Sales enablement has transformed over the past decade, with innovation and investment driving efficiency across the sales process from prospect research to pipeline management to forecasting.
Alongside these transformative tools, the capabilities of the sales team should be in the spotlight as well. It has never been more important for every team member to perform at the highest level – from building trust to overcoming objections to concisely addressing specific questions – in the moments where they have the attention of prospects. Yet, sales team training has not kept pace with the rate of technological change, driven by four specific shortcomings that can be addressed with new tools.
Key challenges
First, sales teams are often trained using standardized models and talking points – lacking the nuanced, industry-specific context that is critical for more personalized sales interactions. According to Sales Collective, 72% of sales leaders believe training fails when it tries to be one-size fits all. In a market where buyers receive many sales calls, personalization is more critical than ever. Measurable outcomes of improved training include higher close rates, lower time to close, and larger ACVs.
Another key challenge is that sales training remains overly focused on “learning,” and less so on “doing.” Research abounds on the impact of immersive, hands-on learning models across sectors. For example, a 2014 study revealed that students pursuing active learning had notably higher scores than those only doing lecture-based courses. Still, sales training hasn’t comprehensively internalized this finding: a recent sales report notes that under 40% of sales teams currently deploy roleplays as part of their training despite the noted benefits of this type of immersive practice. For those of us with direct experience in the space, this statistic isn’t surprising. After all, without the right technologies, it takes significant manager time to design immersive training, conduct practice, and provide actionable feedback.
A third issue in sales enablement is the content trap. Sales training remains woefully manual, static, and content-driven. The onus is on sales leaders to create more materials (from one-pagers to Q&A to battlecards) and update training assets as products and markets evolve. Doing so takes time away from busy managers, especially as strategies and market needs shift. The result is unsurprising: training is slow to adapt beyond the updated content, and team members are more focused on reviewing materials than ensuring they can deploy this new knowledge when it counts. One way this shortcoming manifests is the “compelling gap” – product and services teams describe the offering as “compelling” but the sales teams don’t report the same enthusiasm from prospects because they can’t communicate the benefits in the right ways.
A fourth gap in sales training is that it often misses the mark on measurability. While QA tools have become more entrenched, helping managers assess sales team performance, training remains an area where measurement is underutilized. Without tools that rapidly capture performance data, training performance would require manual effort to measure. The impact is that companies may spend increasing resources on training, only to hear feedback about trainees’ lack of readiness from sales managers.
High-performance training: building blocks
Taking these current gaps into account, we can reverse-engineer what high-performance sales training could look like. Four traits stand out:
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Realism:
Sales practice should feel like real prospect interactions – emotional, high-pressure, and nuanced. Trainees should leave training experiences feeling prepared to enter real sales conversations.
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Tailoring:
Training practice should reflect the specific needs of a company’s ICPs, preparing trainees to interact with the full range of personas required to successfully close deals.
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Adaptability:
Training simulations should be easy to configure and adjust as internal conditions and market needs evolve. This involves deploying automated, self-serve methods that help leaders get away from an overreliance on content that bogs down training programs.
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Measurability:
Training programs should allow leaders to rapidly measure progress, skill development, and improvement opportunities. Leaders should be able to capture these trends and action on critical improvements, before they show up in real conversations.
AI simulations: A solution
AI simulations present a high-ROI solution that integrates these four ingredients in ways that dramatically level-up training effectiveness and efficiency. Typically, AI simulations involve platforms built on machine learning models, which can be configured to create dynamic and immersive scenarios. These platforms enable participants to practice and adapt to realistic conversations, and often integrate instant feedback mechanisms so managers can assess strengths and opportunities.
Platforms vary significantly in their specific functionality, underlying technology, and user experience. Nonetheless, AI simulations present enhancements to the training experience across the four dimensions prioritized above:
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Realism:
AI-powered simulations should provide immersive, hyper-realistic scenarios that can be completed consistently.
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Tailoring:
Simulations should be deeply customized to address not just a company’s needs at the moment, but to the evolving needs over time.
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Adaptability:
Simulations should offer rapid configurability, allowing managers to build them quickly as products and market needs evolve.
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Measurability:
Simulations must capture trainee performance instantly, providing managers with clear indicators of trainee success and ideally providing feedback directly to the participants.
The impact of AI simulations is empirically validated: A recent study reveals that simulations for contact center onboarding resulted in an over 30% increase in positive customer interactions. Outside of short-term performance impact, simulations give time back to busy managers by automating key training and coaching activities that were previously completed manually. The same report notes that up to 80% of manual coaching tasks could be automated. While the impact varies across tools, simulations present a dynamic solution that helps companies train better while driving efficiency for managers.
Conclusion
By integrating these elements, AI simulations deliver both engaging and evergreen training models while giving sales leaders the insights they need to assess their team’s development. Team members can practice in an immersive way that doesn’t burn actual prospect opportunities, empowering them to be more prepared on calls without high cost. The result: meeting and exceeding goals by individuals, team leads, and sales organizations.
Read More: The Psychology Of Sales Enablement: How Tools Are Designed To Empower And Motivate Sales Reps?
