How much changes in 12 months? Or in 24 months? 

Think about it, 12 months ago, hardly anyone knew: 

• What ChatGPT was
• What an LLM or generative AI was
• Brain-computer interfaces were a real thing

We live in a moment where time is a flat circle and things change in the blink of an eye. What was once science fiction becomes ubiquitous in the blink of an eye.

It’s obvious that building a culture of continuous learning in any organization, including in sales and marketing, is now a necessity. But what does that look like? How do we build it and sustain it?

Building and sustaining a culture of continuous learning within an organization involves several key strategies and practices. Here are some steps you can take:

• Lead by example: Sales & Marketing leaders have to demonstrate their own commitment to continuous learning by participating with their teams in learning activities. Leaders also have to make it a priority, and ensure that time blocking for learning is not a nice to have, it’s a non-negotiable
• Communicate why: Regularly communicate the importance of continuous learning and how it benefits both the organization and the individual
• Provide learning resources and opportunities to practice in a variety of formats: Offer online courses, workshops, webinars, role plays, and coaching, to name a few
• Learning in the Flow of Work: Think about ways to embed learning opportunities into the daily and weekly flow. For example, if an AE is prepping for a client or prospect call, run a quick role play on discovery, or objection handling, or sharing a success story. A manager OR a peer can be a role play partner – both parties take away something from the experience, and it doesn’t have to be any longer than 10 minutes 
• Make it cross functional: Get marketing, sales, sales support/engineering, and even product teams involved on a regular basis
• Acknowledge and reward efforts: Recognize and celebrate your people who actively pursue learning and apply new skills

And speaking of coaching…

Make coaching a regular, non-negotiable activity that is part of leadership’s management cadence. Numerous studies have shown that committing to 1 hour of sales coaching per week per rep leads to as much as a 20% gain in individual and team performance. Ensure you have mechanisms in place to teach and enable managers to coach, and then hold them accountable to prioritizing coaching.

These are only a few suggestions. But by taking action on some of these strategies, and continuously measuring and monitoring for the impact, you can create an environment where continuous learning is a natural and valued part of everyday work life. 

Your teams will thank you for it, and your customers will reward you for it.