How to Establish a Measurement Program for Your Training Program

Measuring the effectiveness of a training program can be a daunting task. It ends up being more subjective than objective unless you establish a measurement program for your training program. Use these measurements to ensure that you can gather data and metrics on how effective your training program is (or how ineffective it is).

 How to Establish a Measurement Program for Your Training Program

Training Cost vs. Total Sales

One metric you can use to measure training is a cost versus sales method. Consider the total cost for hosting the training session or program. Compare this figure to the total amount of sales it brought into the organization. If the percentage of sales warrants the cost of training then you can deem the training program a success. In general, companies often like to see an increase in the total sales percentage as compared to the cost of training.


Look at the number of hours that go into the training program. As the number of hours increases for an employee, how does this compare to their sales amount of volume? If more training hours is equating to more sales, then the conclusion can be drawn that the training program is helping to drive an increase in sales. If sales are declining or staying the same as the number of training hours increases, then the training program is not as effective as it needs to be.

Training Completion

Consider the employees that request training as part of their career goals. Once these employees complete training, how does it affect the number of sales for the individual or for the business as a whole? If the employees who are completing training are the ones increasing their sales and productivity then it seems as if the training and output have a direct correlation. If the employees undergoing training have the same sales and level of productivity or a decrease, then the training program needs a reevaluation.

Exit Surveys

For companies that conduct exit surveys, this can be a rich source of metrics for a training program as well. See what the percentage of employees is that have left the company that says the reason for leaving was a lack of training and development. The higher this number is the least effective your training program is. A lower percentage of employees citing this as a problem can indicate that you have an adequate or advanced training program.

Big Picture

It is also important to consider each of these measurements as a big picture. While one individual measurement can skew the results one way or the other, taking all of the measurements into consideration provides a more realistic view of the effectiveness of your training program.

Measuring the effectiveness of a training program does not have to be a difficult and daunting task. By establishing a measurement program for your training program, you can remove the subjectivity from the process and infuse objectivity into the equation.

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