Why should companies implement Sales training software?

why implement sales training software

In today’s rapidly changing business landscape, training methods are undergoing a profound evolution across all sectors. The driving force behind this transformation is the widespread integration of new technologies, to replace or work in hybrid with traditional practices. Among these innovations is sales training software.

What is Sales training software?

Sales training software allows companies to sustainably improve training, onboarding, and change management.
🍋 Managers have a no-code editor at their disposal for implementing personalized training programs and adaptable learning paths.
🍋 Sales teams benefit from in-app guidance on any web-based sales enterprise tools, such as CRM software, outreach, or sales enablement tools. All resources are accessible via interactive guides, available on-demand precisely when needed.

What are the challenges facing Sales departments today?

In order to understand the benefits of digital transformation and Sales training software, it’s important to first discuss the challenges, and ineffective practices used by Sales departments today.

  • Sales recruitment: Salespeople face a unique hiring process. Unlike any other position, many first time salespeople require little to no experience in Sales, only the right go getting attitude and self-starting abilities to prove their worth. This is due to the huge demand for salespeople in start-ups and scaling companies to break into new markets and stay competitive.
  • Performance expectation: Sales is a highly competitive role with an extremely high rate of turnover. Salespeople must learn quickly and work independently to meet strict targets, and they also measure these KPIs against their team members. Managers consider a comprehensive range of KPIs, including total revenue for a certain period, quotas, participation, deals won, and sales cycle length. If employees don’t meet performance expectations quickly, it almost certainly leads to employee losses, and the same cycle repeats.
  • Lack of ROI on Sales technologies: One of the primary challenges facing companies is a lack of ROI on Sales technologies. Like most enterprise tools, many sales features remain unused or misused, allowing even your top sellers to miss opportunities. 
  • Ineffective use of Sales technology: HubSpot discovered that during the pandemic, Sales teams increased email prospection by 50%, while response rates from buyers fell to an all-time low. This can be interpreted in different ways. The LinkedIn State of Sales report 2022, calls this a paradox. According to their findings, the majority of successful salespeople tend to utilize sales technology less frequently, but in a more strategic manner. They leverage technology primarily for enhancing human interactions and maintaining strong connections with buyers.
  • High turnover: Sales teams are notorious for facing one of the highest turnover rates within companies. It presents a range of challenges that impact company culture, sales revenue targets, training expenses, and the extremely high costs associated with turnover.

Annual turnover among U.S. salespeople runs as high as 27% – twice the rate in the overall labor force. 

Source: Harvard Business Review Magazine, 2017

In a survey of 750 ‘top performing sellers’, Salespeople spent just 27% of their time on selling. The remainder of their time was split between updating their CRM, training, internal meetings and admin duties. In reality, what makes a top seller is their non selling activity (training, management, research, etc.) 73% of the time.

The solution: Sales training software

All the challenges discussed above suggest Sales teams do not receive sufficient training to become top sellers. To improve sellers abilities, reduce costs and sustainably increase ROI, companies need to abandon the great myth that ‘salespeople are born, not made’. While salespeople might naturally possess certain skills, a great sales person is the result of their environment. At Lemon Learning, we believe one of the best ways to address these challenges is by implementing the right sales training software.

Sources: 

Sarah C

Sarah oversees all things inbound marketing, exploring the many business uses and topics surrounding digital adoption. Her previous experiences include B2C and product marketing in the social listening space, uncovering emerging industry trends.