Why you dont need another sales training program
How small interventions are often more powerful than big sales training
programs
As a pharma consultant, I am in the business of
selling sales training programs.
Nevertheless, I can tell you that most sales
organizations don't need another training program. More often, they need specific
interventions.
Millions of dollars are wasted every year on
extensive sales training programs that never get used.
Why? Because sales training departments are in the
business of buying sales training programs, and consultants are in the business
of selling them.
In the process, simple solutions are overlooked.
Consider a story shared by Richard
Pascale in The Power of Positive Deviance.
Pascale describes a consulting
engagement in the 1990s with one of the world's most powerful biotech
companies.
Asked to help with the disappointing
sales of novel asthma product, Pascale discovered two sales representatives
from Ft. Worth, Texas who were selling 20 times the volume of their peers.
(Yes, 20 times the volume!)
Upon examination, Pascale
discovered that the sales representatives were taking a unique approach.
As opposed to focusing
exclusively on product benefits, they spent time showing physicians how to
administer the new product. (The drug was administered intravenously, novel to
the physicians being targeted.)
The point? Small interventions
are often a more powerful alternative than the implementation of an entire sales
training program.
Pascale had found a simple
solution: A small change to sales approach created 20 times the sales volume.
Small is better
As a consultant, I often
encounter situations where a problem is readily identifiable, but proposing a
simple solution is never enough.
Why? Sales training departments
want a program,' a slick system with bells and whistles.
The point is not to say that
sales organizations should abandon the implementation of sales training
programs.
The point is that large-scale
interventions are often selected at the expense of smaller and more effective
interventions.
Sales leaders call consultants
and ask, What programs do you offer?'
Nine times out of 10 there is no
need for another sales training program.
More often, they need a specific
solution to a specific problem.
Sales leaders who shift their
mentality to looking for small solutions first have an edge, especially when
the real solution is specific and subtle.
The suggestion? First, before
thinking large-scale change, think small tweaks.
Scott Moldenhauer is president of Persuasion Consultants, LLC,
a pharmaceutical training and consulting firm. He can be reached at scott@persuasionconsultants.com
or visit his website at www.howtoconvincedocs.com.
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