The way you run your business is the way your business runs. If you’re making mistakes, then so is your business. Here are the five online sales training mistakes that I see most often, and how to avoid them.

Mistake #1: Treating online sales training like a one-off

You wouldn’t have a website that doesn’t change, or not put out any new content for months on end. You wouldn’t leave old videos up on YouTube, or just do the bare minimum when it comes to keeping your Facebook page active.

Yet that’s exactly what some businesses do with their sales training – they treat it like a one-off project, which has been done and now it’s time to move on to something else. That can be disastrous for your bottom line if you don’t keep everything up to date and moving forward.

The solution: Have an ongoing commitment to keeping things fresh and evolving over time. This means you should have ongoing contact with those who provide sales training (consultants, trainers, coaches) and have regular conversations about what needs updating and evolving in your sales training program as a whole.

Mistake #2: No regular review of the program

Many sales training programs have been created with a one-size-fits-all mentality. This can be especially true if you’re using a template to create your own sales training program.

The problem is that no two businesses are exactly the same, and what works for one business might not work for another. As a result, sales training can sometimes be delivered in a way that feels completely unnatural and disconnected from your business culture.

If you don’t review your sales training on a regular basis, then you could end up delivering something that doesn’t actually resonate with your team or customers.

The solution: Take the time to sit down with those who provide sales training and go through the entire program to ensure it fits in with your business and its culture. Then do this on an ongoing basis, rather than just once and then never again.

Mistake #3: Not providing enough support after the sales training is complete

It’s not enough to just provide sales training – you also need to provide ongoing support as well. This means there should be ways for your team to get feedback on how they’re doing, and how they can improve.

If you’re just giving your team sales training and then walking away, then you’re not providing enough support.

The solution: You need to have regular conversations with those who provide sales training, as well as your team members, about how they’re doing. Then create a system that allows them to get feedback on their performance from others on a regular basis. This will help ensure that they keep improving and that you have a continuous stream of improvements flowing through your business.

Mistake #4: No review of the customer experience

A lot of businesses focus on getting sales training right internally, but then don’t focus on what happens when the customer interacts with your sales team. This is something that often gets overlooked in the sales training process, but it shouldn’t be.

Sales people can do everything right when it comes to their approach to customers, but if they don’t deliver a great experience then all of their hard work could be for nothing.

The solution: Take the time to review your customer experience regularly and see where improvements can be made. You might want to involve customers in this process by asking them for feedback on their experience.

You could also hire a professional to come in and do a customer experience review for you. Whatever you do, don’t ignore this aspect of your sales training – it’s just as important as everything else.

Mistake #5: No system for measuring performance

If you don’t have a system for measuring performance, then how can you know if your sales training is working? You might think that your sales training is helping, but how can you be sure?

How can you be sure that it’s not making things worse? And how can you be sure that it’s worth the time and money you put into it?

The solution: Take the time to create a measurement system that will allow you to see if your sales training is working or not. It doesn’t have to be complicated – all it needs to do is measure the results from the approach your team members are taking, compared with what they were doing before.

If there are improvements, then your sales training is working and it should continue. If there aren’t any improvements, then it might be time to try something else.