The Blatant Truth Weblog

The Training Didn’t Work (Revisited)

Back in Sept. I wrote a post about my experience with the prospects that say “the training didn’t work”. I’ve received several comments on that post and even more phonecalls and direct emails from business colleagues that have read the post. Seems that everyone seems to have an opinion and these opinions fall into 2 major camps.

Some folks are in total agreement with me on what steps need to be put in place to make certain that training is sticky and reaps results. Other folks place the “blame” squarely on the shoulders of the trainer and say that if there is no appreciable improvement in sales then…well….the training didn’t work.

As a trainer I’m willing to be introspective and take my share of the blame if sales stats don’t improve. But often it isn’t the training that didn’t work and if I am to be blamed for anything then I should be blamed for not making 100% certain that there is follow-up, follow-through, attention, monitoring and focus paid AFTER the training is done.

Training is not a one-time event. Just because the contract with the trainer has been satisfied it does not mean that training is done. The ball needs to be picked up internally and much like athletes train and practice every day, as do world-class musicians, dancers and so on, so should sales reps train, practice and be coached throughout their tenure in the position.

What if we train them and they leave? What if we don’t train them and they stay?