On the surface, that may sound like a no-brainer. After all, having a methodology is basic sales sense. Or so you’d think. As it turns out, only 20 percent or so of sales mangers tell DaiShõ that they have a methodology. It gets worse. When pressed these leaders admit that only about 10 to 15 percent is being actively used by their salespeople.

And that’s the problem when it comes to sales training!

The backbone of any sales training programme is the methodology. For sales training – skills, techniques, process etc. – to deliver, these have to be connected. And that’s what sales methodologies do.

The single biggest challenge for companies investing in sales performance improvement is the adoption of, and compliance with, a well-founded, relevant sales methodology across the organisation, that can be supported by the sales training. One without the other is a waste of money and time!

This philosophy stands in stark contrast to what happens in many sales organisations where, if there’s a problem with (for example) cold-calling, the company brings in a cold-calling training expert to fix it. Or when the annual sales conference comes up, sales leaders call the company that recently gave a convincing PowerPoint presentation and schedules a couple hours of training. And while training done in this “fix-the-symptom-not-the-cause” fashion, can produce an quick fix in sales performance, fewer than 20 percent of companies show any sustainable productivity gains.

If you want your training to produce a sustainable improvement that lasts beyond a week or two, there are no shortcuts. You must start by defining a solid methodology that matches the buying patterns of your customers. Once you embrace this philosophy, the right training will work.