Expert Advice: How to Create a Successful Virtual Sales Training Program in 2021

“If 2021 sees a gradual return to in-person selling, use your first in-person sales meeting to rebuild momentum and re-emphasize coaching – but also give guidance on when to keep selling virtually. Our research shows that only 25% of salespeople use virtual approaches well, so provide (virtual) training in mastering virtual presence. As the economic impact of the pandemic takes hold, refresh skills in account management, customer success, building momentum, stakeholder management, and alleviating customer risk.”

“First, focus on training that will produce the greatest business impact. Next, build training around a common challenge your sellers face. Like qualification. When sellers chase poorly qualified opportunities, they waste time on bad fits – and under-serve best fits. Focus on your key constraint. Provide a concise lesson on how to resolve the problem. Model good and bad responses. Encourage the group to record short videos modeling effective approaches. Engage the crowd. Seek 20% lesson, 80% crowd-source.”

“Many factors contribute to successful virtual sales training. First and foremost, ensure any training is aligned with the broader goals and direction of the organization. From there, focus on minimizing distraction and disengagement – they are threats to virtual training success. Create an active learning experience that promotes a strong sense of engagement by keeping class sizes small, limiting the length of sessions, and ensuring Web cams are on throughout the session.”

“Creating an effective virtual sales training initiative means doing four things. First, training sessions must be shorter, but more frequent so learners can apply new skills to in-pursuit opportunities. Second, trainers must make learning interactive through the use of polling, role play, and breakout groups. Third, training groups must be kept small to keep engagement high. Fourth, organizations must incorporate virtual sales training into their curriculum now as this mode of interfacing with customers normalizes.”

“Simplify, simplify, simplify. Deploy short, targeted sprints aligned to the flow of work. In a virtual environment, it’s critical to build competence one building block at a time – so choose topics per month or quarter that will produce lasting effects. For each sprint, incorporate a variety of training modalities (micro-learning, self-paced, virtually facilitated), intentional/detailed on-the-job application guides, and topic-specific coaching. The journey to sales excellence starts one step at a time.”

“With everything going on in the world today, helping your team build skills to drive success is more important than ever. My advice is to start now. Think about training as an ongoing initiative rather than a one-time event. Virtual platforms allow the flexibility to provide bite-sized learning over time, so your team can absorb and apply their learning between each session. These multiple touchpoints promote accountability – and accountability leads to results.”

“Virtual sales training should be designed to deliver short and impactful learning bursts with clear objectives and messaging going into the training. Each training session shouldn’t exceed three to four hours max per day. To keep the audience engaged, the curriculum needs to leave room for discussion, role-play activities, and other interactive gamification that gives attendees a break from just listening to a presentation, and instead requires them to actively participate virtually.”

“We need to redesign and enhance training delivery for the virtual world – not try to simply mimic the in-person learning experience. Space out the learning to provide opportunities for real-world application between sessions. Create opportunities for learners to collaborate and solve real-life sales challenges. Include short videos, self-study, live cohort sessions, group activities, social interaction, gamification, and completion badges. These blended programs show the best levels of engagement, satisfaction, and completion rates.”

“The key to successful virtual training initiatives is to use digital tools to create personal, engaging experiences. Don’t fall into the trap of offering uninspired, off-the-shelf virtual training – viewing it as a stand-in until we can gather again. Virtual training is not the backup plan; it is the plan now. 2021 will bring more distance for leaders and their teams, so we must find ways to use digital tools to enhance training initiatives.”

“Traditional training often uses instructor-led time to teach and then practice a concept – and this teaching typically consumes a fair amount of ‘live’ time. With virtual sales training, there’s an opportunity to do much of the concept introduction and knowledge transfer before the session. This allows the virtual instructor-led session to focus on application, practice, and feedback. Then, when followed up with application assignments and coaching between the sessions, sellers quickly adopt and effectively apply new skills.”

“Success in 2021 will be determined by two factors. First and foremost, get serious about encouraging your reps to be other-centered. Self-centered reps, who aren’t seen as ‘essential,’ won’t survive. Secondly, good is no longer good enough. Virtual selling is exposing reps who lean too heavily on the inherent value of their solution and not their ability to sell. To thrive, sellers must learn the advanced skills to selling without all the props.”

“Look for the root cause of your sales performance or productivity issues. That will guide you toward the right solutions and behavior changes. Successful virtual sales training requires interactivity and engagement with skill-based activities. The biggest fallacy about training is that people learn when we talk. Instead, they learn when they do.”