The Kirkpatrick Model: Measuring the Impact of Sales Training

Rahul Mathew on December 9, 2024

Chances are, you invest plenty of time and resources into developing and delivering sales training programs. You’re not alone. Research tells us that, on average, companies in the US spend about $1,500 per sales rep each year on training.

Of course, you want to get the most from our investments. That’s why it’s critical to determine whether or not your sales training is making an impact.

But organizations struggle all too often to measure the impact of sales training. The Kirkpatrick Model is one tool that can help.

Donald Kirkpatrick developed the Kirkpatrick Model in the 1950s. Today, it continues to be one of the most widely recognized frameworks for measuring training effectiveness.
In this post, we’ll explore the Kirkpatrick Model and how it can be used to gauge sales training effectiveness. We’ll also examine some of the key benefits of using this framework and its limitations.

What is the Kirkpatrick Model?

An integral part of any successful sales training program is measuring its contribution to skill building and improved performance. The Kirkpatrick Model is an internationally recognized tool for evaluating sales training results, taking any and all kinds of training into account, including formal, informal, in-person, and virtual.

With the level of visibility this model provides, sales leaders know which learning materials and formats are working to improve performance and which aren’t, helping to drive decisions and make changes that meet the team’s (and overall organization’s) needs.

The Kirkpatrick Model is comprised of four levels for evaluation:

Reaction
Learning
Behavior
Results

 

The four levels of the Kirkpatrick Model

Level 1: Reaction

This first level considers whether your reps found the sales training useful, engaging, and relevant to their role. It also allows you to discover topics that were missed in the training and topics that are redundant. Key to this level is actually utilizing the reactions and feedback you get to change the training program in ways that make a real difference.

  • Did your reps enjoy the sales training?
  • Was it a good use of your reps’ time?
  • Was the length of the training appropriate?
  • Did your reps feel comfortable participating?
  • Feedback from surveys and polls
  • Learning completion rates
  • Gamification scores
  • Grading via quizzes
  • Feedback on subsequent performance by managers

Much of this can be measured during and immediately after the training has been completed. You can also establish a specific cadence (monthly or quarterly, for example) in which to measure whether the learning has been both adopted and retained over time.

Level 2: Learning

Next, the model focuses on measuring how much reps’ knowledge and sales skills increased as a result of training. This will vary from one company to the next, according to their different business objectives. To get the most accurate measurement, set a baseline by testing reps prior to participating in the training.

  • Have your reps learned what they needed to?
  • Have reps’ skills improved in the way that was intended?
  • How much have the reps’ skills improved as a result of the training?
  • Knowledge certification
  • Sales skill certification
  • Program certification
  • Demo role-play certification

The degree to which some of these goals have been achieved can be measured during the training or immediately afterward. Others may require additional time to give reps the opportunity to absorb and practice selling skills. Again, the timeline is up to you based on how aggressive you want to be with developing competencies.

Level 3: Behavior

This measures how reps use what they have learned daily in their roles and how behaviors have changed as a result of the training. Managers must be very involved at this stage in identifying and providing sales coaching to reinforce the changed behaviors.

  • Are reps using the knowledge and skills they learned?
  • How has performance changed as a result of the learning?
  • Have sales increased?
  • Did training help reps improve their selling skills?
  • Has time to productivity reduced? (for sales onboarding)
  • Are your sales reps aware that their sales skills have improved?
  • Manager-driven evaluations
  • Identifying and closing gaps
  • Reviewing sales performance by teams or individual reps over time

Some of these training goals can be measured immediately, but many will require performance reviews over a longer period of time. This could, for example, involve periodically evaluating improvements in sales performance.

Level 4: Results

This measures business outcomes and performance as a result of the training. You’ll have to determine which benefits, outcomes, or other results are most closely linked to the training and put a system in place for quantifying those outcomes moving forward.

  • Sales and revenue
  • Turnover of sales reps
  • Impact on specific stages of the sales funnel (e.g., demo conversions)
  • Number of calls/meetings held
  • Number of opportunities added to pipeline/CRM
  • Number of proposals/quotes submitted
  • Percentage of leads converted to opportunities
  • Percentage of opportunities converted to close
  • Average deal size per rep
  • Average deal cycle length
  • Percentage of forecast achieved

It’s important to look at these metrics in the early stages of a training program’s implementation to see where performance has improved and to correct the course in areas that still need refinement. Continue tracking them over time for insights into long-term changes.

Benefits and limitations of the Kirkpatrick Model

As with any tool or initiative used within a sales organization, there are pros and cons to the Kirkpatrick Model.

In terms of pros, the model provides a scientific method for analyzing the impact of training. With its leveled approach, it offers clear steps to follow for evaluating reps individually, as well as gauging the performance of the greater team. The model works with different kinds of learning programs, whether you use a traditional program or a more sophisticated, digital solution.

However, there are a few downsides. While the Kirkpatrick Model has been continuously updated over time, its structure was developed over 60 years ago. How people learn and retain information has drastically changed since then — and it continues to evolve. Implementing the model will likely require a lot of time and resources and can be expensive to put in place. And finally, it doesn’t consider how other factors like new leadership or a new technology, can influence results.

How to use the Kirkpatrick Model

You likely already have sales training programs throughout your organization. The Kirkpatrick Model is a great tool for evaluating these programs.

This process involves evaluating training on the four levels we covered: reaction, learning, behavior, and results. By using the Kirkpatrick Model, you’ll better understand what’s working and what’s not. You can then use these insights to optimize your training programs and improve outcomes and impact.

You can also use the Kirkpatrick Model to build new programs from scratch. The best way to do this is to approach the Kirkpatrick Model backward. Start by defining your desired results and outcomes. Then, you can work backward to develop training to help you achieve your desired results.

You’ll need to compile and analyze the right data for all four levels of the Kirkpatrick Model. This can be a time-consuming, tedious effort if you’re using disparate systems and technology. However, if you’re using an integrated revenue enablement platform like Mindtickle, you can easily access and analyze the data you need to measure impact across all four levels of the Kirkpatrick Model.

How are you measuring the impact of sales training?

Most revenue organizations invest heavily in sales training programs and technology. Yet, many struggle to measure impact.

It’s critical to evaluate your sales training programs. That way, you can find out what’s working – and fix what’s not. The Kirkpatrick Model can serve as a simple, proven framework for understanding sales training impact.

With Mindtickle’s award-winning revenue enablement platform, you can build sales training programs that are tailored to the needs of each seller. You can also measure the impact of those programs across all four levels of the Kirkpatrick Model.

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This post was originally published in August 2017, and updated in November 2022,  October 2023, and again in December 2024.