subject: Sales Training - How Much and How Often? [print this page] How much training is enough? I remember a trainer asked a related question some times ago, "Which is the bigger dilemma; training someone and he left, or not training someone and he stays?" That is a tough choice to make, right? And when it comes to training volume and frequency, the limit is pretty much obsolete.
How Much Training Does One Need?
Before we get to the answer, it is probably wise to know why we train in the first place. Training is required to transfer knowledge to skill. In other words, it is when the rubber meets the road.
Knowledge is potential, and to turn that potential to real power, one needs to train. The more hours someone spends on practicing, more skillful they will become. In fact, training is needed to break the invincible' barrier, often noted as psychological' barrier.
Research has shown that it takes at least 50 hours to break it.
That probably becomes a good indicator of how much training is needed, which in this case, is at least fifty hours of solid practice.
How Often Should One Be Trained?
The answer is as often as needed.
You might think that training is needed to introduce new set of knowledge and skills, but in reality, training is needed more than just that.
Come to think of it, training is needed more to reinforce skills, as said by one of my trainers, "We need to be reminded more than informed." When someone complaints that he did not receive enough training, it could be the problem of not enough reinforcing'. This could lead to lack of confidence and low motivation due to inability to perform certain skills.
And this is easily fixed.
Once the weak area has been identified, a proper training plan can be devised to address it, and of course, individual variation must be considered for such situation.
