been removed.
Tools have been developed for leaders to accurately diagnose the performance gap and
prescribe the appropriate developmental activity.

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About The Author
Tom Stanfill
FOUNDING PARTNER AND CEO

Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Tom Stanfill, has focused his 17 years of experience
consulting and developing training programs for inside and field sales organizations. He is widely
recognized as a thought leader in the field of account management, acquisition and growth. Tom
has published numerous articles on the subject of selling and is a frequent speaker at the most
prestigious industry shows.

About ASLAN Training

Since 1996, in over 25 countries, ASLAN has focused on accelerating change within many of the
worlds largest sales organizations. Beyond the typical workshop, our solutions and expertise are
focused on the four critical areas needed to ensure sustainable change:

TACTICS establishing the methods (i.e., processes), message and metrics

that are consistent with high performing sales organizations.

REP DEVELOPMENT Customized skill development programs for each of the 11 unique
sales roles.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Providing the tools and programs to ensure sales leaders
transition from just measuring performance to truly driving change.

ROAD MAP TO TRANSFORMATION includes leadership certification, rep and manager

development resources, & sales dashboard to track and measure the three areas that
drive results.

375 Northridge Rd
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