How can we ensure our sales people are capable of delivering?

Firstly apologies for the delay in this blog, as we move into the holiday season we are having to update blogs via mobile broadband, in the quiet periods when our wives do not notice we are working. In fact part of this blog has been updated via an iPad.

We will keep the blogs short for the next 2 weeks, so please stay with us until normal service is resumed.

The trinity continued
The third element of our trinity of key components of sales success, after Messages and Environment (which we have covered over the past couple of weeks), is Resources.

By Resources we mean the sales people in our sales teams - whether they be inside sales reps on the desk or face to face account team members and specialist/technical sales people.

If we get the Messages "sales ready" and the internal Environment (processes and systems) right then neither is worth anything without a well trained, highly motivated, highly capable team of sales people. It goes without saying really doesn't it? That said we often see many examples where the sales people - the most important element of all - appear poorly trained, of low motivation and are rarely coached by their team leaders and sales managers.

Why is this? From what we have observed it is a combination of things which when mixed together do not necessarily support overall achievement of the corporate revenue and margin goals

We regularly see:-

1. Little or no relevant training on current and planned proposition portfolios
2. Too much focus on portfolio and not enough focus on customers.
3. Low levels of motivation
4. Little or no 1:1 coaching of individuals by their sales managers
5. Lack of clarity around what the focus of their activity should be.

The answer is not "send them on a training course"

Clearly a well trained sales force will be more effective than an untrained sales force. But our experience shows that just by training sales people in generic sales skills is no guarantee of success.

Training is very good at ensuring that sales people (and managers) have the requisite skills to be able to sell. It is important to remember that the training must focus on the appropriate skills for the market you are operating in. Over the last few years we have seen an obsession with the move towards solution or consultative selling, with an ever growing number of sales methodologies promising the golden bullet to selling. However, the focus on the methodology almost undermines the fundamental aspect of successful selling - addressing the needs of the customer! To-date we have never seen a tender document that includes the sales methodology that must be used, and I know of no customer who approaches a sales person and bases their decision to buy on whether they are using the latest "closing technique".

The most effective sales training is based on firstly identifying the most effective way of engaging with your clients. If you are in a transactional environment (where the customer comes with a defined requirement and is looking for someone to fulfil that requirement) then training must be focussed around customer service, speed of response and the ability to up-sell and cross-sell (do you want fries with that or would you like to go large). If on the other hand your clients are looking for you to solve a problem, then you need a consultative sales approach with a focus on uncovering need, addressing the need, proving the value of your proposed approach and negotiating to a close.

In both of the examples, the customer is at the centre of the sale. All selling is customer centric, and your training solution should be too. This is of course not a radical suggestion as, if you have read the previous blogs on the trinity of message, environment and resources, all of our comments can be summarised as "put the customer at the centre of all your thinking, they are the ones who buy!"

Moving from sales training to engagement enablement

We are not a lone voice here, we are currently working with a large mobile communications company and they have launched an up-skilling programme for their sales people. What is interesting is that the suppliers (they have gone for a consortium approach) they have selected are using a blended approach that uses e-learning to deliver the base level skills and then face-to-face sessions that are based on using the skills to engage with clients. For this approach they start with role play and then move onto to monitored live engagement.

What is different about this approach is that all the focus is on engaging with customers and selling something, and not the methodology itself. This enables the suppliers to directly link the programme to an ROI (business won), as opposed to relying on some form of "test" at the end to see what people have learnt.

This approach, in our opinion, is the ideal start point to training a sales team as it ticks the following boxes.

• Focus is on doing the job and not a methodology
• Everything is in the context of selling the portfolio
• It is customer centric as it focusses on engagement (doing) and not theory
• Results are measurable, it is tied to selling something
• It can be linked to a sustainable approach
• Sales managers can continue focussing on the doing

Suppliers alone cannot solve the problem

Training can only show people the most effective way of selling their portfolio. It is up to the organisation to ensure that best practice is used every day. This neatly takes us on to motivation and coaching which we will examine next week.

Be prepared to ask for help

If you feel our thoughts on any aspect of the "trinity" are of interest we would love to hear your views. We can give you quick feedback just by placing a comment on this blog, or we can work with you to ensure you are best placed to start to drive the activities that will help you be successful.

Do you want to know more?

Either read our "Helping business drive sales" document or contact either Mark Savinson or Fred Nelson and let Accredit help to enable your sales organisation to maximise the opportunities your portfolio creates.