In his recent guest column for Training Industry, Carew CEO Jeff Seele identified reinforcement as The Weakest Link in Sales Training. He makes a good point about the considerable investment in sales skill development and how training ROI can be compromised without proper reinforcement. It is also important to remember that training reinforcement can take many forms and be incorporated at many points in the sales life of your organization. Here are three great ways to reinforce sales skill development:

Showcase sales team success

Nothing carries more credibility with sales team members than the insights and experiences of fellow sales professionals. Following any dedicated sales training event, there will likely be sales “wins” that can be directly attributed to a sales professional’s newly acquired selling skills or process. Be sure to leverage these instances both in terms of publicizing the success, recognizing the individual sales professional and deconstructing which elements of training were deployed and how they were utilized for a successful outcome.

Cultivating a culture of sharing and analyzing successes will drive increased adaptation of new skills and processes and provides a whole new source of insight and inspiration for the entire sales team. Success stories can be shared in writing or in person at sales gatherings (see below).

Regional sales meeting

Many sales training providers, including Carew, offer structured reinforcement systems with turn-key activities for managers to utilize with minimal prep time. Even without a professionally prepared reinforcement system, sales managers can leverage their time with their sales teams to reinforce one particular selling skill. Doing so enhances performance, demonstrates the priority that sales management places on skill development and gives the sales manager a key role in driving performance improvement on his or her sales team.

National sales meeting

Your national sales meeting provides a rare opportunity to re-charge and unify your sales team. While motivation and recognition are always key objectives for the event, this is also a perfect opportunity for skill development and reinforcement. High quality skill development at the sales meeting will ensure sales team participants feel their time at the event was well spent, not to mention the tangible effects of skill development on driving sales performance improvement.

Skill development does not end in the training classroom. To maximize adaptation, behavior change, sales performance improvement and training ROI, look for opportunities throughout the year to make skill development part of your sales culture.