Half life of sales training.

Participants in sales training forget half of what they learn within five weeks, according to a survey of more than 6,000 sales professionals by Charlotte, NC, consultants Sales Performance International. "Without regular reinforcement, sales training's half life is a median of just 5.1 weeks,

The SPI study addressed the most persistent problem encountered with traditional sales training, said McGarrah. "Sales training is costly and time-consuming, yet organizations still have a hard time demonstrating results." According to our findings, without immediate reinforcement the greatest loss in the training investment occurs almost as soon as the training is over."

McGarrah noted that the study revealed strong concern by management with post-training issues. Asked to rank the weaknesses of traditional sales training, lack of post training implementation topped that list, having been cited by 55 percent of respondents. The next-ranked complaints also clustered at the post-training end: lack of measurable results (39 percent), lack of management support (32 percent), and lack of refresher courses or materials (32 percent). Other concerns expressed were: limited sales aids and tools (28 percent), additional training not aligned with initial training (21 percent) and time out of the field (19 percent).

Remarkably, in view of the study's findings, for more than one-third of respondents' sales managers reinforcement is not a priority and nothing is done post-training, observed McGarrah. Most sales managers support the training as it is provided, but fall short before and afterwards. Among the infrequent actions they take are: communicating the expectations to use the trained methodology (35 percent), using the trained methods and tools (30 percent) and using the trained language (30 percent).

"What emerged from our study is a growing recognition not only of the pressing need for post-training reinforcement," said McGarrah, "but also the necessity to do more than periodic refresher training. Instead, the reinforcement has to be integrated with the sales organization's day-to-day work and there should be more of a common methodology among all those on the team, what's sometimes called a sales process. At a minimum, this means a shared perspective, language, skills and tools, so that as the team functions the learning continues and gradually takes hold."