This tool can help increase the
return-on-investment of most
sales training initiatives.
STRATEGIC
ALIGNMENT MODEL
Helps Determine Sales Training Investments
By martyn Lewis
Billions of dollars are invested into sales training every year. With more informed customers,
fiercer competition, and the rate of new products introduced to the marketplace higher than ever,
the need for effective sales training never has been more important. Yet we continue to see a desire to cut training expenses and the cry to reduce the time that salespeople are “out in the field.”
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52 | T+D | DECEMBER 2012
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There is a continual need to defend
sales training investments since the
return from such investments is frequently hard to quantify and often
disappointing. With this as the backdrop, the advisory committee to ASTD’s
Sales Enablement Community of Practice embarked on a research study about
how sales training can better provide
the expected business result.
Developing the model
After studying more than 100 sales training investments and having discussions
with providers, developers, facilitators,
and frontline salespeople, three themes
emerged:
• Key to any successful outcome
is active engagement by sales
management.
• Sales training is successful when it
is viewed by salespeople as both relevant to their immediate success and
can be immediately applied.
• There is no single recipe to guarantee success.
We saw how some small and tactical
investments led to business returns that
were many times the size of the investment. We also saw projects for which
significant amounts of money were
invested but led to little result.
At this stage, we realized we needed
a classification system for the different
types of sales training investments so that
we could determine what style of training
investment best meets each situation. For
each of the five categories we identified,
we determined the critical success factors that will make the difference between
gaining a clear business return versus a
lackluster result. This led to the development of the Strategic Alignment Model
for Sales Training Investments.
It should be stressed that there is no
intention to assert that one category is
superior to another. It is, however, vitally
important to align the type of investment
to the business need.
Level I (ad-hoc)
The first level of the Strategic Alignment
Model represents one-off types of sales
training. Typically these are isolated
activities that someone has undertaken
in response to an apparent sales training
requirement. It may be a sales manager
dedicating time to role plays in a monthly
meeting or a marketing manager training
salespeople on a new product.
By definition, they are not part of a
larger sales training initiative. They rarely
need funding—but if they do require
investment, it is both a small amount and
approved locally.
The initiatives in this category are
those that have the highest payback in
terms of business results. This is not simply due to the low level of investment
usually associated with these programs
but more due to the closeness of the
sponsor of the program.
The individuals who determine the
need often are those who develop and
deliver the training, and are usually
right about what is required. Many of
the investments at this level are highly
responsive and meet particular training
requirements in a highly specific, and
often effective, way.
This often means redundancy and
wasted effort across an organization
because more than one person is trying
to address the same problem. It is usually difficult to capture and share best
practices as a result of these ad-hoc sales
training activities.
DECEMBER 2012 | T+D | 53
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Sales Competencies
Sales competencies—the critical skills and behaviors of sales
professionals—are a vital part of
any attempt to align the sales training strategy. Without a consistent
definition of what people must know
and do, attempts to improve sales
processes (such as opportunity
management or sales coaching)
or activate new initiatives (such as
product launches and reorganizations) are left to rest on top of what
is—at best—assumed to exist. ASTD
does not recommend that approach,
which is why it developed the Sales
Competency Model as a benchmark
that organizations can use to ensure
that the foundation of professional
selling is strong enough to support
the greater business. To learn more
about the Sales Competency Model,
visit www.astd.org/salescompmodel.
Level II (local)
The second level defines sales training
that is conceived, funded, and implemented at a local level. Such initiatives
typically are a geographic or small component of the larger organization. They
are not funded or sponsored at an organizational level, but rather conceived,
funded, and implemented across a
smaller team. This type of investment in
sales training may be over time, typically
contained within a matter of months.
We saw relatively high levels of return
on these investments, primarily as a
result of the local ownership by the sponsoring, and often funding, management.
As with the Level I programs, there is
little way to capture best practices, and
these sales training investments often
can dilute overall organizational investments and, at times, even offer competing
sales approaches to those that have been
adopted more universally. These types
of initiatives often are the “skunk works”
that then grow into overall organizational
programs.
