The Science of Selling and Sales Training

The sales training industry, globally, for 2013 generated 2.24 billion dollars.  It is big business and is dominated by some large international companies.  Selling is now very much a science.  There is a large body of  established research that can tell us what is effective and what is not.  The question is: are the sales training companies using this research?  When you look at the what the major sales training companies are teaching they are all very similar.  They are all teaching consultative selling, solution selling and spin selling or some variety there of.  But what about the research?  In most cases I don't think they are using it.   Why?  I'm not sure, but I'm confident they have warehouses full of  ready made materials and an army of trainers that would all need to be refreshed, at a considerable cost in time and effort as well as dollars.

As I mentioned, they are all teaching a variety of the same thing.  To differentiate they are not using the research but rather what I refer to as their"secret sauce."  How did this industry get so big? The sales training industry grew to its huge presence in a vacuum.    Sales is a profession that except for recent years was  abandoned by the universities.  So companies started to train their own sales forces.  This training is focused on product/solution and industry.   The methodology and process of selling has fallen, by default,. to the large sales training companies.

Things need to change!  I, for one, would like to see these training companies stop "training" salespeople and start "developing sales professionals".   I would like them to stop selling their "secret sauce" and incorporate the latest research.

How can you tell if the sales training your company is using is incorporating the research? Check back here in the coming weeks and I will give you some hints!