Sales training, although very important, is not the Holy Grail of preparing sales representatives for success. I recommend that you think “sales readiness” instead.

“Sales readiness” is the process of creating and executing on strategies to prepare a sales organization to meet/exceed its business objectives. Preparation activities may support “event based” changes such as new product launches, CRM system upgrades and pricing increases/decreases. Sales readiness also includes ongoing skills and leadership development.

When deciding how to prepare your salesforce for success, you have a menu of tactics to choose from, which include:

• One way communication: email, voicemail, memo, intranet posting, signage
• Two way communication: face to face meetings, conference calls, live webinars, product demonstrations
• Job aids: online knowledge base, desktop reference cards, CRM, training manuals
• Sales training- classroom (incl. role-playing)
• Sales training- self paced, video, recorded webinar

As shown, sales training is just one choice within a sales readiness menu.

To create an effective sales readiness strategy, consider the content that you need to share, the audience and the time-line. Here are 8 specific tips:

1) The complexity of the content should directly affect the type of readiness delivery. For example, when the content is short and simple, you may only need to rely on one-way communication tactics. When the content is lengthy and complex, you may need to rely on a mix of readiness tactics, including meetings, face to face training and updates to your online knowledge base.

2) When consistency in the rollout is critical, (e.g. changes to sales compensation plans) provide sales leaders with a documented, communication tool kit that includes frequently asked questions.

3) Is this a company wide initiative or just a sales initiative? If the initiative is company wide, partner with your colleagues to create one, corporate readiness strategy. Don’t recreate the wheel for the sales team.

4) In most businesses, there are frequently new things that you must communicate to the salesforce. To limit interruptions and maintain productivity, determine what topics can be combined within one round of “readiness” communications or tactics. One email message with five important points, is much more likely to be read than five separate emails with one message on each.

5) When determining the readiness audience, think beyond just the sales organization. Include key partners in customer service, finance, marketing, product management and operations. (See more on this topic in an earlier post, “5 Tips For Becoming a Better Sales Liaison“.)

6) Inside sales and outside sales employees require different readiness strategies. Most inside sales reps. work at a desk within an office and have daily, face to face contact with the sales leadership team. Most outside sales reps. work from their vehicle, and rely on mobile and conference call technology for communication. Adjust your readiness strategies accordingly.

7) When designing a readiness time-line, consider the competing business activities. The last week of a month or quarter is not the ideal time to schedule readiness activities, since sales employees are focusing on achieving their sales targets. Alternatively, the first week of a month or quarter, is often a quieter time.  If you are having a staff meeting about quota increases, do not blend in a communication about new products or new policies- the message won’t be heard.

8 ) When the timing of the communication is urgent and you have competing priorities, consider scheduling the readiness tactics before or after regular business hours, and compensating employees appropriately.

Sales Readiness Ownership

I believe that the Sales Readiness function should reside in sales or sales operations, as opposed to corporate training, marketing, or product management. The leader of sales readiness must have a global perspective of all activities happening within the sales organization. They must understand the busy and slow times of the days, weeks and months. They must be well versed in how the sales compensation plan and sales goal setting impacts, sales behavior.

In addition, they need to tie all readiness activities together into one, cohesive strategy and plan – as opposed to a separate training calendar, a separate product launch calendar etc. It will, however, be very important for the sales readiness leader to build relationships and partner with corporate training, marketing, and product management – to build an effective road-map and achieve the desired outcomes.

What advice do you have for designing an effective, sales readiness strategy? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.