It happened again…a meeting with a sales leadership team very focused on how their team performed. They wanted us to deliver training to better equip their sales team to move opportunities through the pipeline.

Sounds like something all sales leaders are concerned about, doesn’t it? It should be. Yet the difference for many of the underperforming companies I talk with is this: training is not always THE solution. It’s likely a part of the solution, but not the first part.

[Tweet “Sales training that sticks is supported by a well-defined sales process. “]

Yes, you read what I wrote correctly. Just because we support our clients with world-class, behavior-change training, doesn’t mean training is always the whole solution.

Without the process defined, or at best, a process followed for consistency and efficiency, training won’t work as well as it needs to.

Without the process and the sales leaders equipped to support a training initiative, which includes the dreaded word–coaching–training can’t work as well as it needs to.

Here’s the tricky part; it’s not just one process that needs to be defined. There are many processes that support the entire sales team’s activities, including roles of the leaders, reps, and the sales support people.

Processes for:

• Recruiting – ongoing recruitment efforts are necessary
• Hiring and Selection – doing this process well makes sales leaders jobs significantly easier
• Onboarding – helping new hires quickly ramp up to performance expectations
• Lead generation – a collaborative approach between marketing and sales
• Sales Engagement – the actual conversations and actions that move a prospect through your sales process and their buying process
• Customer Onboarding and Implementation – the after-the-sale processes that help customers get what they need and strengthens the relationship

What can you do? The next time you think or say, “We need to get our salespeople doing, or saying…,” first make sure what they should be doing is defined (process). Sales leaders can then align their activities (actions and skills) with corporate outcomes and strategies, communicate the expectations, and prepare to hold their people accountable.

Then start your training initiative and watch how effectively the training works. When people know what they should be doing and how to do it effectively and efficiently, your sales will soar.

[Tweet “When salesreps know what to do and how to do it effectively and efficiently, sales will soar.”]

Join the conversation: What do you think about the connection between needing to know what to do and how it’s done?

How do you strengthen this "Will" among your sales associates? How does the lack of drive impact your daily life? I discussed this and so much more on a recent virtual training event you can access below. It's valuable information for any business leader who needs to maximize performance of their people to grow their company.

Click here to access the replay.