Stop Guessing, Start Measuring: How to Prove Training Delivers Business Results
- jantimms3
- May 3
- 10 min read
Updated: May 6
Training programs can be popular, even praised, but that doesn’t always mean they’re working.
I once worked with a franchise group that proudly reported strong attendance at their training sessions. The post-session feedback was glowing, the energy was high, and franchisees said they enjoyed the experience. But when it came time to evaluate the impact? There was little to show for the investment.
Despite best intentions, the training academy was under pressure. Leadership questioned the cost. Results were debated. Other departments claimed credit for improvements, and the value of training was quietly undermined.
The problem wasn’t a lack of effort. It was a lack of measurement.
No one had connected the learning to business outcomes in a meaningful way. There was no system in place to track how the training translated into on-the-job action or commercial results.
If you've ever found yourself wondering whether your investment in learning and development is really paying off, you're not alone. This blog is all about fixing that. We’ll explore how to measure training effectiveness in a way that drives growth, proves ROI, and secures ongoing support for your learning programs.
What Should Training Measurement Actually Look Like?
When franchisors talk about measuring training, many default to participant satisfaction scores or completion rates.
“Did they enjoy it?”
“Did they finish it?”
These are useful but they only scratch the surface.
If your goal is to create confident, capable, high-performing franchisees, you need to measure whether your training actually leads to behaviour change and business improvement. That’s the true test of training effectiveness.
Think of it in three layers:
Engagement - Did they show up? Were they engaged in the session?
Learning - Did they absorb the content? Can they explain or demonstrate the key concepts?
Action & Results - Did they apply what they learned in the business? Did it lead to measurable growth?
The first two are relatively easy to track. But it’s the third, what they do afterwards, that truly matters. And it’s also where most programs fall short.
This is why it’s essential to define the business outcomes you’re aiming for before designing your training. If you don’t know what success looks like, you won’t be able to prove whether you’ve achieved it.
So ask yourself: ❓ What change are we hoping to see? ❓ How will we know if it’s happened? ❓ What will we track and who’s responsible for tracking it? |
Measurement isn’t just about justifying the training budget. It’s about making your programs more effective, more targeted, and more aligned to your strategic goals.
Why Measurement Gets Missed and What It Costs You
Training often falls into the “tick-the-box” category.
Everyone agrees it’s important. So, a workshop is delivered, feedback is gathered, and the job is considered done.
But when no one is tracking what happens after the training, whether franchisees actually apply what they’ve learned, whether behaviours shift, or whether results follow, the real opportunity gets lost.
Here’s the cost of failing to measure:
Wasted investment - Training that doesn’t lead to action is money down the drain.
Missed improvement - Without knowing what’s working, you can’t scale the right programs.
Lost credibility - If franchisees don’t see the impact, they’re less likely to engage next time.
Risk of budget cuts - When leaders can’t see the return, training is often the first thing to go.
It’s not enough for training to be well-received. It has to be effective. And to prove effectiveness, you need evidence, not assumptions.
The good news? When done well, measuring impact isn’t as difficult or time-consuming as it sounds. But it does require a mindset shift: from focusing on delivery to focusing on outcomes.
Measurement Is More Than Just Metrics - It’s Strategy
When done well, measurement doesn’t just tell you what happened - it helps you make better decisions, faster.
It’s how franchisors identify what’s worth scaling, what needs fixing, and where to invest next. Without it, decisions are made on gut feel, opinions, or whoever has the loudest voice in the room.
That’s when things start to unravel.
In fact, several of the Silent Killers of Franchising rear their heads when measurement is missing:
Silent Killer #1: Weak or wrong unifying vision – If you can’t show how training connects to business outcomes, it’s hard to align your network around a common goal.
Silent Killer #3: Franchisor expertise holds back knowledge creation – Measurement exposes what’s working in the real world, not just what the head office thinks should work.
Silent Killer #12: Great initiatives poorly implemented – Even the best-designed program will fail if you don’t track whether it actually lands and sticks.
Measurement isn’t about assigning blame, it’s about making learning smarter, faster, and more aligned to your strategic priorities.
So how do you move from theory to action?
