Is Sales Training Worth the Investment?

Hello and welcome to the show. It's available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. I'm your host Tava Shima Aidi. Today is going to be a noisy episode because everyone is home and it's late at night so expect to hear some interruptions. If you'd love to connect and explore opportunities with me, then call me on 08064662140 or WhatsApp me on the same number. The country code is +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian for social media,

connect with me on LinkedIn because if you try reaching out to me any other place, you probably won't hear from me until another month or so. But for LinkedIn, I'm there every other day. So today, the question that I would like us to tackle is how I, sorry, not I, how you or we, how all of us can measure the ROI of sales enablement. Now this one is a very technical sounding question precisely because the first person who sent it to me was technical minded person was running a business.

We're about to have started an engagement and the fellow wanted to know what is the ROI if we decide to go ahead. So let me see if I can define a bunch of terms to make all of us understand what this question entails and so that you newbies can know what an ROI is and get to the crux of this question. Now, whenever you hear someone say ROI, OK, let me put it, let me rewind, OK, On this podcast, remember that I don't use technically precise definitions.

Rather, I like to use working definitions so that whoever is listening to this show can understand exactly what it is that is being said and know what the next step is. So this definition of ROI that I'm going to give you is kind of limited, but it gets to the heart of what it is that it gets to the Coco of the matter. So on this podcast or in real life or whenever you hear the term ROI, what people are asking about is just how soon can I

make my money back or how much money am I going to make from XYZ or when will I start seeing financial returns from this thing that we are doing. So whenever you hear anybody say ROI in a business context, it just means return on investment. But basically what that person is telling you is this or rather what the person is asking you is this, how soon am I going to make my money back? You say you and I should do business, I will drop 500 K,

you, you drop 500 K ROI just means how soon am I going to get my 500K back or how much money am I going to make on top this 500K that I'm dropping? Or when will I start seeing returns on top this 500K that I'm dropping? If I'm dropping this 500K in January, when am I going to start seeing returns? Do I have to wait until March? Do I have to wait until November? Or do I have to wait until January of next year? So basically, that's just what ROI means.

How soon is my money going to come back? How much money will I make? When will I start seeing the money? So why should people be asking these sorts of questions? When are you going to get the, what is the ROI of your sales enablement? If you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that we've been talking about sales enablement. What sales enablement just means basically is all the investments that we make in training and in processes and framework and technology, Basically all those things that we do to make sure that our employees can sell better or to make sure that you can sell better, to make sure that the whole team can sell better and move your business forward.

So the summary of this question, how can I measure the ROI of sales enablement? People are just trying to figure out if I invest money in training my staff, if I invest money in creating processes, if I invest money in getting a sales consultant like me come and give my folks a framework, and if I invest money in technology like ACRM or whatever, when am I going to see my money back? How much money am I going to make?

When will I start seeing returns? So that is just the crux of this question. Now, the reason why people ask this question, ask me this question, and the reason why you should ask this question of whichever sales trainer or whichever business consultant you're trying to engage is because sales interventions are expensive. Whether you get me or you get someone else is going to cost you quite a bit of money, so it's not a good idea to flush money down the toilet.

So before you engage the services or a professional, you want to have a fair idea of these sorts of things. You want to know what's up before pulling the trigger so that you know if you have what it takes before you continue. So what kind of results should you be looking for if you're going to engage someone to come up with training for you and your team, processes for you and your team, frameworks for you and your team, or technology for you and your team to help you guys sell better?

So these are the things that you should be looking looking at what kind of results you should be looking for. Now, the way I like to advise my clients is this. There are two kinds of change that we should be looking for, or two kinds of results. There's qualitative results and there's quantitative results. Now qualitative results is just behaviour change. So what that means is by the time we start this thing, I start training you guys, we start coming up with processes and frameworks and we start rolling out technology, whether it's a proper CRM or whether it's you will start using Excel or whether you buy Diaries for everybody.

And yeah, the more I talk to people, I find out surprisingly that people still use Diaries to get their business in shape. And it's not bad. In fact, those of you who are doing Diaries right now are way better off than people who are not doing absolutely anything at all. So props to you, you know, continue. Yes, eventually we'll have to evolve beyond the diary, but for now that's what you're using. That's cool. So when I tell business owners who try and ask me all these questions, ROI, when am I going to see my money back?

How much amount money are we going to make? The sales people that we have now that are selling, you know, 1010 K every month, How soon can we get them to selling 3030 K every month or 50K every month? So the 1st result that we're going to see is qualitative change. Qualitative change just means behaviour change. Now behaviour change just means people start doing things different. It is that behaviour change, the qualitative change that leads to quantitative change.

