Budgeting For Success With Sales Training

In Las Vegas, believe it or not, October is too early to think beyond the summer heat. We may only have three months left in the year, but summer can hang on until Halloween. However, as a sales organization, we know time is fleeting. And organizations that don’t think ahead get left behind. Therefore, it’s never too soon to think about budgets and projections for the upcoming year.

Preparing for future success starts with reflecting on the past year’s performance and planning for 2025. One of the most effective ways to ensure your team’s success is investing in training and development. In fact, Qwilr notes the following sales training statistics:

• Today, 70% of sellers lack formal training.
• Nearly half of account executives (47%) cite poor training/onboarding as a factor in leaving.
• Companies that prioritize training are 57% more effective than their competitors.
• Continuous training leads to a 50% increase in net sales per employee.
• The average ROI of sales training is 353%.

With such impressive stats, sales training needs to be prioritized in year-end budgets. Here, we will explore the importance of training and how to budget for success, as well as offer practical steps to ensure your training investment pays off in 2025 and beyond.

The Importance of Sales Training

Sales training is a critical driver of performance and results. In addition to the quantitative data cited above, it enables sales teams in three key ways:

• Adapt to Change: Today, changes in technology, industry standards, and markets demand adaptation. Often, sales teams must adapt on the fly. This makes sales training more than maintenance. It’s an investment that provides teams with the skills, strategies, and confidence to meet emerging trends and challenges.
• Enhance Skills and Engagement: Sales training not only shows your team you believe in them. It shows you’re willing to invest in them. This boosts engagement and motivation. No doubt, this correlates with the increased productivity and performance noted by Qwilr. In addition to closing skill gaps, sales training decreases attrition as it builds a more loyal and committed workforce.
• Drive Innovation: With sales training, sellers are better equipped to find, refine, and customize solutions. Rather than rely on the tried and true, they are more likely to think outside the box. Innovation doesn’t have to mean discovering previously unknown, ground-breaking sales techniques. Instead, it can be a new approach to an old problem. This level of commitment helps sellers build relationships, improve service, and provide a greater customer experience.

Optimizing Your Training Budget

Of course, a training budget isn’t just setting funds aside for annual training. Instead, it’s strategically allocating resources to balance costs while maximizing your investment. Consider the following:

• Assess Training Needs: Before allocating a training budget, assess your needs. This means evaluating skills, identifying gaps, and preparing for the future. To ensure buy-in, invite team member participation. Seek their insights into their specific needs. This ensures your budget is geared to areas that will provide the greatest return on your investment.
• Set Clear Objectives: Another important consideration is your objectives and goals. For example, do you seek training to improve specific skills, enhance leadership qualities, or foster innovation? Perhaps, it’s all three, all at once. Knowing your objectives helps set measurable goals. These evaluate the effectiveness of the training and justify the expense. By aligning objectives with your business strategy, you ensure training targets areas that drive performance.
• Explore Training Options: Today, there are a multitude of training options available, each with their own cost and specialties. In-house training can be cost-effective. However, external courses and certifications often provide more specialized expertise and a proven methodology. In addition, online platforms offer greater flexibility and scalability, often at a reduced cost over building it yourself. In addition, consider training modes. These include in-person training in classroom-like settings, virtual instruction, or a mixture of the two. Further, does your team need a prescriptive, instructor-focused training? Perhaps, they would work better on their own, at their own pace. Also, what about techniques, such as role play and gamification? These are important considerations in today’s sales training.  
• Ensure Management Engagement: To achieve the greatest benefit and ROI, ensure sales managers are equipped to reinforce the training. Qwilr notes that 84% of sales training content is forgotten within three months. Continuous learning, which includes coaching and on-going digital reinforcement, ensures sustainable results. This is why Janek equips every training, regardless of size or complexity, with a digital reinforcement solution for both managers and training participants.
• Budget for Continuous Improvement: To ensure success, training should never be a static one-time event. It must be an ongoing process, part of a culture of continuous improvement. This includes access to resources, such as industry publications, webinars, and professional networks. A benefit of sales training is keeping teams engaged in their industry. It’s not enough to know their own products and services. They must know what else is out there and what the competition is doing.

Implementing Your Training Strategy

As an investment, sales training is too important for a haphazard approach. It requires a systematic strategy. Consider the following:

• Create a Training Plan: A comprehensive training plan should outline objectives, target audience, delivery methods, and evaluation criteria. This must be structured to ensure training is focused, organized, and aligned with your strategic goals. It must also include timelines and responsibilities to keep the process on track.
• Engage With Providers: Today, there are many training partners to choose from. These come with a wide range of specialties and approaches. Choose one with a proven track record that can deliver content aligned with your needs. Ensure they understand your organization and can tailor their approach accordingly. For this, you want to see their previous results. Top training partners will share case studies with ROIs as well as testimonials from satisfied clients. These can help narrow the field. Of course, if they do not share results, consider this a big red flag.
• Monitor and Evaluate: Your sales team is the best source for information on training. Regularly monitor and evaluate how team members feel. Are they engaged? Are they excited? Are they challenged? Then, measure performance to see if this translates to results. Note both the immediate impact and the long-term benefits of the training. This can show the effect of the training and the value of your investment.
• Celebrate Success: As with any endeavor, people are motivated by success. When you recognize and celebrate your team’s hard work, they will try harder. Remember, they too want to see the positive results of training. Acknowledging individual and team accomplishments invites team members to share in your organization’s success. This not only boosts morale. It also reinforces the value of training and inspires a commitment to personal development.

Practical Steps to Prepare for 2025

Here are practical steps to incorporate sales training in your projections:

• Conduct a Year-End Review: Start with a comprehensive review of your year to date. Are team members meeting or exceeding goals or are they barely hitting their quota? Next, consider the effect of previous training. Did you note a quick bump in performance that soon leveled off? Perhaps the training worked but the reinforcement was lacking. Use this knowledge to prepare a training budget and strategy for the coming year.
• Set a Training Budget: Based on your assessment, set a realistic training budget for 2025. This must address the importance of training in relation to goals and objections. Consider achievements and what your team is lacking. Is this a product of effort? Is it a failure of enablement? These questions can determine the amount and length of training as well as the level of customization required. For example, is a basic program enough? Do they need advanced reinforcement? Select a training program based on your needs and budget accordingly.
• Align Training with Goals: Ensure that your training budget and plans are aligned with your strategic goals for 2025. In what areas can training drive success? Focus your resources here. This can maximize the impact of training on your team’s ability to reach your goals while ensuring long-term success.
• Communicate and Implement: Sales training success requires total buy-in from all areas of your organization. This includes the C-suite on down, through managers, to sales team members. Share your budget projections with all stakeholders so everyone understands the purpose and benefits of sales training. Implement the training plan according to the established timeline and monitor progress.
• Review and Adjust: Regularly review the progress of your training programs. Stay flexible to adjust to any changes in your organization’s needs. For example, the size and structure of your sales force. Has this been consistent, or will it change? Also, are there external factors that can affect training, like a bleak economic forecast? Continuous adjustment and improvement are key to training success.

Conclusion

As we approach the end of 2024, now is the time to assess your needs for the coming year. Central to this is providing your sales team with the skills to adapt and thrive.

We hope this helps with your budget preparation. And if you need assistance or information on the services provided above, give us a call.

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