Should I outsource my sales training?

Thanks so much for your recommendation, Mari Anne! Your questions are excellent. I would also add that it's a good idea to measure the results of your training programs by tracking before and after metrics such as revenue per rep.
Tim, what kind of sales training do you have in mind? We at Phone Works typically look at overall organizational and per rep efficiency and effectiveness first- compared to best-performing sales organizations - before recommending a particular training program. Our specialty is increasing revenue at decreased sales costs by implementing or improving phone/Web (inside) selling and lead generation. Let us know how we can help.

Tim:

As a channel consultant who's spent more than a bit of time developing sales training materials, I'm hardly a subjective voice here - but my answer is a resounding 'yes!' - with one corollary.

If you've produced successful training materials; kept up on sales process/best process trends; can easily 'package' that into a two-day seminar which will keep the attention of your team and deliver a 'product' (training which provides real-world skills in an era of complex sales) - then yes, and by all means possible, conduct the training yourself.

If you've never done this, you should consider hiring a professional - and do what you do best, which is to manage the team and its processes.

Good selling,

-Will

Tim, ask yourself these two questions before you start. One: What specific skills do you want your sales people to master. Two: How will those skils contribute to improved performance?

Re Question One: if you want to improve sales people's product knowledge, you can use in-house resources with one caveat. The caveat: make sure the employees who put together and then deliver the training know how to prepare training materials, and then know how to deliver training. If you don't have such expertise in-house, you need to outsource at least the development of the course materials and do a 'train the trainer' program.

Re Question Two: If you want to improve sales people's selling behaviors, you need to think about two things. First, the skills. You're probably better off outsourcing the training of selling skills because, like Mari Anne says, you'll find more and better expertise outside your company, plus a greater degree of objectivity. (Just because you can do it yourself, doesn't mean you're any good at teaching it to others, whether it's selling or playing the trombone.)

On the other hand, if your sales people have mastered selling skills but they still have not delivered the level of performance you want, you need to think about other things. Is your sales management team competent and knowledgeable about coaching for improved performance? Do your sales people have clear, understandable expectations and metrics? Are your mechanisms for tracking and reporting on performance effective and understandable?

Training itself is not always the answer and may, in fact, contribute to the problem instead of resolving it.

Summary and Rule of Thumb:
1. If you don't have in-house expertise and your company can't afford to staff that particular expertise full-time, you should outsource.
2. If your people need to learn skills, then you should train them. Then you should also see #1.
3. If your people need to improve their performance, remember that training alone will not impact performance at all. That takes other techniques including enlightened management, clear expectations and a whole raft of other things. Which leads you back to Rule #1 above.