With Sales Rep Training, Start Small

You know the types of decisions. The decisions where you conduct endless hours of research, perform comparisons, and maybe even spend a few sleepless nights. The types of decisions that weigh on you to the point where you feel that if you make the wrong decision, it will be a mistake that costs time and money you can’t possibly get back.

The good news is, a decision about how and where to find sales rep training should not be one of these types of decisions.

Now don’t get us wrong. Choosing a company to administer sales rep training throughout your sales organization is a considerable task and shouldn’t be taken lightly, however, it comes down to just a handful of important things to measure when sizing up a sales training company. And one simple tip to keep in mind.

What should you look for in a sales training company?

The curriculum: What are the specific things your organization needs help with? What are your pain points? Simply find out if the company’s curriculum is a match. A company’s reputation doesn’t mean much if you don’t need what they’re offering.

Curriculum implementation: A step further than the curriculum itself is the way the curriculum is administered. What activities are used to teach key concepts? Are adult-learning best practices utilized? How is the trainer? Even the world’s best information is useless if it’s not presented in a way that’s relevant and memorable to the audience.

A cultural fit: Just like anyone with whom you choose to associate, a similar set of values should be important. With a sales training company, you’ll want to make sure their teachings follow the same guiding principles that your organization already adheres to. Making this assessment requires that you dig a little deeper because many companies can appear similarly positioned on the surface.

Here’s another tip: start small.

Perhaps the best thing you can do before committing to sales rep training across the entire sales organization, is to try the training on for size.

Some sales training companies offer public workshops in various cities around the United States. These public workshops are a wonderful opportunity to send a handful of people to see what a particular company has to offer.

This glimpse should provide all that your organization needs to know in terms of curriculum, teaching practices and activities, and cultural values. If you sense that any of these things does not align with what your organization needs, you’re essentially only out one day’s worth of time.

Find out if the sales training companies you’re considering offer this less daunting option before you go down a road that requires you to make a huge investment before you’re sure the product is best suited for your organization.