Let’s look at how to build a practical framework that links training to results using simple, scalable tools, starting with the questions you ask before training even begins.
Build Your Measurement Framework from the Start
Effective training measurement doesn’t begin at the end of a workshop, it starts at the very beginning, with how the program is designed.
Before you even think about content or delivery method, take a step back and ask:
What business problem are we solving?
What behaviour change will drive the solution?
How will we know it’s working?
These three questions are the foundation of what I call Outcome Driven Learning. If your training isn’t designed with a clear, measurable purpose in mind, you’re simply hoping for results, not planning for them.
For example, let’s say you’re running a training session to improve franchisee sales performance. Rather than just teaching sales theory, you need to define:
The specific sales behaviours you want to see more of (e.g., better qualification of leads, consistent follow-up)
The metrics that reflect these behaviours (e.g., lead-to-sale conversion rate, average transaction size)
Who’s responsible for capturing and reporting the data (e.g., field coaches, CRM reports)
When these elements are built in before training starts, you’re no longer guessing. You’re setting up a system where success can be seen, tracked, and scaled.
Use a Learning Transfer Station to Lock in the Gains
Even the most motivated franchisees need structure and support to translate learning into results. That’s where a Learning Transfer Station comes in.
Think of it as a bridge between the training room and the real world. It’s not a physical place; it’s a process that includes:
A simple post-training action plan
Scheduled follow-up and accountability
Field support aligned to reinforce key behaviours
Tools and templates that make application easy
A way to measure progress and celebrate wins
This is how training becomes transformation.
It also reduces friction. Franchisees know exactly what’s expected, how to apply it, and what success looks like. Support teams can coach to the same goals. Leaders can monitor progress. And everyone is working from the same playbook.
Build a Smarter System for Measuring Impact
If your training is driving behaviour change but you still can’t prove ROI, you don’t have an effectiveness problem, you have a measurement problem.
Too many franchisors rely on anecdotal evidence, vague correlations, or post-event surveys to justify learning spend. But when financial pressure mounts, those won’t hold up. Leaders want to know: Is the investment paying off? Could we achieve the same results with less effort, cost, or time?
To answer that, your learning strategy needs to do more than inspire action, it needs to track whether that action delivered results efficiently.
That means shifting the focus from:
Measuring individual participation to measuring network-wide performance shifts
Tracking satisfaction scores to tracking business outcomes
Operating training and field support in silos to integrating them through a shared measurement system
Make Learning Efficiency Part of the Strategy
Training doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it should directly support your organisation’s strategic direction and commercial goals. So before you roll out another workshop or course, ask:
❓ What specific business result is this program intended to drive? ❓ Have we clearly identified the capabilities, attitudes, skills and knowledge (CASKs) needed? ❓ Is this the most efficient way to achieve the desired outcome? |
When learning programs are designed around these questions, measurement becomes simpler, because the outcomes were clearly defined upfront.
Cost-effective learning isn’t about cutting corners. It’s about injecting the right fuel, at the right time, in the right place and then proving it made a difference.
Integrate Training and Field Support for Real Results
One of the most effective ways to improve measurement and results is to break down silos between training and field support. When these functions operate in isolation, both effectiveness and efficiency suffer.
Instead, treat your Learning Transfer Station as a shared system. Field teams and training teams should:
Align on goals and competencies before a program begins
Reinforce key learning during site visits and coaching calls
Share responsibility for tracking and reporting on behaviour change
Collaborate on refining the content based on what works on the ground
This integration ensures that learning is transferred, applied, and measured and that support is consistent, targeted, and strategic.
Move Beyond Feedback Forms: Use the Kirkpatrick Model to Track Real ROI
If you're serious about proving the impact of training, it’s time to go beyond satisfaction surveys and attendance records. The Kirkpatrick Model offers a clear, practical framework for measuring training effectiveness, from initial reactions through to long-term business results.
