Sales Performance Guarantee… Why Not?

By Jeff Seeley, CEO, Carew International

Return on investment. ROI. The business world likes to look at investments in terms of their ROI. Not coincidentally, training and development firms like to talk about ROI. Attaching ROI to training helps properly position it as an investment. It also makes tangible what can seem nebulous.

Where the training industry falls short, however, is in not guaranteeing the ROI on their programs and services. My question is, “why not”? Why should sales training and development be exempt from ROI evaluation? Certainly, there is enough science behind the sales process to generate annual sales/revenue plans. Why then, would the training and assessment programs utilized to elevate sales not be subject to ROI scrutiny? Because that would require accountability at many levels for sales, training and the content provider.

The results of investment in human resource development over the long term are indisputable. What makes training/assessment a “soft investment,” and arguably creates the single largest barrier to employee development and training initiatives, is the training industry’s resistance to providing guarantees. Particularly in this tough economic climate, supporting training initiatives with a sales performance guarantee would be extremely popular in the business community. But it won’t happen; at least not as a common practice among training providers, because most simply aren’t willing to put a guarantee to the “art” of selling.

In fact, there is most definitely is a science to selling, and a specific process which will ensure the results of training and assessment. Talent assessment, skill development and new talent selection can be applied in a systematic, quantifiable and measured program. Sales improvement becomes a science with very predictable outcomes. Applied in the current market, improved sales effectiveness can garner huge market share gains. And there is at least one sales training firm willing to guarantee the results of its programs. I will never understand why more training providers won’t step up to ensure success for their clients and put their money where their mouth is.