In 2011 the UK Commission for Employment and Skills published a comprehensive review of employer demand for more sales training and investment in skills.
The findings showed that UK companies spent around £50 billion on more sales training for their staff. Despite this significant figure, further evidence showed that sales and customer service staff were still losing out on valuable training opportunities, with repercussions for company performance.
Roughly 55% of sales and customer service staff revealed they had access to job training opportunities, but the occupational area as a whole was shown to be suffering from a general skills gap, with 61% of companies reporting that performance and business objectives were suffering as a result.
So have UK sales companies woken up to the benefits of training their sales teams, or is there still work to be done? We spoke to the Marketing Director for sales training organisation at Pareto, and he is certain that firms are beginning to gather a real understanding of the benefits brought about through investing in training.
He commented: “We feel that the perception of sales training in the UK has altered, for the better, since the publication of the 2011 survey. Previously too many UK companies have seen sales training as an inexact science, perhaps also seeing it as an American import that wouldn’t benefit their UK operations.”
“Happily, more and more sales companies are coming to us and are getting an understanding of the value added through training staff and cutting down skill gaps. We have understood from experience that professional development has to be a process that is specifically tailored and constantly worked on.
Companies we work with are also seeing that, and benefiting from that approach. Being strategically focused in how you train your sales staff is critical to enhancing revenue and helping your company reach its full potential.”
Pareto Law is the UK’s biggest and most successful sales enhancement company: the authority on sales, no less, since 1995. Pareto brings companies the 20% of the sales team that makes 80% of the difference.
The Pareto Effect can be experienced in many ways and it can have a remarkable, measurable effect on your business. Pareto delivers this effect through four key elements – Sales Recruitment, Sales Training, Executive Recruitment and Sales Development, bringing your business sales assessment and accreditation solutions to deliver sales excellence.
