Sales training organizations are challenged when trying to measure the impact of specific choices on behavior change, just like a weight scale can’t tell you how much you have benefitted from skipping the fries and how much was due to a new walking program. This brief describes how coupling training investment with coaching and measurement helps to enhance its overall impact.

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Research Brief
Predicting how Americans would respond to calorie counts being added to
fast-food menus, the president of the Culinary Institute of America said, “We
talk thin but eat fat.” Such an example of the “knowing-doing gap” and how it
relates to driving lasting behavior change is exactly the challenge facing most
sales training organizations.
These organizations are further challenged when trying to measure the impact
of specific choices on behavior change, just like a weight scale can’t tell you
how much you have benefitted from skipping the fries and how much was
due to a new walking program. In this brief, we describe how coupling training
investment with coaching and measurement helps to enhance its
overall impact.
Connecting Events to Action
As salespeople no doubt remind their trainers, most real learning is gleaned
the hard way on the job. The problem is that on-the-job learning often
produces what organizations consider to be less-than-optimal habits. Training
directors in our client base tell us they leverage competency models and
conduct gap analyses to identify what learning options should be offered, then
create curricula to close the gaps.
What they unfortunately don’t (or cannot afford to) offer is training for front-
line managers so these managers can solidify what has been learned. Trainers
also don’t position themselves to influence how other tools such as sales
force automation and sales playbooks are designed, both of which are perfect
opportunities for reinforcement (as we will discuss below).
Through better coaching, sales training can extend its impact beyond the
classroom in a budget-friendly fashion. To bridge the gap for reps between
on-the-job realities and those skills and processes taught in formal training
sessions, coaching reinforcement must be offered via two methods –
traditional and unassisted.
Traditional Coaching
Coaching is often called “contextual learning” because it usually happens in
person, on the job. The heart of coaching is the interaction between manager
and team, with the manager helping to influence behavior by observing and
Sales Training: The Coaching-
Measurement Connection
Sales training organizations are
challenged to effect lasting behavior
change and measure impact
Be wary of “check box” mode, where
the training event is the only learning
opportunity; investment in coaching is
essential to lasting change
Combining two coaching options with
enhanced measurement delivers
desired visibility and accountability

2. Research Brief
© SiriusDecisions. All Rights Protected and Reserved. 2
then offering feedback. For sales initiatives to be successful,
focus on three core coaching areas:
• Training. Sales managers in most companies are made,
not born; they are often successful field reps that do not
have the natural ability to teach others what they know.
These competencies, however, can be instilled in special
pre-course “train-the-trainer” sessions that not only
make the general sessions that follow more effective, but
demonstrate to managers how they can act as post-event
mentors.
• Justification. Because many sales training companies
offer coaching modules, they often have compiled data
that measures the impact of such modules. Gathering and
presenting this data helps defend the request for coaching
funding if there is organizational resistance to it.
• Situational application. In a live customer situation, new
skills can be difficult to apply. Because sales reps will turn to
their managers as the first line of support, these managers
must be trained to optimize their guidance. If coaching
cannot be provided in the context of the scenario, reps will
tend to default to using old habits.
You may want to consider creating professional sales coaches
from the ranks of your training staff or most experienced
salespeople. Some organizations view “coach-in-residence”
recognition as one way to help reward and retain top
performers who are effective at working with their peers. For
reps, this can also be positioned as a possible precursor to a
future management role.
Unassisted Coaching
There will be plenty of times that reps face scenarios when
a first-line manager isn’t available – or asked – to help. By
aligning training with the rest of your support structure – what
we call unassisted coaching – you increase the likelihood that
the rep will choose the “right” route on their own. Three core
areas of this type of coaching include:
• Process- or tool-based. Integrating process or skills
training into your toolsets helps to build behavioral change
into everyday tasks. Sales training, sales operations and
marketing can work together to instill training building
blocks such as opportunity methodology processes into
common toolsets including the sales force automation
system, and support the facilitation of face-to-face,
negotiation and prospecting skills in the sales portal and/
or sales readiness/customized sales communications (CSC)
platforms.
• Playbook- or marketing content-based. By aligning
the selling process with the buying processes of your
prospects and customers, training will have an easier time
collaborating with marketing to ensure that the content,
tools and collateral it is providing is valuable. By using
playbooks that incorporate learning concepts, reps gain
a clear picture of how training meets the “real world.” In
addition, using real-world examples during training events
is a way to create semi-customized content that is easier
for reps to recall and repeat when they encounter similar
scenarios on the job.
• Competency model-based. In the brief “Productivity Deep
Dive: Sales Competency,” we offer our take on the sales
competency model, a comprehensive cross-section of
skills, processes, knowledge and tools required for sales
professionals to succeed in today’s b-to-b environment.
These models need to be updated on a regular basis to
make sure learning keeps pace with market changes, not
just internal requests. They may also need to incorporate a
broader range of elements customized to different roles and
experience levels within the business. A competency model
that includes all elements essential to sales excellence can
help to define tools and processes that support ongoing
sales rep development.
Training Measurement Options
The impact of one or more training events is difficult
to isolate from the many other factors that contribute to
whether – and how – a sales rep makes his or her number.
Clients tell us they primarily measure training success based
on sales rep feedback; very few use their managers to gauge
effectiveness.
Training is similar to marketing in that it acts as a service
bureau providing content for others to use; thus, it can
judged using similar metrics including utilization by student
and by course; facilitator and/or content ratings; and post-
training testing. Other ways to evaluate effectiveness include
creating control groups within sales to test performance

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Research Brief
differences with and without training, and reaching out to external certification
organizations to objectively assess skills or knowledge.
Finally, there is the link between measurement and coaching. By incorporating
coaching requirements that include specific feedback and assessments pre-
and post-training, you gather insight into the long-term effect of content.
Consider gathering feedback on “unassisted” coaching materials provided
to the field, including their usage and effectiveness. Even without coaching
training in place, managers or designated individuals can be given a standard
checklist for planned or surprise assessments of how training has translated
into behavioral change. For example, an inside sales manager can listen in on
calls and review adherence to training concepts at specific intervals.
The Sirius Decision
It is nearly impossible to use quantitative techniques to isolate the impact of
training events on sales performance. At the same time, rep feedback in the
form of “smile sheets” is simply not enough to satisfy the need to validate
a return on training investment. Reinforcing training with coaching is the
key to driving lasting behavioral change, and also to measuring its impact.
Incorporating defined post-training behavior evaluation with individual
coaching helps reps continue to improve, while measuring where they stand
and taking immediate action to make any necessary course corrections.
Leveraging traditional and unassisted coaching methods offers different
mechanisms (and often a lower cost structure) to reinforce the important
investment companies make in training and skill development.