What Sales Leaders Must Know About Instructional Design to Get Results from Sales Training

Introduction

Do you remember that old TV commercial where “4 out of 5 dentists agree?” It was for Trident sugarless gum, right?  

Whether or not you remember that commercial, I’d love to have a similar statistic for the percentage of senior sales leaders who implement their sales training in such a way to get a meaningful performance lift.  

It would require things like: 

• Doing bite-sized learning: Keeping learning brief and focused on one core topic or learning “chunk.” 

• Using spaced repetition: Providing multiple exposure to the content over time.  

• Incorporating retrieval learning: Asking questions to help learners “retrieve” content from memory. 

• Orchestrating flipped learning: Once several bite-sized chunks are learned (usually self-directed), spending live training time doing application and practice with feedback loops. This “flips” the normal approach where live time is spent teaching the content and students get homework to do on their own afterward.   

• Engaging frontline sales managers: Teaching managers first and preparing them to reinforce and coach (especially the flipped learning).  

• Holding people accountable: Salespeople must be accountable to use what was taught (adoption).  

• Building long-tail reinforcement: Managers must be accountable to reinforce the training and coach reps to mastery over time.  

• Focusing on workflow integration: Wrapping the concepts and tools into daily workflow and systems.  

• Remembering these axioms: 1) What gets measured gets done, and 2) What gets asked about gets attention and focus.  

Some Perspective Based on Experience 

Based on 30+ years of experience in the sales performance field, I’d estimate that 4 out of 5 sales leaders don’t do those things, and therefore—for them and their sales forces—sales training doesn’t produce a meaningful result.  

You might think I’m being critical of these sales leaders (or of you, if you are one), but hear me out. I understand why this happens. The truth is, these things aren’t taught in general business school courses, and they’re not widely understood outside of training, learning and development, or performance improvement circles. Some sales or revenue enablement professionals have more exposure to these concepts, but even that’s not widespread since many get promoted into enablement from sales roles. 

In addition, most performance experts are what I call “5 paragraph people” (very detailed communicators) compared to many Type A sales leaders who are “3 bullet point” people (very concise communicators). Yes, it’s a generalization—but one I’ve seen play out often. And the difference in communication preferences only serves to widen the understanding gap.  

So, sales leaders, this one’s for you. And be ready, because it may challenge some of your cognitive biases that prevent you from getting better results through training.  

The Problem This Gap Creates 

This information gap between learning and performance experts and senior sales leaders creates a costly problem: leaders often assume classroom training is excellent or at least sufficient, especially if they have a bias for “in-person” learning and “relationships.” This often leads to achieving secondary goals for training but misses the primary outcome of improving sales performance. This results in limited retention, minimal behavior change, poor sales results, and a wasted investment.  

A self-directed plus manager-led approach, grounded in modern learning science, addresses these failures and delivers measurable results that resonate with business leaders. 

Let’s dig in a little deeper into both sides of this coin.  

The Old Way: The “One Big Blast” Event (Training or SKO) 

Imagine you’re introducing a new, B2B complex sales methodology or at least part of one, such as a qualification method or an insight selling approach. Whether it’s a separate training session or done during your SKO, the traditional, instructor-led classroom-based approach looks like this: 

• You gather your entire sales team for multi-day, high-energy training sessions or sales kickoff meetings.  

• An expert trainer delivers hours of content through PowerPoint slides and group discussions. There may even be exercises, activities, and role plays/skill practice with feedback (although the feedback is usually delivered by a fellow student who just learned the same thing). 

• Everyone gets fired up and takes meticulous notes, believing they have unlocked the secrets to generating more opportunities and closing more deals.  

• The event ends with a round of applause and a feeling of success. It’s emotional, motivating, and a “feel-good” experience.  

This is like cramming for a final exam. The information is fresh in everyone’s mind for a short time, but there’s no system in place to apply or reinforce it. The knowledge fades fast, the skills don’t become “the way we do things around here” (no or low adoption), and reps eventually revert to what’s comfortable. 

The business problem this creates: 

• The “Forgetting Curve” erodes your investment. Without reinforcement, people forget up to 90% of what they learn in a week. That expensive, multi-day training session loses most of its value almost immediately, resulting in minimal behavior change and a wasted budget. 

• The sales methodology fails to integrate into the workflow. The new methodology, with its steps and terminology, exists in a separate silo from the daily sales process. Your reps might say they are using it, but they are just checking boxes, not truly adopting the mindset and skills. 

