Evaluating Sales Training Programs

The evaluation step (the second E in ACMEE) focuses upon measuring program effectiveness. A sales training program represents investments of time, money, and effort sales management expects returns commensurate with the investment. However, measuring sales training effectiveness is not easy, but it is possible to gauge, somewhat roughly, program effectiveness.

The starting point is to compare the program’s aims (the A in ACMEE) with the results, but the core of the measurement difficulty is in determining training results. Results, such as improved selling performance, for instance, may not show up until months later. Management approaches the measuring problem by making certain comparisons, such as the length of time new sales personnel (who have completed initial sales training) take to attain the productivity level of the experienced salesperson, the performance against standards of trained and untrained sales personnel, and the respective training histories of the best and worst performers. Some companies plot each salesperson’s sales records on a before and after training basis, generally converting them to market share percentages.

Other approaches to measuring program effectiveness are in use. Some companies use written tests (on a before and after training basis) to determine how much trainees have learned. This is appropriate for measuring improvements in amount and depth of product knowledge, for instance, but reveals little about the trainee’s ability to apply this in the field. Other firms send observers to work with sales personnel who have completed training programs and to report the extent to which trainees are applying what was taught in programs. Still other companies solicit customers for their reactions to a salesperson’s performance after training. None of these approaches produces precise evaluative data. They provide indications as to whether results are positive or not.