Observing a Sales Training Program (Part 3)

I’ve been listening in on deal management and war room calls with our client who had gone through classroom-based sales training in late April.  They’re a public company, so the pressure is on to close business by the end of the quarter.

I didn’t expect the process work, training, technology support and coaching to have an impact yet, but there is no question that the culture and business practices of this company have changed and are still continuing to change for the better.  Whether the numbers will be affected so soon after implementation still needs to be determined.

When I say culture and business practices, here is what I’ve observed:

• Reps now know they are going to be held accountable for full use of the company’s sales process and supporting technology.  In every case, they’ve complied (so far…). 
• Their knowledge of what is really going on within their opportunities has dramatically increased, because they now know what information they need, where to get it, and how to validate the information they’ve been given.
• Reps have a much better understanding of where they really are in the customer’s buying process and where they stand versus their competition.  This had been a formidable challenge.

The Sales Enablement Technology Dark Ages: Sales 0.2

As we continue to dig deeper into the capabilities of the leading sales performance improvement companies, we’re not encouraged by some of what we’re seeing in the area of sales enablement technology.

Through recent engagements where our clients evaluated sales training companies, we listened to double-talk, vendor sales reps ducking questions, and a complete lack of understanding of the issues. (No, these people were not running for President.)

Just to give you an idea:

• When asked how he recommends modeling the client’s sales process in Salesforce.com, a vendor replied, “Well, you can use the comment fields…”
   
• Two vendors had absolutely no response, written or verbal, when asked whether they provide a electronic version of their opportunity management form that somehow connects with the client’s CRM system. Another of the exchanges went like this:

Client: “How do we roll up the projected contract values and dates into a forecast?”  

Vendor: “You can use Excel, like our other customers do.”

Client: “How do we get the data into Excel?”

Vendor: “I’ll have to check with the folks back in the office.”

The message here is what all of us have been saying on this blog. Properly deployed sales enablement technology of all types—not just opportunity management—will come increased efficiencies and effectiveness and competitive advantage. If you’re evaluating a sales training company, make sure they not only understand the issues, but have made measurable progress in the right direction.

Having a few e-Learning modules isn’t Sales 2.0.  It’s not even close.