In a recent Aberdeen group study, it was revealed that the average salesperson at a Best of Class sales force spends 4.33 hours per month in some form training. The study looked at 678 companies and put them into 3 categories; Best of Class (Top 20%), Average (Middle 50%) and Laggards (Lower 30%). On average Best of Class sales forces had 77% of salespeople meeting or exceeding budget vs. 38% of the Average and 26% of the Laggards. And when it comes to overall sales, Best of Class companies increased sales by 14.8% while Average increased by 2% and Laggards had a 11.7% decrease.
And when it comes to sales management, the Best of Class managers spend 2.54 hours per month in some form of training.
How much time do you think the average PGA level golfer spends on practice and self development? I don’t know the number, but I bet that it is a hell of a lot more than 4.33 hours per month. How much time does the weekend hacker spend practicing? That’s the difference between Best of Class and Laggards.
Of course it may appear a bit self serving that I am writing about the importance of training, and it probably is. But forget about OUR training, the point is that you better have your people in some kind of self development training. Do you want to have a bunch of Average salespeople? Or worse yet, Laggards?
How much time is sales management in your organization spending on development of the sales force?
- Jody Williamson
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