Top Sales Training Programs Today and How to Measure Them

Finding a sales rep who already has the appropriate sales training techniques has become something of a battle these days. That truth will always stand. 

And that does not even begin to touch on the complexities of sales rep and top talent recruitment for your business. You have a massive pool from which to choose your reps and sales managers. That pool runs the gambit, from low-level, low-quality reps to the best of the best in your industry. 

As you interview, some of those “best of the best” options soon turn into ill-advised prospective new hires. Maybe they do not have the best sales training programs or sales courses under their belt. Maybe they did not absorb a total understanding of their sales training topics. 

There are countless reasons why a sales rep may not have equipped themselves with the best natural sales skills for your business model. 

And you could be looking for a completely new sales training program for your team to revamp your selling efforts. That is often its own special brand of struggle, too. 

So what are you to do? How do you find the best sales training program for your organization’s needs? Let’s explore your options today. 

What Training is Required in Sales?

Have you ever been a sales rep yourself? You have certainly moved yourself up in the proverbial sales food chain, if so. 

And if so, you have also long ago come to the realization that there are not always a lot of requirements for sales reps’ professional training. Of course, this does not mean that they should not have some in their repertoire. But the fact is that you have to set the standard to show how much it matters in your organization. 

Let’s look at Indeed’s sales representative career advice to get a better grasp of what we mean. 

Formal education is not a technical requirement for sales reps. In general, all you need to start your rep career and succeed is a high school diploma. 

This makes sales an excellent opportunity when you do not have the means to access higher education. On a different side of the same coin, it means reps have to be responsible for their own success from the amount of work they put into their development. 

Here are some of the certifications that representatives can earn to stand out more in their industry: 

  • Certified Professional Sales Person (CPSP) – A six-week sales course, an exam, and continuing education credits every three years. 
  • Certified Inside Sales Professional (CISP) – Online sales training with 10 lessons and the final exam as a sales-call scenario. Sales reps have to recertify themselves every three years. 

But those are only two of the options. There are more specific SaaS sales training programs, B2B sales training lessons, and more. Otherwise, there are some skills that you want to look for in your reps, like: 

  • Customer service 
  • Communication 
  • Active listening 
  • Negotiation 
  • Math savvy  
  • Persistence 
  • Creative and analytical thinking 

Are Sales Courses Really Worth itAre Sales Courses Really Worth it?

When you ask yourself if investing in a sales training program is worth it, what are you really asking? 

You are asking if you will see a positive ROI from the program you select. And what that comes down to is whether you opt for a quality course, whether that is Sandler training or something more independent. 

But if you do, we can confidently answer that yes, a sales training program is “worth it.” 

Why? 

Let’s go over some clear-cut benefits of sales training. When you spend money on a “good” program for your specific organization, you will find that your team turns into better performers with more to offer your business. Here are some numbers for you, from Training Industry surveys on participants who were pleased with their selected programs: 

  • 54 percent average wins on forecast deals, compared to 44 percent from those who want and need better training courses. 
  • Those with the best sales training program said they had 5 percent fewer losses than lower-ranking program participants. 
  • Winning groups said they ended up with 20.5 percent “no decision” sales. Losing groups reported 26 percent “no decision” sales, for comparison. 

Here are some other advantages of the right sales training program for your business: 

  • Your sales department will end up closing a higher volume of sales for the highest-dollar value. A good course will teach you and your team sales training ideas and best practices for efficient and effective closing strategies. 
  • Top talent retention. Your team wants to feel like you invest in their success. If they do feel that way, they want to put their best foot forward to bring your company its own recipe for success. (I.e., more revenue for your business.) 
  • The appropriate goal-setting and forecasting resources. You want to be able to forecast your sales (long-term and short-term) to set realistic goals for your business. You need revenue to fund all your organizational activities, like marketing and advertising campaigns. That revenue comes from sales. A good program will give you the tools to forecast accurately every time. 

Which Companies Have the Best Sales Training Program?

Alright. Enough about the logistics. You know why you need to invest in the perfect sales training program for your sales team. Now, you need to know where to start looking. 

You have definitely heard about Sandler sales training, and maybe even Aslan’s programs too. But there are a few other training experts you might want to turn to when you are looking for solutions. 

