Curating a Sales Training Content Library for the Modern Rep

When it comes to sales training, quality trumps quantity. A few well-crafted articles and videos that are tailored to your team's needs are far more effective than an overwhelming collection of disorganized materials. If your sales reps can't easily find the right content when they need it, the size of your training library becomes irrelevant.

In today's rapidly evolving sales landscape, providing continuous learning and development opportunities is essential for keeping your reps at the top of their game. This article will guide you in curating a comprehensive and up-to-date sales training content library that empowers your reps to achieve their sales goals.

Understanding the Modern Sales Rep's Needs

First thing’s first: Start by understanding the learning styles and evolving preferences of the modern sales rep. Gone are the days of boring videos with cheesy dialogue and heavy manuals with dry material. 

Today’s sales reps are looking for bite-sized and interactive learning materials that are available on-demand. They want sales training content that caters to their individual learning style, whether that’s visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or a combination.

Building a Comprehensive Sales Training Content Library

How can you create a sales training content library that meets the needs of the modern sales rep? There are two main considerations: content formats and content topics.

Content formats: Because people learn in different ways, it’s important to include content in a range of formats to appeal to each rep’s needs. Common examples include:

• Video tutorials and webinars
• Podcasts and audio recordings
• Interactive simulations and role-playing scenarios
• Infographics and visual aids
• Case studies and success stories
• Whitepapers and research reports
• Articles and blogs 

Content topics: Sales is a vast subject, and it’s impossible to cover everything all at once. Split up topics into smaller modules to provide reps the opportunity to get deep into a subject area. Include these important sales topics:

• Prospecting and lead generation
• Building relationships, rapport, and trust
• Identifying customer needs and pain points
• Presenting solutions and handling objections
• Closing deals and negotiating
• Sharing product knowledge and industry insights
• Navigating customer service and customer success issues

Curating and Organizing the Content

Now that we’ve covered what types of materials to include in your sales training content library, let’s get into how to organize those materials. Without a clear system, you’ll end up with an unfocused content web—and that’s not going to help anyone. A well-organized sales content library is easily searchable, so your reps can find everything they need in seconds. 

There are several ways you can organize your sales training content, like:

• Topic
• Skill level
• Learning objective
• Content format
• Date updated 

Using a system that can also incorporate feedback, such as user ratings and reviews, is also a great way to organize content as it shows how relevant the content is to the sales reps’ needs. No matter how you organize your library, be sure to regularly update and add to the content so that the materials stay fresh and on top of sales trends.

Promoting Engagement and Adoption

Once your sales training content library is ready to use, it’s on to the hard part: rep engagement and adoption! It doesn’t matter how well-curated the library is if your reps aren’t interested in using the materials. 

Here are some tried-and-tested strategies to encourage your sales reps to actively engage with the sales training content: 

Use gamification techniques. Leaderboards, badges, and rewards are great ways to incentivize learning. Offer monetary rewards, extra days off, or bragging rights.

Integrate the content library into sales training. From onboarding onwards, ensure the library is part of all sales training development activities. This way, the reps will get used to referring to it at each step.

Foster a workplace culture of learning. Sales managers and executives should promote the use of the content library, providing time for the reps to consult materials on a regular basis.

Ensuring Sustainment with a Comprehensive Approach

Here’s the thing: Sometimes, organizations start off strong with new learning materials…but interest quickly wanes after a few months—bringing engagement down to almost zero. How can you ensure the adoption of the sales training content library is sustainable for the long term? 

Partnering with a leader in customized sales training programs is a good start. At ASLAN, we not only focus on tailored learning for sales reps—but also on how to ensure the approach has continued engagement and interest. 

We use an effective three-pronged approach to ensuring sustainment:

• Comprehension through Multiple Formats: To ensure advanced comprehension, we offer a variety of learning formats such as mobile, AI-powered apps, digital learning curricula, and webinars. These diverse methods cater to different learning styles and help sales reps retain the material, encouraging continuous learning.
• Application with Bite-Sized Learning: Sales reps are busy meeting with clients and don't have time to dedicate entire days to learning. Our micro-learning modules and toolbox of resources allow reps to learn in small, manageable segments whenever they have the opportunity. This approach ensures that learning is seamlessly integrated into their daily routines.
• Mastery through Ongoing Development: We embed learning into your workplace culture, ensuring that sales reps can achieve mastery over their content. Frontline leaders are certified and equipped to provide ongoing coaching, reinforcing the skills learned and driving continuous improvement.

Measuring Success and Continuous Improvement

In order to make sure your sales training content is having the effect it should, it’s important to track and measure some key metrics:

• Content engagement rates
• Content completion rates
• User feedback
• User ratings 

These metrics help you understand whether your sales reps are engaging with the content and whether it’s relevant for their knowledge and skills gaps. Regularly evaluate and adjust the materials within the library based on the data and feedback you collect. For example, if a certain piece of content gets very low reviews, it could be that the material isn’t engaging and should be removed from the library. Having a continuous improvement plan ensures the library always remains relevant. 

You should also consider your sales performance metrics, such as total revenue, win rate, average deal size, and churn rate. These will show you what kind of effect the sales training is having on your business. For example, if you see a marked improvement in revenue after your sales reps have started using the library, then you’ll know that things are working as they should.

Make An Impact with Your Sales Training Content Library

An unorganized jumble of boring sales materials doesn’t get your sales reps excited. What the modern sales rep needs is a highly curated and comprehensive sales training content library with engaging materials. However, sales reps won’t flock to the library on their own. You have to use adoption and sustainment strategies to get them using the content for the long term, and measure your success along the way. 

Invest in building or enhancing your sales training content library today with ASLAN. Schedule a call with our team to learn more about our custom sales training programs and the impact they have on your organization.