How can the value of sales training be quantified?

Change is hard. And change takes time. Especially in sales, where you have to make the transition from an approach that is too often based on "show and tell" to one based on questioning and the implementation of a consultative sales process.

That's why I recommend setting up long-term sales training programmes - I'm more of a believer in transformation, I have to say - , make sure the sales leadership is equipped with the right skillset and building a robust and predictive sales recruitment process.

It's also important to understand the underlying reasons that might lead to below expectations sales results and do this in a scientific and robust manner. In order to understand both the possible barriers that will come between the two ears of salespeople - selling is a question of mindset - and the systems in place.

Having said that, what could even a minimal improvement in sales efficiency (10%) bring to an organisation in hard currency? In short, a 10% improvement in team efficiency can, albeit small (10% is not huge), lead to a 33% improvement in revenue.

I also saw an analysis by the CEO of objective management group with whom we were working on valuations. His ROI-ste analysis is also interesting, the article on Linkedin is available here.