Let’s walk through each level, with an emphasis on the higher ones that matter most to franchisors:
Level 1: Reaction
Did participants enjoy the session? This is the easiest to measure and often the most misleading. High satisfaction doesn’t always translate into action. Positive feedback is nice, but it’s not proof of effectiveness. |
Use with caution: Treat it as a hygiene check, not a success metric. |
Level 2: Learning
Did they actually learn something? This level assesses whether franchisees acquired the intended knowledge, skills, or mindset. You can test this with quizzes, demonstrations, or reflective activities. |
This is a checkpoint, not the finish line. Learning must be followed by action. |
Level 3: Behaviour
Did they change what they do in the business? This is where many programs fall down. Behaviour change requires reinforcement, accountability, and support. It’s not enough to hope that learning sticks, you need systems like the Learning Transfer Station and field support integration to drive and track this. |
What to track:
|
Level 4: Results
Did those behaviour changes deliver commercial outcomes? This is where the ROI conversation starts to get serious. Did the training lead to more sales, improved customer satisfaction, higher conversion rates, fewer compliance issues? |
To measure this, link your training outcomes directly to KPIs. This requires clear goal-setting upfront and alignment with other departments, marketing, ops, finance, IT etc. to avoid finger-pointing over who ‘caused’ the result. Franchisors must own this level if they want to justify ongoing investment. |
Level 5: Return on Investment
Was the business impact worth the cost? This is the level that often gets overlooked, yet it’s the one that separates “good” training from truly strategic learning investment. At this stage, the question isn’t just “did the training work?”- it’s “was it worth it?” |
Return on Investment (ROI) requires you to weigh the business outcomes achieved against the resources invested to achieve them. While it can be challenging to isolate cause and effect perfectly, even a well-considered estimate sends a powerful message:We don’t just deliver learning. We deliver results. To calculate ROI in its simplest form:
|
Even when exact figures are hard to pin down, showing a clear line of sight between training, behaviour change, and business outcomes strengthens your case for continued investment and positions learning as a core driver of franchise success, not a discretionary spend.
From Theory to Practice: Make Measurement Practical and Scalable
Knowing what to measure is one thing, putting systems in place to measure it consistently is another.
The good news? You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Most franchise networks already have the building blocks in place, they just need to be aligned and activated with purpose.
Here’s how to get started:
1. Use Existing Business Metrics
You don’t need new dashboards for every training initiative. Start by linking learning programs to KPIs you already track, like average transaction size, customer retention, conversion rates, or onboarding time. These are the metrics you already care about, so make them your proof points.
✔ Identify the desired shift in performance
✔ Align the training goals to those metrics
✔ Monitor progress before, during, and after delivery
2. Leverage Field Support as a Measurement Partner
Your field teams are your eyes and ears on the ground. If they’re trained and aligned with the goals of the learning program, they can provide critical insight into whether behaviour change is occurring and what’s making a difference.
Make it easy for them:
Give them simple checklists or observation guides
Build key questions into visit reports or coaching sessions
Encourage them to highlight standout examples of change, both positive and concerning
This turns your Learning Transfer Station into a feedback loop, not just a delivery engine.
3. Track Application, Not Just Attendance
Every learning program should include a short-term application plan. What will participants do differently within the next 30 days? What action can be tracked or followed up?
Whether through CRM flags, check-ins during field visits, or self-reported milestones, create a simple process that captures the early signs of behaviour change.
Tip: Make it easy to measure progress without adding a layer of admin chaos. Automation and templated follow-ups can make this frictionless.
4. Review, Refine, Repeat
Measurement isn’t a one-off event. Build in review points where you analyse what’s working, what’s lagging, and where the disconnects lie. Then adjust. That’s how you evolve from reactive training to a dynamic, data-informed learning strategy.
Final Thought: Make Training Count and Prove It
Training isn’t just about delivering content. It’s about driving results.
If you want your learning programs to be seen as strategic investments not optional extras you need to prove they’re working. That means tracking not just participation, but performance, behaviour, and business impact.
The most successful franchise networks don’t rely on guesswork. They build systems that connect learning to growth, and they measure what matters clearly, consistently, and cost-effectively.
Move Beyond Guesswork?
If you're serious about lifting franchisee results and aligning your network around smarter, more effective training, the Franchise Growth Bundle is a great place to start.
You’ll get:
|
Comments