Training Needs Analysis

Thinking of doing training? Here’s a template for sales training needs Analysis that you might find useful.

Company  Background

• What is your business unit responsible for?
• How many employees are there?
• What are your annual sales/revenues?
• Who are your biggest customers?
• Any recent business changes?
• What are your business objectives (long-term and short-term)?
• What will be the impact if you miss objectives?
• What results are you getting now?
• How close are you to meeting those objectives?
• What are your key business challenges (external and internal)?
• What are your marketing strategies?
• What are the three most important things you need to do in your department?
• What is the mission of your department?

Training Need

• Who is the target audience (job, length of service, age, size of group, etc.)?
• What problem needs to be addressed? Why?
• How was that problem identified?
• Has this problem been addressed in the past? How? With what results?
• What type of performance is needed if business goals are to be realized?
• What must supervisors and managers do differently or better in the future? How prepared do you believe they are to perform in this manner?
• Describe someone who is performing at peak.
• What must each type of employee do differently or better?
• What should people be doing to achieve the goal?
• What will it look like if the goal is achieved?
• Who is sponsoring/requesting this training? What is important to them?
• How open is the audience to the training?
• What is the target date for implementation and completion?
• What obstacles may hinder completion of the project?
• What things are contributing to the problem which are not in your control (competition, etc.)?
• What are the forces outside your control that will make accomplishment of these goals difficult or challenging? (for example, changes in the economy or governmental regulations)
• What are the forces within your control that will make accomplishment of the goals difficult or challenging? (for example, reward system, etc.)
• What forces will help in accomplishing these goals?
• What are their primary reasons for the goal not being accomplished?
• Was there ever a time when you were achieving the goal? Why do you think it changed?
• Do people know what is expected regarding the goal? How do they know?

Success Criteria

• What are the outcomes desired? What will success look like?
• How will success be measured?
• When is a return on investment expected?
• Who will measure success?
• If the training goal is achieved, what will be the impact on the organization?
• How will you know if you meet the goal?
• What measurements will you use to determine if the goal is met?