U.S. companies spend billions annually on sales training, and billions more is spent globally. The U.S. average per-year, per-head spent to train sales people is $2,326. Reacting to an increasingly complex selling environment is a growth-stalling proposition for many sales orgs. They need badly to do something different. They turn to sales training, hoping to help their sellers stand out and engage customers earlier and more effectively.

While sales training itself can be highly effective, sales training by itself may not produce the commercial results sales leaders hope for. Companies that are serious about real, sustainable growth in a complex and unpredictable environment should look beyond just training and focus instead on broad commercial transformation.

In Challengers history of commercial effectiveness work, with more than 600 companies, weve found that skill training is just one of six critical pillars of successful commercial transformation. The companies that get transformation right and see consistent, sustainable growth, plan and execute around all of these six pillars. Lets briefly explore each of them.

The Six Pillars of Commercial Transformation

1. Leadership Alignment

2. Message Deployment

3. Skill Development

4. Process Improvement

5. People Management

6. Success Measurement

Investing in sales training (whether its a single classroom or a million-dollar event) is a good idea, but without the accompanying focus on leadership alignment, message development, process improvement, etc., the rah rah motivation it inspires will quickly fizzle and your event will be remembered more for its cost than its benefit.

Ultimately, a foundation for sustainable, profitable growth is broader commercial transformation. The Six Pillars listed above are designed to support that effort. Companies that use these pillars as their guiding light are those seeing the greatest return on their commercial effectiveness efforts, including their investments in seller training.

Spencer Wixom is Vice President of Marketing at Challenger, and has helped transform sales and marketing teams in some of the biggest and best companies in the world.

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Six Ways To Keep A Million-Dollar Sales Training Investment From Being A Million-Dollar Write-Off - Customer Think