Level III (tactical)
Level III represents the lowest level of
maturity for an organization-wide initiative. Such an investment in sales training
is across an organization (either the corporation or a division of a company), but
is discrete in nature. It is not a component
of a wider initiative and essentially is conducted in isolation of other factors.
This type of investment typically is in
response to a perceived need. For example, to address competency gaps such as
negotiation skills, to provide information
such as a new product launch, or to introduce or reinforce a selling methodology
such as account planning. A Level II and
a Level III initiative may be similar; however, the Level II program is sponsored
by and completely implemented across
one segment of the overall organization,
whereas a Level III program is across the
entire organization.
At this level we noticed the most disappointing results, and yet also saw that a
majority of the organizational sales training investments would be put into this
category. These poor results are due to
several factors.
First, they are, in part, a result of a lack
of local ownership. Another factor is that
these sales training initiatives usually are
implemented in isolation. Without an
overall sales competency model adopted
by the organization in which the specific skills and competencies are defined,
and the gaps between existing and optimal known, the effectiveness of any
sales training investment is going to be
compromised.
Third, the training is directed at a perceived need, and we often found that
the real need is quite different. In most
of these cases the training addresses a
symptom and not a root cause.
Negotiation training is a great example
of this. Just because the salesforce is providing large discounts to customers does
not automatically imply that negotiation
skills are inadequate. Instead, there could
be pricing pressures from new competitors, or more than likely the salesforce is
entering the buying process too late and
54 | T+D | DECEMBER 2012
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does not have the opportunity to build
any value differentiation.
A final reason that also led to poor
results is that these training investments
often fail to address factors upon which
the successful adoption of new practices
and skills was founded. Maybe the salesforce requires different technology or
tools to successfully implement the new
approaches that they were to be trained
on, or possibly their compensation needs
to be changed, or how they are managed.
There were many instances of training that was sound within itself, but likely
would never yield the expected results
due to such dependencies.
It is perhaps worthy to note that our
research found that the greatest opportunity to increase the return on sales training
investments is to carefully look at all sales
training initiatives that would fall into this
category. It may be best to push the initiatives down a level, where they can be
owned by local managers, or move them
up a level, so they are included in what we
have termed an “integrated program.”
Level IV (integrated)
The fourth level describes a sales training
initiative that is integrated with other factors in the organization. Such an initiative
usually is in response to more rigorously
defined need than a Level III initiative,
and identifies other factors that will affect
the business outcomes.
A sales training initiative at this level
has numerous different components such
as a formal management coaching program to reinforce the training, tools, and
technologies that support the new skills
or application of new knowledge, or a
change in the roles of the sales and sales
support team.
When designing a sales training initiative at this level, a more holistic approach
should be taken to define the need and
understand critical success factors.
Change management factors also should
be considered as part of a sales training
initiative and, at a minimum, should isolate and address the elements that could
inhibit or motivate the required change.
Successful sales training investments
at this level always are built on a specific
competency model that reflects the foundational competencies, areas of expertise,
and roles of the organization. Such programs are developed after conducting
thorough assessments of existing competencies and approaches, and when there
is a clear understanding of the real issues
that should be addressed to reach the
expected business outcomes.
Level V (strategic)
Level V is the highest level for a sales
training investment. Such a program
always is based on a vision that defines
the future selling model and a robust
competency model that provides a way
in which to define existing and requisite
sales competencies.
All sales training initiatives at this level
are a component of an overall change
model that defines both the current and
optimal future state. There should be
clear linkages between the sales training,
the sales process, and sales enablers such
as tools and technologies.
Such sales training programs are considered as one component of an overall
change management program. Investments being made at this level rely on
the sponsorship and active engagement
of the executive of the company and are
viewed as transformational initiatives.
This level of sales training investment
in not cheap, it is not quick, and it rarely
would be considered easy. Yet we saw this
was the only way to achieve transformational change within a salesforce. When
done correctly, the return-on-investment
can be significant. Especially when
companies are under new or changing
market pressures, this level of sales training investment may be the only way to
succeed.