The naira and cobo change. So those of you who own businesses and you have sales team or you have people that you work with, you're always concerned about naira and Cobo change. There are global change will come, but the change that has to come first, the results that have to come first is qualitative change, behaviour change. So if I'm able to get your team, members of your team to start prospecting, For instance, let's say you have an organization and before now you guys have never thought of prospecting.

So what you've been doing is social media activities, blah, blah, blah, you know, things like that, putting out Flyers. But then we want to start engaging in some aggressive behaviour to to grow the business. If we get your people going out and talking to strangers one-on-one, whether it's trade shows or going to people's houses or going to people's offices. If we see that behaviour change first, it is then that we're now going to see the quantitative results, the naira and Kobo change that will start to grow and grow.

So the very first thing that I tell folks is yes, Naran Kobo is going to come, but in the beginning let us focus on behaviour change. If we can get people to start doing the small, small behaviours, then the business growth is going to follow. So the things that we need to sort out beforehand, before we start working together or before you engage a consultant is this. You need to have very clear business objectives. The reason why I'm saying this is because sometimes you get a consultant and then you're trying to fix too many things,

but you'd only be focusing on fixing one thing at a time. Because if you're trying to fix too many things, there are too many goal posts. If you're trying to change too many behaviours and things like that, then it makes it harder to arrive at the Naira and Kobo change that. I'm talking about South, back to that example where I said we're trying to get people to prospect. We're trying to get people to go out and knock on doors.

If we're trying to get the team to go out to business fairs and to drop Flyers and to visit people's offices. And then at the same time we're changing advertising copy. And then at the same time we're changing the website and at the same time, let's say we're redoing the branding. You know, that's a bit too much. Trying to figure out what's working, what's not working. Under those circumstances where we're changing too many things,

it's going to make it difficult for us to inspire the change that we want in our team because your attention is going to be split and we're not even going to know where we're making progress and how we're making progress. So First off, we just need some very, very simple, clear objectives and let's only fix one thing at a time. And then if you want the best ROI on the money that you're putting in to train your team to build processes and frameworks and then to start implementing technology so that you guys sell better, you need to be clear about what you're aiming for.

Is it productivity that we're trying to improve? What productivity? Productivity means is this, you have 5 sales people. How many deals are they closing per 1010 conversations or 2020 conversations or hundred hundred conversations? That's just what it means. So let's say you have a shop. Productivity is if 50 people walk into the shop during into the store, forgive me during the week, how many people walk out and how many people bought.

So that is what sales productivity is. We're looking at the number of contacts that we come in contact with every day or every week. So every 1010 people, every hundred hundred people, every 1000 people that we come across, how many deals did we close? Sales productivity, sorry, sales productivity just means we're trying to move up from selling 1010 people every week to maybe each person selling 1212 or 15. It looks like it's small.

But The thing is, if you consider the deal size, the amount of money people are spending and the profit margins, you will see that the jump from 11:50, even though it looks like small, actually it's not bad, especially if you have a large team. Maybe you have, OK, no, maybe no, not even large team, even small teams. If you have three or four people selling from you, if you're making such small leaps like that, from selling 1010 people every week to selling 12 or 15

every week, you notice that there's a significant difference. So what are we trying to care for? Number one, are we trying to care for productivity to make sure that closing ratio goes up so that if Chukudi normally closes like 3 deals, if you talk to 10 people, let's say how we can get Chukudi to go from 3:00 to 5:00, then there's average deal size. Average deal size is about the amount of money that people drop when they're doing business with you.

So back in the photography, my wedding photography days, you meet a client, you show them your packages. Gold package, silver package, Platinum package. No, sorry, hold on. I see the other way around. Platinum package. OK, Platinum should be higher, so that will be OK. Let me say diamond package, platinum package, gold package. So you show them the packages. So average deal sizes, you run into 10 people during the week or I said during the month you close three, all those people,

the three that you close on average, how much money are they spending? Is everybody going for gold, Gold package, which is the least? Was everybody going for diamonds, diamond package package which is the biggest, while most people in the middle, which is your platinum package. So those are the questions I'm asking, average deal size, the people that come on average, how much do they spend? Does each person spend 10K each time or is this person spending 350K each time?

So those are the questions we're trying to ask ourselves. So sometimes the challenge, what we're trying to aim for is that we're trying to make sure that each person that enters into the shop or each person that hits us up on the Instagram page. Let's say in the past for 2023, on average, people were spending 2525 K. We're trying to see how for 2024 or for 2025, see how we can make sure that on average people are not spending 25K, but let's say they are spending 35 or 45.

So that's another way that we can grow the business. So sales productivity. So sales productivity, how many people did we close? Then average deal size for the people that we closed, how much money did they spend? Then another thing that we can be trying to tweak is the sales cycle length. What that means is how long are deals taking basically? Because if deals are taking, if it's taking a salespeople 6 months to close the deal, you'll be making a whole lot of money if you're able to get them to close the deal in a shorter period of time.

