“Training doesn’t end in the Classroom. It BEGINS there”
Too many organisations treat sales training like a vaccination — a single shot that’s supposed to inoculate the team against underperformance forever. Reality check? Without reinforcement, follow-through, and integration into daily routines, even the best-designed programs fade into “a nice day out of the office” with no real impact.
If you want sales training to truly stick, you have to shift from event thinking to process thinking — where training is part of an ongoing cycle of performance development, coaching, measurement, and accountability.
1. Make Training Relevant, Not Generic
A one-size-fits-all workshop rarely works.
- Diagnose before you deliver: Use assessments and performance data to identify sales process gaps, skill gaps, knowledge gaps, and attitude gaps (Willingness & Conviction).
- Tie learning to real-world KPIs: Show how mastering the skill impacts their own numbers — win rates, sales cycle times, customer coverage.
- Customise to your sales process: Training aligned to your own GASP®-defined sales stages has a far higher retention rate than “best practices” in the abstract.
2. Integrate Training into the Performance Management System (PMS)
Training without follow-up is like planting seeds and never watering them.
- Build KRAs and competencies into appraisals so that applying the training is measured.
- Use quarterly reviews to check if the learned behaviours are being practiced in calls, proposals, and negotiations.
- Treat training objectives as performance objectives — with the same seriousness as sales targets.
3. Make Field Managers the Real L&D Leaders
Sales training is not the sole responsibility of the HR or L&D department. Every Area Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager, and Field Supervisor is, in reality, an L&D Manager for their team.
- They are the ones who see behaviour in the field, spot skill gaps in real time, and can immediately coach for improvement.
- Without their active role in reinforcing and modelling new skills, even the best corporate training program will fade fast.
- The true multiplier effect happens when every field leader treats “developing people” as their primary job, not an afterthought.
4. Reinforce on the Job — The 90% Rule
The GASP® approach emphasises 10% classroom + 90% on-the-job reinforcement.
- Managers must act as coaches — observing calls, giving immediate feedback, and modelling best practices.
- Use Field Accompaniments and On-the-Job Appraisals (OJA) to make learning situational and practical.
- Celebrate small wins from applying new skills to build momentum and morale.
5. Measure Behaviour, Not Just Results
Lagging indicators (sales achieved) show what happened, but not why it happened.
- Track leading indicators like pipeline inflow, sales call quality, and opportunity conversion rates.
- Link changes in these metrics to specific skills taught — e.g., improved questioning technique leading to higher qualification rates.
- This closes the loop between training content and business outcomes.
6. Create a Continuous Learning Culture
Training that sticks is training that’s part of the culture.
- Establish a Sales Academy or internal program for ongoing skill development.
- Mix formal sessions with bite-sized refreshers — role plays, short videos, peer learning circles.
- Encourage top performers to mentor others — reinforcing their own skills while raising team standards.
7. Sustain with BOSF — Brutal Obsession with Sales Fundamentals
Lasting training impact comes when leaders inspect what they expect.
- Keep the focus on process compliance, quality standards, and daily discipline.
- Make it clear: following the process is the job; sales results are the natural outcome.
- Revisit the fundamentals regularly, because even veterans slip into shortcuts over time.
The Bottom Line
Sales training is not an event — it’s a habit you build into your organisation’s DNA. When you:
- Customise content,
- Integrate into PMS,
- Make every field manager an L&D leader,
- Coach in the field,
- Measure leading indicators, and
- Relentlessly reinforce fundamentals,
…your sales team doesn’t just attend training — they live it. That’s when you stop wasting money on “training days” and start investing in sustainable sales performance.
Next Steps
Sales training sticks when you Diagnose first, Design to the process, and Deliver with daily reinforcement. Anything else risks being forgotten within weeks.
Talk to GASP Sales Academy now to truly embed your sales training for a lasting impact .
Diagnose. Train. Sustain.
Dinkar Suri I Founder & UnConsultant I www.gaspsalesacademy.com
#SalesTraining #SalesExecution #SalesLeadership #GASP #BOSF #OnTheJobTraining #SalesAcademy #TrainToSustain