Here are some of the reasons we selected these top five companies for your optimal sales training success. The following five have a(n): 

  • In-depth understanding of sales best practices and a commitment to bring your business that same understanding. 
  • Wide range of approaches to your training needs, with regard to the various learning styles of your team. 
  • Unique, one-of-a-kind teaching techniques. These companies stand out and hold their own amidst the other companies that offer competitive training programs in their respective markets. 
  • Loyal and satisfied customer base. Their customers are business owners and leaders just like you. And from their customer bases, they have plenty of good reviews and a happy following. 

Let’s get started. 

1. Sandler Training – Certified Sales Associate

“Measured learning equals consistent results.” 

As soon as you navigate to Sandler Training’s site with the provided link, this is the message that greets you. 

They also work to bring you a “return on your human capital investments.” 

Sandler has four steps to their sales training program: 

  • Awareness and Knowledge. Here, they set a foundation by figuring out where your team currently stands. What do they know? What are their expectations? What are your expectations for them? This is the phase where you provide them with a clear framework for what you need from them as their overarching goal as far as the training. They also establish the language that everyone will use throughout the duration of the program. 
  • Application of Concepts. Your team will already have a basic understanding of Sandler’s selling concepts at this point. Now, they have to make these concepts work for their selling circumstances. After all, knowing what a concept is, is far different from knowing how to apply it to your business model. 
  • Skill Building. This is when your sales team will come up with a plan to build up their recently acquired skills. This stage makes it possible for your sales department to go back to these new skills as they need. Skill Building gives them a practical and behavioral approach to implement those concepts. 
  • Mastery-Level Habits. The name fits here, insofar as the goal of this program is to turn your reps into masters of selling. 

Sandler Training also offers its own Sandler Selling Systems outline to ensure success. 

Selling Revolution - The Selling System™

2. Wizard of Sales – The Selling System™

“We build selling systems for home service companies.” 

That is what you will find on the Wizard of Sales homepage. 

Our Selling System™ goes beyond the generic approach that you find in so many other training courses. When you come to Wizard of Sales to build your own Selling System™ with us, you can customize your training program. 

Your sales managers and leaders get full ownership of your customizable program. Then, your employees can follow it time and again for the betterment of your company. 

Our clients have enjoyed the following benefits countless times: 

  • More sales total
  • Higher gross profits 
  • A higher average with their sales 
  • Higher closing ratios

And all those benefits stretch across all your sales departments. That goes from CSRs to Sales, compounding your profitability by multiples. 

Here are the 6 Key Factors™ we look at as we build your Selling System™: 

  • Internal and External Communication 
  • Sales Processes and Training 
  • Employee Compensation Models 
  • Recruitment and Onboarding 
  • Product and Service Pricing 
  • Selection and Production 

3. Action Selling – The Action Selling Process

“It’s time for a clear-cut sales advantage.” 

Those are the words you see when you enter Action Selling’s homepage. 

Action Selling has been in the sales training game for more than 30 years. Their sales certification process and training itself have been around since 1990. Here is their process: 

  • Prepare
  • Train 
  • Reinforce
  • Assess
  • Certify 

And this is what they aim for with their program: 

  • Boosted revenue
  • Increased margins 
  • Better sales culture 
  • Top-of-the-line sales professionals comprising your employee base
  • Sales managers and trainers as incredible sales coaches 

Action Selling really focuses on that workplace culture we mentioned above. They highlight the behaviors of your salespeople for a positive impact on the lives of your prospects as your reps sell to them. Action Selling’s program helps to increase profit margins by defining sales processes in such a way that your reps cannot misinterpret them. 

4. Dale Carnegie – Winning With Relationship Selling

Dale Carnegie ensures that your training program will not rely on that transactional feeling when you sell. The Winning with Relationship Selling course places a much heavier emphasis on relationship- and solution-based selling instead. 

