A manager’s guide to building a sales training plan

Let’s be honest… the phrase "sales training" often triggers a collective groan from teams and managers alike.

For many, it conjures up memories of stale hotel conference rooms, role-playing exercises that make your toes curl, and trainers who haven't actually sold anything since the fax machine was cutting-edge technology.

But it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, it shouldn't be that way.

When you get it right, a sales training plan isn't a punishment for missing targets or a tick-box exercise for HR. It’s the single most effective way to help your people feel capable, confident, and yes, even happy in their work! And as we know, happy teams naturally perform better.

If you’re looking to build a training plan that actually works (and your team might even enjoy), here’s a practical guide to getting it right.

1. Diagnose before you prescribe

A big mistake we see managers make is throwing a generic sales course at a specific problem.

If your team is struggling to close deals, is it because they don't know how to close, or is it because they haven't built enough value earlier in the conversation? Are they afraid of hearing no, or do they simply lack the product knowledge to answer technical questions?

Before you book a single session, talk to your team. Look at the data, but also listen to their call recordings and join their meetings. You might find that what looks like a closing problem is actually a listening problem.

We find that most gaps fall into three buckets:

• Mindset: Confidence, resilience, and handling rejection.

• Skillset: Questioning techniques, negotiation, and objection handling.

• Process: Managing the pipeline, using the CRM, and time management.

Once you know the gap, you can fill it with the right solution.

2. Focus on relationships, not just revenue

This might sound counterintuitive, but the best sales training often looks a lot like communication training.

In the modern market, nobody wants to be sold to, we want to be understood. The hard sell is dead; long live the helpful human.

Your training plan should prioritise skills that build trust. We’re talking about active listening, empathy, and consultative selling. When your team shifts their focus from "how can I sell this?" to "how can I help this person?", the pressure drops and it becomes easier to build trust.

Research from Harvard has shown that happy employees are 37% better at sales. Why? Because people buy from people they like. If your training helps your team enjoy their interactions rather than dread them, you have already won half the battle.

3. Keep it bite-sized (obviously)

We are biased, of course, but the science backs us up!

Taking your sales team off the road or off the phones for two full days is rarely the most efficient way to learn. It’s just stressful for them (they’ll be thinking about their emails piling up) and expensive for you. Plus, human brains are not designed to absorb 16 hours of new information in one go.

Instead, build your plan around short, high-impact sessions. Focus on one key skill at a time, for example, a two-hour workshop on handling objections or selling value.

This allows your team to learn a concept, practise it immediately, and see quick wins. It keeps the energy high and the cognitive load more manageable.

4. Don't forget the managers

You can have the best sales training plan in the world, but if the management culture doesn't support it, the investment is wasted.

If you send your team on a course about consultative selling but then badger them solely about call volume the next day, you are sending mixed messages.

Include yourself and your other managers in the training. Better yet, run specific sales management sessions on coaching and feedback. Your role isn't just to inspect the numbers, it’s to nurture the behaviours that produce the numbers.

5. Make it safe to fail

Sales can feel like a high-performance sport, but training should be a safe space to practice.

If your team feels judged during training, they’ll clam up. They won't try new techniques, they’ll just stick to what’s safe (and ineffective). Create an environment where it is okay to mess up, or ask a silly question - after all, better to make mistakes during training than on a client call.

Psychological safety is the secret ingredient in high-performing teams. When people feel safe, they take risks, innovate, and they’re more resilient when a prospect says no.

6. The 70:20:10 rule

A good plan isn't just about the formal courses - it’s useful to follow a framework like the 70:20:10 model:

• 10% Formal Training: The workshops, courses, and seminars.

• 20% Social Learning: Peer feedback, shadowing top performers, and mentoring.

• 70% Experiential Learning: Doing the job, applying the skills, and receiving coaching on the fly.

Your training plan needs to account for that 90%, not just the 10%. How will you follow up next week? How will you share wins? How will you coach them through the losses?

Ready to build your plan?

Building a happy, high-performing sales team isn't about finding a magic script. You just need to work on building a team of people who have the skills to listen, the confidence to advise, and the resilience to keep going.

If you need a hand mapping out a learning journey that covers everything from consultative selling to negotiation skills, we would love to help.

Let’s make sales training something your team actually looks forward to!