BOSTON – November 21, 2024 – RAIN Group, a global sales training company delivering results through in-person and virtual sales training, coaching, and reinforcement, in partnership with Allego™, the leading provider of revenue enablement solutions, released the findings of its latest study, Continuous Learning in Sales.
Analyzing responses from over 240 sales professionals across industries and regions, the study uncovers what organizations with highly effective training and development do differently.
Key findings from the study include:
- Effectiveness Gap: Only 33% of respondents rate their organization’s sales training and development as extremely or very effective in helping achieve strong sales performance and productivity.
- Lower Turnover with Effective Training: Companies with highly effective sales training report significantly lower turnover rates (33.8% vs. 45.5% among those with less effective training).
- Blended Learning: 93% of highly effective training organizations incorporate in-person, instructor-led methods, compared to 65% of less effective programs. Additionally, the organizations with effective training leverage virtual instructor-led training (66%) and virtual self-study (50%) as part of a blended approach.
- Extensive Online Resources: Organizations with highly effective training provide comprehensive resources, including sales tools, templates, workbooks (73%), recorded videos (63%), and online courses or program modules (61%).
- Reinforcement and Coaching: Highly effective training organizations offer more learning reinforcement activities (1.5x), online coaching (1.4x), and role-play and simulations (1.3x) compared to organizations with less effective training.
- Key Drivers of Effectiveness: Based on regression analysis, regular mentorship and coaching, the use of assessments to identify skills to develop, and effective onboarding are predictive of effective sales training.
- Leadership Support: Organizations with effective training are 2.2x more likely to have strong leadership support for continuous learning and 5.2x more likely to provide resources that prepare sales managers to motivate and coach their teams.
- Technology Integration: 63% of organizations with highly effective training have invested in a sales learning and enablement platform. Among these, 31% strongly agree that content is available when needed, and 27% report that sales playbooks and best practices are up-to-date and easy to access.
- Embracing Everboarding: 30% of organizations with effective training report a direct transition from onboarding to continuous learning, or “everboarding,” compared to only 7.6% of those with less effective training.
“With only a third of companies seeing their sales training achieve results, there’s a tremendous opportunity to approach it differently,” said Erica Schultz, CMO of RAIN Group. “Our research highlights the tactics that make the biggest difference in training effectiveness and identifies actionable steps for driving real change.”
The research underscores the benefits of blended learning methods, leadership support, and ongoing reinforcement.
“High-impact strategies like these deepen skill acquisition and foster continuous improvement across sales teams,” Schultz added.
Moreover, the study highlights that leading organizations assess training effectiveness through facilitator feedback, sales performance metrics, assessments, employee feedback, and employee retention rates. Notably, companies with less effective training are almost 14x more likely to forgo measuring effectiveness altogether.
Organizations with effective training prioritize ongoing development or “everboarding” to maintain a culture of continuous learning.
“By shifting seamlessly from onboarding to ongoing learning, companies set their teams up for long-term success,” Schultz explained. “This approach helps lower turnover, shorten ramp-up times, and build well-prepared sales teams to drive sustained performance.”
The study also reveals the growing importance of technology in effective sales training.
“Technology isn’t just enhancing sales training—it’s transforming it,” said Yuchun Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of Allego. “From AI-driven coaching tools to virtual reality simulations, organizations leading in training effectiveness are harnessing innovations to create data-driven, engaging learning experiences that deliver measurable outcomes.”
For more insights from the Continuous Learning in Sales study and practical tips on elevating sales training effectiveness, visit this page.
About RAIN Group
RAIN Group is an award-winning leader in sales transformation, with over 20 years of researching and enabling top sales performance. RAIN Group’s modular, multi-modal approach to sales training provides flexible and customizable solutions for complex global teams. Trusted by leading companies, RAIN Group partners with clients to ensure learning is adopted, creates lasting behavior change, and drives measurable results. Learn more at www.raingroup.com
About Allego
Allego is the leader in modern revenue enablement technology. Allego’s all-in-one enablement suite helps ready more confident sales teams, curate impactful content, and engage buyers more effectively. Allego is the trusted choice for nearly 1 million users–providing up to 50% lower software costs, 50% shorter sales cycles, and 45% higher win rates, propelling revenue growth. Learn more at Allego.com.