• Managers aren’t equipped to coach. The frontline sales managers, who are your most critical asset for driving behavioral change, were just observers in the training. They don’t have the depth, tools, or (if you have overburdened them) the time to provide the personalized, ongoing coaching needed to make the methodology stick. The training becomes a box-checking exercise, not a cultural shift. 

The New Way: “One Inch at a Time” 

Now, let’s look at the same new sales methodology through the lens of modern learning science: 

• Before the live training: Reps complete short, engaging video modules explaining the core principles of the methodology. The videos are designed to be entertaining and episodic, to keep learners’ attention. This is bite-sized learning and the first part of flipped learning, so they come to the live session prepared and engaged.  

• During the live session with managers: Time is focused on retrieval learning and application, which is the second half of flipped learning. Reps actively practice new skills through role-playing and real-world case studies led by their managers, not just a trainer (or perhaps co-facilitated by a manager and trainer to combine managerial support with facilitation excellence).  

Notes: In the best-case scenario, the above two steps will cycle in a loop until all the content has been taught, reinforced, and practiced. Also, these manager-led reinforcement and practice sessions may be in-person, when employees are local, or may be conducted virtually. We’ve seen both work equally well, even when the manager was skeptical at first about virtual sessions.  

• After the videos and live or virtual reinforcement: The learning doesn’t end. For months, managers use the videos, the virtual platform or local meetings, and the meeting guides to run weekly “huddle” sessions. These sessions use spaced repetition to review a single key concept, such as resolving a specific concern or peeling the onion on qualification factors, and using the new frameworks, models, and tools. The focus in these sessions is practical application and practice with feedback. This builds long-term memory and lasting capability.  

• Manager-led coaching becomes the norm: The concepts, forms, and tools are wrapped into the workflow, with embedded prompts and guides to reinforce the methodology. This ensures managers are holding people accountable for using what they learned, because it’s now part of their daily coaching routine. In some cases, concepts or tools can be incorporated right into CRM. Creating a scoring system for qualification criteria is a good example of this.  

• Measurement drives adoption: The “what gets measured gets done” axiom is applied through your platform’s analytics. Leaders can see not just who completed the training, but if you integrate concepts into your CRM, or attach worksheets to records, they can see who is adopting the new behaviors and how it’s impacting their pipeline. Managers can also document ongoing coaching and the results, as well as ask specific, targeted questions during team meetings and one-on-ones, aligning with the “what gets asked about gets attention” principle. Senior leaders can inquire about progress as well, to capitalize on that same principle.  

The bottom line: This is about behavior change, not just awareness.  

The Outcomes You Were Hoping For 

This modern, science-based, virtual, and manager-led model offers a different, more effective, and more measurable approach that delivers on a sales leader’s top priority: driving real business results. 

• Maximized ROI: Your training investment is not lost after 90 days. It creates lasting behavioral change by building muscle memory over time.  

• Measurable Impact: You can directly link learning activity to performance metrics, proving that the training is working and not just a feel-good event. 

• Empowered Managers: You transform your frontline managers into highly effective coaches, multiplying the impact of the training across the entire team.  

• Built-in Accountability: The system holds reps and managers accountable for continuous improvement, ensuring the new methodology becomes a permanent part of your sales culture. 

• Common Language: You foster a common language across your sales force and adopt a formal methodology.  

• Maximizing the Power of Methodology Adoption: Multiple research projects have proven that companies with a formal sales process and sales methodology that are adopted at high levels outperform others in terms of revenue plan attainment, rep quota attainment, and win rates. In one study, adoption levels of greater than 70 percent showed a statistically significant lift in all three metrics. It’s worth the effort.

Closing Thoughts 

Yes, Virginia, it is possible to get results through sales training. But it’s as rare as a Santa Claus sighting in August, because most leaders don’t do what’s necessary. 

The good news? You don’t need to become an instructional designer yourself to lead a high-performing sales team and get better results from training. But you do need to understand the principles that drive learning, skill development, behavior change, and performance improvement—and ensure your team is trained, coached, and supported in a way that aligns with how people actually learn. 

If you want your training investment to pay off, it’s time to move beyond the “one big blast” in-person training and embrace a modern, manager-led (virtual or in-person), science-based approach. When you do, you’ll stop checking boxes and start changing outcomes. 

If you’d like to explore a consultative sales training program based on these principles, reach out to me here and I’ll share more, answer your questions, and provide a free preview.