Standard learning and development initiatives may be quicker and less costly but what if they are actually doing more harm than good?

In sales and marketing time is money. If you take people away from their jobs you want to be sure that their time isn’t wasted.

Professional people are usually busy. They don’t like being messed around. Ask them to give up their valuable time for something that doesn’t add value and you can expect a negative reaction.

But that is exactly what many leaders do. Too often do they pull salespeople off the road and marketing people away from urgent tasks for little benefit.

I can remember being asked to attend a sales meeting. It required a 5 hour drive which meant that I had to finish on my sales patch after lunch to drive to the hotel, stay overnight, and wait around until 10 am the next morning until the meeting started. After 20 minutes the meeting (about something that could instead have been communicated by phone and a PowerPoint) was over. Then I had to drive back. A journey that took even longer due to traffic. That was one and a half selling days lost. For a salesperson that is a long time. The sales targets don’t change, they just get harder to achieve.

Of course to some managers a story like that is like water off a duck’s back. It isn’t their time lost. They simply don’t care.

If you employ managers like that, or if you yourself are like that I would urge you to think differently.

Sales and marketing performance is often subjective. People can make the right or wrong choices about what to do. You need them to make the most of their time and have a positive frame of mind.

Which brings us back to standard learning and development (or “off the shelf”) compared to tailored learning initiatives.

Standard training is that where one course fits all and the person being trained needs to figure out how to apply what they have learned in their job. The sad reality is that many people find it very difficult to match up what has been taught with how to use it in their jobs.

Tailored learning is where everything that is being taught is directly related to what is important in the eyes of the directors, managers, and individual. Rather than a one-off training course, tailored learning is more coaching based over a period of weeks or longer. Instead of a one-way directive, it is an ongoing two-way discussion.

Add flexible, short and dynamic sessions by web meeting and you have a very different experience than the old classroom style approach.

So there are some of the differences.

In short if you want to “tick boxes” then choose the standard training. That way if anyone asks you can say you have done something. However if your remit is performance based and you need results, then seriously consider a tailored approach.

Adrian Hargreaves is an experienced sales, marketing, strategy and communications professional and owner of the sales, marketing, and communications coaching company Hargreaves Marketing Ltd.

To discuss contact Adrian on 07866795858 adrian@hargreaves-marketing.co.uk