August 13, 2026 | Read online
The Biggest Problem in Sales Training Isn't Training
by Kevin 'KD' Dorsey
It's Recall.
I've spent years building sales playbooks.
Frameworks. Discovery guides. Objection handling. Closing strategies.
I've trained hundreds of reps on them, and here's something that's bothered me for a long time:
The reps almost always know what they're supposed to do.
They just don't remember it when it matters.
Think about the last sales call you were actually in.
Not the one you replayed afterward.
The one where the buyer asked something you weren't expecting. Pricing came up twenty minutes earlier than planned. An executive joined the call who wasn't on the calendar.
Suddenly, you're not calmly executing the playbook.
You're relying on instinct.
Sometimes instinct is enough.
Most of the time, it's just habit.
Training Lives in the Wrong Place
Most sales organizations have incredible training.
It's sitting inside a learning management system.
A Google Drive folder.
A Notion workspace.
A PDF someone downloaded six months ago.
The knowledge exists.
It's just nowhere near the conversation.
That's always felt backwards to me.
We spend all this time teaching reps what to do before the call, then expect them to perfectly recall it once the pressure hits.
It's like giving a quarterback a 50-page playbook and then taking it away the moment the defense lines up.
The answer isn't necessarily more training.
It's getting the right training closer to the moment of execution.
That's one of the reasons I've been interested in Even G2 from Even Realities — AI-powered smart glasses that bring the right sales context closer to the moment it matters.
Before a meeting, reps can use Prep Notes with Even G2 to bring the information they would otherwise have buried in a document or another screen directly into their workflow—account context, key questions, reminders, and the specific things they don't want to forget.
That's a meaningful shift.
The playbook isn't just something you studied.
It's something you can actually access when you're selling.
Before The Call: Prepare For The Conversation
Think about how most reps prepare for an important meeting.
They open the CRM.
They pull up the account.
They review some notes.
They have a dozen browser tabs open.
Maybe they have their discovery framework sitting somewhere nearby.
Then the call starts.
And all of that preparation gets pushed into the background because now they have to actually listen and respond.
With Even G2, the goal is to bring the most important pieces of that preparation closer to the conversation.
What do I know about this account?
What questions can't I forget?
What business problem am I trying to uncover?
What behavior am I trying to practice?
What do I need to remember if the conversation gets uncomfortable?
Those are the things that normally live in your head—or in a document three clicks away.
The idea is simple:
Put the important stuff closer to the moment when you need it.
During The Call: Don't Leave Your Brain Behind
This is where I think the concept gets really interesting.
Sales is already cognitively demanding.
You're listening to what the buyer is saying, thinking about what they aren't saying, deciding what question to ask next, managing the conversation, reading the room, and trying to move the deal forward.
Now add:
"Wait...what was that framework I'm supposed to use here?"
That's a lot.
Even G2 provides in-view guidance so the rep can access prepared notes and reminders without constantly breaking away from the conversation to search through another screen.
That matters because the goal isn't to stare at information.
The goal is to free your brain from having to remember every piece of information.
You can focus on the buyer.
Listen better.
Think more clearly.
Respond instead of react.
That's what I want from sales technology.
Not another dashboard.
Not another place to click.
Something that helps the seller perform better in the moment that actually matters.
After The Call: Now We Can Actually Coach
But here's where I think the bigger opportunity is for sales leaders.
The call doesn't end when the Zoom window closes.
That's when coaching should begin.
Historically, that's been a problem.
Managers review what happened based on the CRM, the forecast, and whatever the rep remembers from the conversation.
"How'd the call go?"
"Good."
"What did they say about budget?"
"They're still working through it."
"What's the next step?"
"We're supposed to follow up next week."
That's not inspection.
That's a post-game interview.
And the rep's memory isn't necessarily going to give you the information you need to coach them.
This is where Conversate becomes important.
The conversation can be captured and turned into a transcript, summary, action items, and something you can actually review.
Now the manager can move from:
"Tell me how the call went."
to:
"Let's look at what actually happened."
What question did you ask after they mentioned budget?
Where did the conversation shift?
Did you go back to the business problem?
Did you uncover impact?
Did you ask for the commitment?
Did the buyer actually say what we think they said?
That's a completely different coaching conversation.
Instead of coaching the result, you're coaching the behavior that produced the result.
And that's where sales leadership gets interesting.
Before. During. After.
I think this is the bigger idea.
The best sales technology shouldn't just help you prepare.
It should help you execute.
And then help you learn.
Before: Bring the account context, playbook, and reminders closer to the conversation.
During: Keep the guidance available without forcing the rep to leave the conversation to find it.
After: Turn the conversation into something the rep and manager can actually inspect, learn from, and improve.
That's a full learning loop.
And that's much more powerful than another training module sitting in a portal.
The Future Isn't Better Memory
For a long time, I thought great sellers had incredible memories.
Now I think great sellers build incredible systems.
The best athletes don't rely on memory alone. The best pilots don't rely on memory alone. They use systems, checklists, and tools that help them execute when the pressure is on.
Sales should be no different.
Even G2 brings the things reps would otherwise have to remember directly into view, so they don't have to spend mental energy trying to retrieve a framework while simultaneously trying to understand a buyer.
That's the real advantage.
It's not about giving the rep more information.
It's about reducing the distance between the information they need and the moment they need it.
Because when you're in a real sales conversation, your brain should be doing the highest-value work:
Listening.
Diagnosing.
Thinking.
Responding.
Not trying to remember where you saved the discovery framework.
Here's The Challenge
Take your three most important sales behaviors.
Maybe it's discovery.
Maybe it's handling pricing.
Maybe it's asking for the business.
Now ask yourself:
What happens when a rep forgets the behavior in the moment?
Where does the guidance live?
How quickly can they access it?
And after the call, how do you know whether they actually executed it?
If the answer is "it's in our training somewhere," you've got a proximity problem.
And proximity matters.
Because the difference between knowing what to do and actually doing it is often just a few seconds in the moment.
That's the gap I'm interested in closing.
Not with more training.
With better access to the training you already have.
Before the call, prepare.
During the call, execute.
After the call, inspect and improve.
That's how you make great sales behaviors repeatable.
And that's where Even G2 gets really interesting for sales teams.
Because the best sales technology shouldn't make reps less human.
It should give them enough support that they can spend more time being human with the buyer.
Listening. Thinking. And actually selling.
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