Top 5 Sales Training KPIs You Need to Track

What if training could guarantee that one employee will make a $50,000 sale and pay off your corporate training investment for the whole staff?

Well, it can, and it did. A workplace learning study by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) sampled corporations that invested an average of $900/employee and others that invested $275/employee annually.

The corporations that invested more in employee training resulted in 57% higher sales per employee than the other corporations.

Takeaway: Investing in employee training pays off.

Is your organization investing in its employees?

Are you developing key performance indicators for employees to measure training effectiveness?

When it comes to measuring return on investment, you have to identify key performance indicators (KPI) in corporate training. Then, keep those metrics in mind as you assess how well your team is doing.

Not sure which KPIs to track? Here are five key performance indicators for training departments to start tracking today.

What Are Key Performance Indicators?

Put simply, KPIs are training evaluation metrics. Each metric helps you determine how well employees are progressing toward a particular goal or objective.

Why should sales training departments monitor KPIs?

For starters, it’s common to use KPIs in all business areas, but they're especially important in the sales training department. When you identify and monitor sales training KPIs, you can quickly determine how well your sales team progresses in their collective and individual programs.

Tracking training KPIs helps coaches identify knowledge gaps. By catching bad habits early, coaches can improve employee performance before they negatively impact the company’s bottom line or reputation.

Use KPIs as a point of reference to see whether sales reps met specific requirements before starting to sell. Additionally, KPIs can help you chart patterns in high and low performers. In turn, KPI training metrics help you refine your training procedures and train new hires to sell confidently.

Top 5 Key Performance Indicators for Training Departments to Track

Okay, now you know what KPIs are and why you need to track them. 

What are some metrics for evaluating training and development, though? 

What kind of KPIs should you be looking at as part of your training program?

Here are five of the most important key performance indicators for training departments to begin tracking.

1. Cost Per Learner

You can't ignore money-related matters when you're trying to run a successful company. By taking the time to measure your cost per learner, you’ll have an easier time determining your training program’s ROI.

How much money do you spend, on average, to train each member of your sales team? Consider travel costs, training materials, technology, etc.

Add up the average training investment per learner and use it as a reference when calculating your ROI. Reports from your CRM or LMS can help you figure out how much each learner brought in for your company post-training.

2. Methodology (and Technology) Adoption

Adoption refers to the percentage of sales team members who are actively using your sales training methodology. Basically, how many people are sticking to the sales process based on your evaluations and assessments?

Whether it’s your sales process or technology, measuring adoption can help you discover who isn’t abiding by the company standards and methodologies communicated in your corporate training.

Take attendance at training activities and have coaches regularly check in with new hires using employee coaching software. Administer occasional pop quizzes on the principles or steps laid out in your sales process. Encourage coaches to follow up with employees post-training as well to ensure they’re following protocol.

3. Time to Proficiency

Make time to proficiency one of your training department's top key performance indicators. Generally speaking, the faster an employee learns the ropes, the sooner they can be productive and reach their full potential. 

There are lots of ways that you can determine an employee’s time to proficiency. For example, if an employee has to pass a final test before they can start fulfilling their job responsibilities, you can measure the time it takes between their first day and when they pass the test.

You can also look at reports from your LMS to see how long it takes someone to complete all required training coursework. 

4. Sales Goals

Consider putting a scaling quota in place for new sales reps. Over time, the sales goal will grow as their on the job skills do, too. You may also want to calculate the time it takes for reps to meet the sales quota once they’re actively selling.

If employees are meeting their sales goals, it’s likely a sign that your training program is effective and gives them the tools they need to succeed on the job. If they're not meeting the pre-established quota, you may need to reassess your training program or meet with learners to find the knowledge gaps.

5. Employee Engagement

High rates of employee engagement are essential in every department, including sales. By measuring sales team engagement, you can get a better sense of how well your training department teaches learners what they need to know.

Employee engagement is highly influenced by management and leadership, but also by the training content they’re learning. Custom eLearning games drive 47% more engagement, and from our calculations, improve knowledge by 67% from beginning to end.

Evaluate employee engagement to make sure your team is getting the most out of their sales training courses.

Start Tracking KPIs in Corporate Training Today

Tracking key performance indicators for the training department can help you train more competent salespeople moving forward. It'll also help you quantify learner progress and make sure everyone is getting the training they need to succeed on the job.

Keep these KPI training metrics in mind as you work on improving your sales training.

Request a demo of Unboxed's learning platform and custom sales training programs to organize, deliver, and enable sales reps with on-demand sales training. Contact our team at Unboxed Training & Technology if you have questions about any of our programs.