5 Tips to Get Customers to Make B2B Sales Training a Priority

I’ve been to this movie before and will most likely attend it again—here’s a summary of the plot:

• I recently finalized a relationship with the CEO of a large sales organization
• He is very excited and has agreed to a rather large (6 digit) commitment with my firm
• The VP of Sales and sales managers appear to be equally committed
• After all the excitement and hoopla, getting this new customer to follow through on the initial steps of the engagement—including scheduling my first market visit—turned into a roadblock

As a B2B sales consultant or trainer, have you ever been to this movie?

Granted this plot does not happen all the time; however, it happens from time to time. Sometimes it happens with new customers, and sometimes it happens with existing customers. 

This dilemma is a head scratcher… a customer commits to purchase sales training resources—and even pays for them—then is reluctant to get the party started! 

Why This Happens

A couple circumstances cause this dilemma to exist:

• The executive who hired the company is a rank or two above the managers who have to find the time to use the training. This gap creates a buy-in issue at the manager level. Too often the suits at corporate are out of touch and have little credibility at the manager and market level.
• The people whose attendance is required during training workshops are salespeople, the people who actually write the orders that keep the business afloat. Simply put, salespeople would rather be selling than training.

How to Solve This Dilemma 

Here are five things you can to do resolve this problem and get customers to engage in the b2b sales training and consulting they have purchased from you:

1. An ounce of prevention to improve buy-in: Ask the organization to involve some managers and sellers in the decision-making process.
2. Accept reality: If you were the client, you would put selling ahead of training, too. Own that this is how it is.
3. Quality beats quantity: Don’t fall into the trap of making your training briefer. Instead, make it better. Don’t be afraid to tap into sales resources available via partner programs.
4. Get sellers closer to closing: Turn every training event or experience into an opportunity for the salespeople to get measurably nearer to closing specific business. Be sure to follow-up every training session with an initiative to drive sales or sales behavior. For example: If the focus of the sales training is on setting appointments—follow-up the training with an initiative that requires each sell to set 10 appointments with new customers.
5. Become a closer enabler: Develop a reputation as the person who helps them close, not the person who delivers training. Track revenue created via post training initiatives and tell seller how much they will earn as a result of a training session with you.

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