How to know if sales training worked

You know sales training worked when something your people do on calls and visits has changed, and a record shows it. Before the training, choose one behaviour and count how often it happens in a small sample. Afterwards, count the same thing the same way. If the count has moved and the deals behind it have moved with it, the course did something. If all you have is feedback forms, you know whether people enjoyed the day.

Why do feedback forms tell you so little?

At the end of a training day people rate the trainer, the lunch and the examples, and scores tend to be generous. A high score says the session was pleasant. The owner's question is different: are my people doing something on the phone and in the shop that they did not do before? No form on the day can answer that. It needs a record from before and one from after.

What counts as a behaviour?

Something a person does, which you could watch or count. "Better at negotiation" is not one. "Asks for something in return before agreeing a discount" is. Others that work:

• A dated next step written on every open quote.
• The buyer is asked who else will decide, before a price is sent.
• Enquiries are called back within the time your team agreed.
• A follow-up message names the buyer's problem in its first line.

One behaviour per training block. If the course covers six topics, pick the one that matters most this quarter and treat the others as a bonus.

The sheet you fill in before the course

This is the artefact. One page, filled in and dated before the training starts.

Behaviour:      Seller asks who signs the order before sending a price
Where to look:  Visit notes and quote register
Sample:         Last ten quotes sent
Count before:   __ of 10 name the person who signs
Check by:       Owner rings two of those buyers to confirm the name is right
Count after:    __ of 10, taken 3 weeks after the course, same sample size
Pass rule:      At least 6 of 10 AND both phone checks agree, else change
                the method before spending again
Counted by:     (same person both times)

The pass rule is written first, so you cannot argue yourself into a pass afterwards. The numbers on it are yours to choose. Pick ones you can defend to yourself in a bad quarter.

A count that passed and still told the owner nothing

Imagine a roller-shutter and gate fabricator in Anantapur with two sellers who quote to shop owners and apartment committees. This case is invented to show how a count can mislead. They attend a course on finding the real decision-maker. Before it, the owner counts ten recent quotes: two have a name against "who signs". Three weeks after, the owner counts the ten most recent: seven do.

That looked like a pass, so the owner rang two of the buyers named, as the sheet said. One had never heard of the person written down. The seller had put in the name of whoever they spoke to, which in an apartment committee was the watchman's contact, and not the secretary who signs. The sellers had learnt to fill the box. They had not yet learnt to ask the question.

The owner did not repeat the course. The owner sat in on one visit with each seller and listened to how the question was asked, then wrote the exact words on a card: "Who else will sit with you when you decide, and can I send the same page to them?" At the next count the owner rang four buyers, not two, and declared a pass only when all four names were right. It took two more rounds before that happened, and one seller needed a third.

How do you pick the sample fairly?

Choose the sample before you look at it. Take the last ten quotes sent, not the ten you remember best, and let someone other than the seller pull them from the register. Use the same rule each time: the last ten, or every quote sent in the fortnight. If a seller offers to "pick a few good ones", thank them and take the last ten anyway. A sample chosen by the person being measured can flatter the course. Write down the dates the sample covers on the sheet, so a later reader can see that the before and after counts are like for like.

Do sales numbers matter at all?

Yes, but later, and in context. Compare enquiries, quotes sent, orders and average order value with the same period last year. If a festival, a new product or a price change fell in between, say so on the sheet. Orders that rise with a festival are not evidence that a course worked.

Who keeps the habit going afterwards?

Training fades unless somebody asks about it. Whoever manages the sellers asks one thing in every team meeting. "Show me the last quote you sent." The answer shows at once whether the habit is there. It takes a minute, and nobody feels inspected because everybody is asked.

If the manager never asks, the sellers conclude the course was a day out. This is one reason a good course shows no change, and it has nothing to do with the course.

When can you not tell?

With a team of one or two and long sales cycles, orders move slowly and may not show the effect for a long time. Rely on the behaviour record and say honestly that the orders are slow. If no records exist, you cannot measure at all, so begin keeping one today and train afterwards. If the course was about attitude, such as confidence, there may be nothing to count. Ask sellers to describe a call they would once have avoided. It is thin evidence but better than none.

Fill the sheet before the next course

Write the behaviour, the sample, the count and the pass rule on one page and file it before the training. Diary the second count. The training calendar for a small team shows where such a count fits in a twelve-week plan. If you want the counts set up before you need them, sales metrics and KPI development is where we start, within how you sell; tell us what you need to begin.