Sales teams have on average just 24 minutes a week for training. Find out how to make it count, with innovative, engaging learning, built around you.
Why just 24 minutes for sales training?
In 2017, Josh Bersin, in collaboration with Deloitte professional services network, published a paper in which he noted that, on average, sales people only have time for 24 minutes of sales training a week. To put this into context, dentists recommend that healthy brushing requires 28. While we’re not disputing the benefits of a rigorous oral hygiene regime, it does seem staggering that just 1% of a normal 40 hour working week could be allocated to something so crucial to professional development.
So what’s the answer? Well, there are various options. We need to either maximize what we can achieve with 24 minutes, or we find creative new ways to reallocate wasted time from other activities. Alternatively, we could stop brushing our teeth (that’s an extra 28 minutes right there…), but this may not be a sustainable long term solution. Or an attractive one.
Conversion is key
No matter which business segment, all sales teams have certain things in common:
- Frequently highly mobile, working from remote locations with extended travel periods in between.
- Prioritize deal closing over most other activities – conversion is key.
- Constant demands upon their time, time which is broken up into small segments.
- Due to their highly mobile nature, they’re often completely at ease with (and indeed reliant upon) mobile devices.
This profile presents a number of challenges – and a number of opportunities. Since they’re unlikely to follow a straightforward office 9-5 routine, any sales training solution has to be flexible enough to work around their schedule, whether that be a 5 minute coffee break, or an hour on a train. The solution has to work around them, not the other way around.
Thankfully, what may initially seem to be a major sales training challenge (small chunks of available time, spread throughout the working week) might actually prove to be a huge opportunity.
“We know that the jobs are going to change…It’s going to be more about how we learn. Future generations will be about continuous learning, it will truly be about creativity.”
Beena Ammanath, Founder Humans for AI
The human brain is uniquely flexible – and one type of training does not suit all. When we design a training system we must therefore make sure that it is modular, capable of being constructed from a series of small, segmented building blocks.
These building blocks can then be arranged in a sequence that best suits the learner. Some may want to absorb the information 5 minutes at a time, on a regular basis, others may have the mental focus (and time free from distraction) for a more formal, structured learning environment.
The Science of Learning
- Neuroscience, specifically neuroeducation, has identified that the brain learns best in small chunks, finding it easier to retain and organize information – so why aren’t we training this way?
- Mercuri DLC is a modular, customizable training offering that embraces the way we learn, presenting information in a flexible, intuitive format for learners to digest – anytime, anywhere, on any device.