Sales training investments
Our research revealed that not all sales
training initiatives are, or should be,
equal. Great results can be gained from
a small and local program, but those
results just will be local. However, if the
organization needs sales transformation,
this must be achieved through a Level V
investment. By understanding the need,
the appropriate level of sales training
investment can be determined. And by
adopting this level, an organization can
focus on the critical factors (see sidebar
on page 56) that will ensure success.
Characteristics
5
Strategic
• Training investment aligned to support a vision of the future state for the sales
organization, including competencies and processes
• Considers systemic changes required to reach future state
4
Integrated
• Training developed on an adopted competency model
• Linkages and dependencies to attain required outcomes addressed
3
Tactical
• Discrete sales training program across an organization
• Implemented to meet a specific need
Team
Level
2
Local
• Local initiative
• Training to meet a perceived need
1
Ad-hoc
• Individualistic
• Spontaneous and reactive
Organizational
Name
Individual
Sales Training Investments Categories
DECEMBER 2012 | T+D | 55
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Critical Success Factors
Level V Strategic
Level III Tactical
• Create an agreed upon vision of the future state of the sales
organization.
• Adopt a sales competency model that maps the future
competencies, expertise, and roles of the sales organization.
• Create specific developmental plans of existing and optimal
sales competencies.
• Develop a clear understanding of all dependencies and linkages to reach the desired future state.
• Address or mitigate the dependencies and linkages that are
required to meet the business outcomes.
• Consider the sales training investment as a component of an
overall change management plan.
• Communicate success stories.
• Support processes and organizational structures.
• Involve the executive sponsors.
• The training solves the “right” problem.
• Sales management provides coaching to reinforce the
training.
• There is immediate application of the training by the
salesforce.
• The salesforce easily sees the value and relevancy of the
training.
• The salesforce quickly sees and gains results from the
training.
• Local management is involved.
Level IV Integrated
• Identify and then address, or mitigate, the factors outside of
the sales training upon which the success of the adoption of
that training is dependent.
• Adopt a sales competency model.
• Identify and share best practices.
• Involve senior management.
• Maintain ongoing and active support, reinforcement, and
coaching.
• Communicate the benefits of the sales training to the
salesforce.
We saw how some
small and tactical
investments led to
business returns that
were many times the
size of the investment.
We also saw projects
for which significant
amounts of money
were invested but led
to little result.
LEVEL II LOCAL
• Identify links to existing organizational training.
• Determine if training already exists anywhere else in the
organization.
• Identify and leverage existing best practices.
• Determine how to leverage the investment and capture best
practices for other areas.
Level I Ad-Hoc
• Create expertise and time to develop and deliver the training.
• Ensure the core problem is being addressed.
• Determine if there is another way to address the problem
that is less ad-hoc.
• Identify if others in the organization have the same needs.
What becomes clear is that there is a
significant opportunity to increase the
return-on-investment of most sales training investments. The Strategic Alignment
Model should allow an organization to
• categorize any sales training investment to understand the factors that
will affect its success
• set realistic expectations across the
organization for what it will take for
a sales training program to be successful, and the results that can be
expected
• examine critically any proposed
investment in sales training to question if it is appropriately aligned to
deliver the expected business results
• understand the most critical success
factors for maximizing return-oninvestment dependent on the nature
of the sales training program
• determine the most appropriate
type of investment to meet a specific
training need.
56 | T+D | DECEMBER 2012
For the vast majority of organizations, there is a significant opportunity
to directly increase business results
through an investment in sales training.
That sales training does, however, need
to be aligned to the requirement, organizational constraints, and the expected
business results.
Martyn Lewis is chairman of the advisory committee to ASTD’s Sales Enablement Community
of Practice, for which he led the work that culminated in the Strategic Alignment Model for
Sales Training. He has a 35-year career in sales
and marketing, including founding MarketPartners, a sales consulting company; and 3g
Selling, a company focused on the delivery of
highly effective live virtual sales training;
mlewis@market-partners.com.
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