So let's say one person takes six months to close the deal, but you're able to get that down from six months to maybe three months to close the deal in half the time. Then that means instead of doing 6 months and closing one deal, a person can spend 6 months and end up closing 2 deals. You think so? Sometimes we're able to reduce the length of time we're able to increase the amount of deals that we can close. So when we're looking at ROI,

that was return on investment. How soon will I make my money back? How much money am I going to make? When will I start seeing returns? These are some of the things that are going to determine when these things will happen. Is it sales productivity we're trying to increase? Are we trying to get our closing rate up so that we can go from 10/10 to 12/12, you know, to 15 to whatever? Or is the average deal size? Are we trying to make sure that in the past people have been spending 100K when they turn to the shop?

We want to make sure now that when each person leaves the shop, they spend at least 135 K. Is that what we're aiming for? Or sales length cycle? If he's taking Shukudi 2 weeks to close the deal with one person, is it possible to see how we can get Shukudi to close the deal in 10 days instead of two weeks or in one week instead of two weeks? So those are the sorts of things that we should be looking at. So we just have to make sure with these examples that I'm giving, that we're trying to tweak only one thing at a time.

If we're trying to do too many things, if we're trying to do everything, there'll be confusion. Our focus would be divided and then of course, we're not going to be managing you and your sales team very well. So we have to make sure that the focus is tightly, I put it tightly, limited or very targeted. Let me put it that we need to have targeted focus. Then let's see what else? Data. Data just means information or figures or well anyway, you know what data means nothing for me to explain.

So in trying to do all these things, we need to be keeping track of data. On the productivity thing, we need to be tracking, so the salespeople, how much was Chukwudi selling for 2023? We also need to be tracking how much people spend on average so that the end of the year we can say we had these number of clients, these number of transactions. I now add everything up, do the dividing and then get the average deal size.

Then we also need to track information so that we know how long it takes to close the deal. OK, when did Chukudi start conversations with Madame Morgan? OK, January 1st. When did the deal closed? The deal closed April 14th. And then you look at the next client and then you look and you look and you look, and after a while you're going to be able to see that. OK, Chukudi on average is taking 3, three months to close a deal with each client.

So that gives you a sense of what the sales cycle length is. So we need to be tracking data. We need to be writing this information down, whether it is a diary that we're writing these things down one by one or whether we're using a proper CRM or whether we're using Excel. We have to be tracking all these data. So track data, how you use it, how are you doing it? Are you doing the Excel? Is this CRM, is it diary? Just make sure you track it sharp because we need this information to be able to answer this first question.

If you want to know how soon can I make my money back and you're dropping let's say 500 K into this training, Then if we have information of how much was your sales, how long has your sales team been taken to close the deal? And we know how many people that they're talking to on average, how many deals that they close and how long it takes them to close that deal. It is then that we can do some math and say that look, OK,

you're dropping 500 kid. Now if we train these people and we're able to get them to instead of closing 1010 deals every month, we get them to close maybe 12 deals. Let's say we're using a borders goal. We can able to we can look at the numbers and say OK, from 11:50 at this rate of how long it takes to close the deal, you can calculate something and say OK, you know our Bros with this thing. Now, even if we get them to close an extra one or two deals,

worst case scenario like one month, you're just asking your money back. So we can only do this math if you, the business owner, has been keeping the data and has been tracking the data. If we haven't been doing that, then the first time we're going to work together or the first time that you called in a consultant, the first couple of days, the first month might be used to just set the baselines. Setting the baselines just means, OK, we've entered before we start talking about performance improvement, we even need to establish like what is it that we have met on ground?

What is going on? How many deals has this person been closing? How many deals has that person been closing? You know, we're now trying to figure out all these things before we now start talking about what the progress is going to be like. Now I understand that for those of you who really want Naira and Kobo growth, all these things I've been saying has not answered your question, I understand. So let me just try and give you guys some rough estimation if you want to know the cold hard truth.

How long before we start seeing Naira and Kobo in the bank account? On top of this money that I'm investing in my team, I'm paying you to come and train them while implementing technology, while coming up with processes. When will I start seeing naira and Kobo? Unfortunately, it depends. How complex is the intervention? How many things are we trying to solve? The more things we're trying to solve, the longer it will take for the money to come back.

If we're trying to solve smaller, smaller things, then the shorter. It also depends on the maturity of the sales teams. If you have people who are new, new people take a long time to ginger, you know, to ramp up. As we say in these circles, they take a longer time to ginger and become much more effective. But if you have a mature team, that one is different because, excuse me, a mature team, mature salespeople, especially if they're bought in and able to take action, they'll be able to move sharp, sharp, like, OK, you say we should do like this.

