Transfer of training is the degree to which people apply what they learned in training to their real work, and keep applying it over time.
Generalization and maintenance
Baldwin and Ford's 1988 review splits it in two: generalization, using the skill in situations that differ from the training, and maintenance, still using it later. For a rep that means running the new discovery standard on a buyer who does not follow the script, and still running it next month. In sales, a failure of either is what we call performance drift.
The research points to the workplace as the deciding factor: what happens back at work predicts whether training gets used better than what happens in the room (Saks & Belcourt 2006; Blume et al. 2010). Across 117 studies, skills held when people worked on their own situations and their managers were trained on the same thing (Taylor, Russ-Eft & Chan 2005), and skills left unused for more than a year decayed by an effect size of d −1.4, a large loss (Arthur et al. 1998). Our sales kickoff field study found 9 of about 4,800 first-hand accounts describing something used from a kickoff afterward.
One discovery question, six weeks on
A rep learns to ask for the cost of the problem in a discovery workshop (illustrative). Generalization is whether she asks it on Tuesday's call with a buyer who changes the subject. Maintenance is whether she still asks it in week six. Both depend on whether her deal reviews, with her manager or on a call with an AI sales expert, keep coming back to that question on her real deals. The manager's check in week six is a single question: "On your last three first calls, what did each buyer say the problem costs?" Three numbers mean the skill transferred. "I didn't get to it" on all three means it stayed in the workshop.
- The workshopLearns to ask for the cost
- TuesdayGeneralization
- Asks it with a buyer who changes the subject
- Week sixMaintenance
- Still asks it
Related terms
- Sales training vs sales coaching: which one carries transfer
- Sales training reinforcement: the follow-up that drives it
- Kirkpatrick model: Level 3 measures it
- Sales kickoff: the event where it most often fails
FAQ
What affects transfer of training the most? The work environment after training affects transfer most, and the manager above all. What happens back at work predicts use better than the training itself (Saks & Belcourt 2006; Blume et al. 2010), and skills hold when managers are trained on the same thing (Taylor, Russ-Eft & Chan 2005).
What are the two types of training transfer? Generalization means using the skill in real situations that differ from the training. Maintenance means still using it months later. Baldwin and Ford set out both in their 1988 review.
How do you measure transfer of training in sales? Measure transfer by scoring a sample of real calls against the trained behavior three and six weeks after training. Quiz results and pass rates measure learning. Transfer only shows up on live calls.