Our World Class Sales Cultures Framework helps leaders assess their sales culture and outlines the areas of focus to help make their organisation world class.
In the Sixth part of our Framework, we look at People and Development.
The people in an organisation drive success. A world class organisation has a clear plan for the development and progression of its people.
Continuous learning & Development
One of the reasons for people leaving an organisation is that they stop learning and developing. An organisation with a world class sales culture will have a focus on continuous learning and development.
In organisations that are leading the way we consistently see a commitment from the business to invest in the development of their people, constantly driving skills and competencies that deliver high performance. The training needs are developed at a team level and prioritised accordingly.
In these businesses, salespeople understand how they improve over time, which helps create promotion opportunities and recognition. By having these processes in place, and a strong competency framework application, these companies have a pervasive culture of continuous learning.
In organisations that we see lagging in these areas, we find that salespeople and sales managers don’t receive professional training to develop them. We might see a lack of structure and guidance for salespeople about how they can develop themselves, it is an assumed occurrence based on time in the role.
Reinforcement and Practice
Training by itself is not enough to improve performance, that comes with proper reinforcement and practice of what has been learnt.
Organisations that we see as low performing in this area will have a ‘one and done’ approach to training. This means tehy see a lack of ongoing application of what has been learned. Managers will struggle to lead skills practice with their teams and they are being given too much responsibility for the training.
Organisations that understand the need for reinforcement will have a culture of practice between sales managers and salespeople, as they know this is a constant requirement for high performance. Managers in these companies will make time and prepare for regular practice, which helps salespeople role play and built talk tracks collaboratively together.
Career Planning
Setting out clear career progression milestones for employees has a dramatic effect on a company’s employee attrition rate.
In high performing organisations there will be clearly defined and organisationally recognised career paths for salespeople, linked to the competency frameworks or accreditation processes that they have in place. The criteria for achieving career progression are not only understood by all but are published and accepted.
In low performing organisations there simply are no recognised career paths for salespeople. Any progress or promotion criteria are vague and poorly communicated. This has a direct impact on contributing to why salespeople leave the business and is a reason frequently cited in exit interviews.
The structure and planning an organisation is required to do for the development of its people is vital to ensuring success. With proper training structures, coaching plans and career paths, salespeople can self motivate and hit higher levels of success.
You can find our previous parts on Sales Operations Strategy, Systems, Sales Leadership, Data and Behaviours and Staffing within our blog, and you can book a time with a member of the team to assess your World Class Sales Culture framework here.
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