You say we should do like that. They can hit the field and do this and do that. And then you can start seeing immediate results. And then of course, like I said, also depends on how much data it is you have and how much tracking that you did. But as a general rule, with my experience so far, I like to tell people that look, expect to see some change between three and six months. Now some of you might shout three months, OK, at least you have a yardstick that you're looking for.

You can now gather yourself. You will now know whether you have enough bank, whether you have enough in savings, whether you have enough you run your financial projections, whether you can afford to do this sort of thing, or what is it you're going to change here? What is it that you're going to change there? However, because it might take three to six months does not mean if you don't have three to six months worth of money to pay, it doesn't mean you should not do anything.

Part of the reason why I make the podcast is because I want people to be able to have free resources that they can use to make their businesses better. That's part of it. So even if you don't have that kind of bar with you right now, listen to shows like this one or other useful resources and then start implementing one or two things before you reach out to this consultant. So if you like my stuff, listen to podcast episodes, make a note on one or two things.

Start implementing it with your salespeople, with your business partner, with your investors, with your whoever. Start implementing it now, now, now, now. At least if you start implementing one or two things and you run it like that for maybe two or three months before you call me, you guys have made some progress. You're familiar with my methods, you're familiar with my philosophy. Those are the kind of things that you do that can shorten the amount of time before you start seeing Naira and Cobra returns.

And like I say on the podcast, it doesn't have to be me. Whoever it is that you like, anybody that is like you guys are vibing, like you guys have the same philosophy. The reason why I say start with there is because if you guys kind of vibe like you hear this guy or hear this baby I like, I like the way she they reason, then you'll make it easier for you to apply. And remember what I said about behavioral change. It is from the behavioral change.

It is from the applying that the progress is now going to come. So that's why I say to start with the person that you feel them, you feel their style or this behavior. I like her style, this guy, I like his style. You know that sort of thing. Then let's see what else. Also, another reason why I say use resources like this for a while is because it will start getting your team, you know, your business partner or you know the people that you want to sell for you.

It will get them into the habit. It will get them into the habit of, look, we're trying to improve ourselves. We're trying to grow. Apart from that, it is also going to introduce the team to the idea of greater accountability. The reason why I'm stressing this one is because if you've had a team before, you guys have been rolling for like maybe one year, you've not been doing anything. The day you tell them that, OK, I'm bringing the consultant,

we're going to do this, we're going to, they're going to do that, there will be huge resistance. Nobody likes change. People have been happy with the way things are going before. If you're introducing a consultant now be as if you're just shaking the table unnecessarily. But if you start, let's say for the last two months you've been telling them, listen to this episode, do this, do this today, we'll do this today, we'll do that.

They are already kind of getting into this habit of, OK, now we have to be much more accountable. Now we have to be much more productive. Now we have to be much more forward thinking. So that the day you say, Oh yeah, this is your trainer, you know, it's kind of expected because people are like pool, they will know like, OK, Auger or Madam has been doing this thing for the last 3-4 months. OK. So this is not a surprise.

The amount of resistance that will be there will be less. So these are the sorts of things that if you put in place before you engage the services of a consultant, you'll be able to limit the length of time that it will take for your money to start coming back. We'll also give you a sense of how much money you're going to make by the time you bring somebody into the organization and let's see what else and then you get the whole drift.

Bottom line, what I'm trying to let you guys know is if you're thinking about engaging a consultant, engaging someone like me to come in, doesn't matter whether it's sales or branding or public relations or marketing or whatever, you're not being unreasonable and you're not being cheap. If you start asking these questions that look or a consultant, what is the ROI? How soon will I make my money back? How much money am I going to make?

Or when will I start seeing my money coming in? You're not being unreasonable. You're not being cheap. It's a reasonable question to ask. But rest assured, if you pick a competent professional, we'll be able to give you some sort of answer, no matter how vague or no matter how imprecise. But we'll be able to give you some sort of answer, and we should be able to answer it with some level of confidence. And if you don't feel confident,

please don't go ahead because this also effects the rate of return, the amount of return and the time of return and the money that you're investing. If you say, let me just do this thing because my business partner says that, but then there's no motivation. I am, you know, pushing your crew and you're not. There's no follow through to make sure that everybody does what they're supposed to do. These are the things that can affect the returns, whether the behavioural change will come and whether the naira and cobo change will follow.

So if you're not bought in, if you don't believe, if you don't feel it, then just don't. Don't do it. You know it's not by force. OK, so almost 30 minutes. So let me bring it to a close. That's all for today pretty much. Thank you very much for your time and attention and remember that if you'd love to connect and explore opportunities with me, call me 08064662140 or WhatsApp me on the same number. The country code again is +234.

For those of you who are not Nigerian and for social media, connect with me on LinkedIn. Thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys tomorrow.