Businesses spend over $70 billion annually on sales training in the United States, representing an average of $1,459 per salesperson. That’s more than 20% more than training spend for all other workers combined.
Unfortunately, when considering an investment in sales training, many organizations fail to take into consideration one critical thing: The culture of their sales training provider.
Here’s why company culture matters in any organization
Company culture impacts every aspect of an organization’s ability to provide service. If an organization has a poor company culture, the customer can experience it in the form of bad customer service, inconsistent results, or general frustration.
On the contrary, you can tell when an organization has a strong and excellent internal culture because every interaction with them is pleasant, efficient, effective, and provides positive outcomes.
And it matters even more when choosing a sales training organization
If you’ve ever had to call an insurance company to get a quote, or a supplier to order fabricated steel, you may have experienced a positive or negative company culture via a positive or negative interaction with their representatives.
When you engage with a sales training organization, however, you will experience their company culture on many levels. It impacts:
- Each interaction with their representatives
- The quality of their training
- The responsiveness of their support team
- Their ability and commitment to ensure positive training outcomes
Your sales training provider should become an integral partner to your organization. They’ll be involved in understanding and forming your sales strategy, process, and methodology. They’ll help you understand and define the specific skill sets your team needs in order to excel. And they may interact with your team on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.
When you choose a sales training company with a strong culture, every interaction can be smooth and consistent. The quality of the training will be better, and they’ll be better able to respond to your specific needs. When you do encounter problems, they’ll resolve them swiftly and effectively.
You can also expect a provider with an excellent culture to care about the outcome of their training–their success measurement should be your success, not just the number of training hours delivered.
Here’s how to choose a sales training provider with a strong company culture
Your sales training company should have a documented statement of values and express a commitment to applying those values in practice. But that commitment should go beyond words on a page.
Look for a track record of applying those values in practice. Check references to find out whether those values are consistently practiced with their customers. And pay attention to how and when they adhere to those values in their interactions with you during the evaluation process.
Equally important, make sure the values they claim and practice are values that you actually want in your organization. Here are some suggested values to look for:
- Customer-focused
- Passionate
- Nimble
- Problem-solver
- Positive
- Resolute
- Life-long learner
- Empowered performer
At The Brooks Group, we believe in the importance of a strong internal culture based on strong core values, and we believe this influences our ability to drive strong sales results for our clients. Learn more about the values that inform our culture here.