The course information page highlights three main points as far as the program goes: 

  • What you will learn. This part concentrates on confidence when it comes to working with customers, leads and prospects. It also focuses on active listening skills and actualization, dealing with challenges as they arise and building credibility through communication. 
  • Why learning about it matters. Here, Dale Carnegie points out that the modern buyer in today’s economy does not have to deal with a sales rep at all. They have the internet for their resources and purchasing options. So Winning with Relationship Selling delivers the value of irreplaceable knowledge and relationship building over age-old and tricky selling tactics. 
  • How it will help you. In other words, why relationship selling will help your company stand out in the grand scheme of things. 

5. Aslan – Other-Centered® Selling: Inside Account Manager Training

In general, Aslan stands out as a popular choice for sales training. 

“Sales training that eliminates the hard sell” is one of their website’s catchphrases. They strive to help your company restructure your selling processes. This is because you have to start out your selling approach with the understanding that most people do not want to meet with you at all. 

Only then can you show your customers your unique selling proposition. Otherwise, it all ends up feeling like a zero-sum game. 

Their Other-Centered® Selling for Inside Sales takes that same fresh approach to account management. Here are some of the focal points for this innovative sales training program: 

  • Confidence in leading to erase any bit of customer resistance. This is instead of ignoring conflict with your audience. 
  • Business partner development instead of mere management. 
  • Inner-account prospecting. This part focuses more on proactive rather than reactive solutions to relationship management. 
  • Holistic selling solutions. This is instead of always reverting back to selling your personal favorite products or services. 
  • Strategic processes you can believe in instead of adhering to what you are used to. 
  • Specific and individual conflict management skills. 

Ways to Measure Training Effectiveness in 2021Ways to Measure Training Effectiveness in 2021

Take a look at the following example: 

You need new medicine for your dog because Fido is sick. You book an appointment at the vet. Getting Fido in the car is its own evil recipe for distress. But alas, you do, and your vet writes dear old dog a prescription for a medicine that “should work!” 

So you foot the hefty bill. You fill the script. You somehow get Fido to swallow the pills.

Now what? Do you sit back and throw your hands up? No. You measure how effective the medicine was. You invested in this solution for your beloved dog’s health. Now you monitor the progress to see if it is working. 

You also have to measure your sales training effectiveness. And this can be a little tricker in 2021, a time when there are so many technologies and resources to keep up with. 

So here are the top three best ways to measure training effectiveness in 2021. 

The Kirkpatrick Taxonomy

This one hails from the 1950s but is more useful today than ever. 

Use these four levels to figure out if your training program is working for you: 

  • Level 1: Reaction. (How did the involved trainees react to the training? Ask using a survey.)
  • Level 2: Learning. (Require an assessment before and after the training.)
  • Level 3: Behavior. (Use self-assessments and manager assessments to see what’s changed.)
  • Level 4: Results. (Ask the person who suggested the training, to begin with if they see the right results.)

You can also work backwards through these levels at the beginning of your training processes. 

The Phillips ROI Model

Jack Phillips came up with this evaluation model in the 1980s. Phillips presented this model to fill the gaps that the Kirkpatrick Taxonomy failed to acknowledge. 

There are five levels here to follow: 

  • Level 1: Reaction. (Think along the lines of the Level 1 of the Kirkpatrick Taxonomy.)
  • Level 2: Learning. (Have your reps or sales team as a whole learned what they set out to learn?) 
  • Level 3: Application and Implementation. (You should also take data into consideration here for actual results that you can measure.)
  • Level 4: Impact. (Also look at other factors that could have had an impact on your results, not just the training.) 
  • Level 5: ROI. (Use a cost-benefit analysis here.)

The CIPP Evaluation Model

Daniel Stufflebeam introduced the CIPP model in the 1960s. The acronym CIPP is there to show you how to improve and adjust as needed the areas you are working on right now with your training. 

Here is what it stands for: 

  • Context. (What do we have to do?) 
  • Input. (How will we go about our training?)
  • Process. (Are we headed in the right direction?) 
  • Product. (What kind of past success does this program have?)

Conclusion

Look at the last part of the CIPP model again. What kind of past success does this program have?

With Wizard of Sales as your go-to for training program solutions, you can figure that out right away. 

Our clients report higher gross profits, sales, and closing ratios than ever before. But that is not all you sign up for when you come to our expert team for your own selling revolution. You can enjoy top talent recruitment, better leads, and higher conversions.