Approach

To provide real value to our customers we need to ensure that each training program has long lasting impact and provides the expected return on investment. A well-defined and documented process gives us the greatest probability of accomplishing that goal. Each customized program is developed using the following six-phased approach:

Organizational Assessment

Research and experience tell us that there are a number of interdependent benchmarks that must be considered in conjunction with any training program. At Sales Innovation, we believe that the return on investment in training is directly related to the degree in which these benchmarks are are aligned:

Fostering a customer-driven culture through top-down leadership
Selecting sales talent with the right set of competencies
Training, development and ongoing coaching for continuous skill improvement
Segmenting customer markets for strategic focus
Implementing best practices in formalized sales process.
Maximizing use of information technology to support the sales and learning processes
Integrating sales with marketing, operations, and customer support.
Aligning management and leadership
Measuring performance to achieve desired behavioral change
Aligning compensation and reward systems with goals and objectives

That is why each engagement begins with an assessment, providing a framework to evaluate our client's organization against these benchmarks. This allows us to identify and prioritize training needs, as well as to uncover any barriers to ROI in training. We examine the company’s industry, markets and competition. We evaluate key aspects of the sales platform including leadership, management, strategies, processes, critical skills development, and use of technology. We gauge the skills of managers and staff as well as the organization’s readiness for change and transfer of learning.

The objective is to provide the firm with a prioritized list of recommendations to use as a roadmap for sales performance improvement. Recommendations include an educational program, and may also address issues such as marketing strategy, process, management, organization, and technology.

If further consultation is required, we point our clients to the appropriate resources, which often will include the business school or continuing education department of our affiliate university. It is our job, along with our university partner, to provide the right resources at the right time, and to help businesses prioritize their time and financial investment in sales performance improvement in manageable steps.

Participant Evaluation

As part of the initial assessment process, each sales person completes an online questionnaire, and a selection of the sales and management staff participate in one-on-one interviews. The purpose of the questionnaire and interviews is to identify opportunities for growth and learning at the individual level, as well as to establish each person's preferred method of learning and desire to learn. The questionnaire also gets participants to start thinking about the important concepts relating to sales processes and skills, and provides the instructor with a baseline knowledge of their thoughts and attitudes prior to the classroom sessions.

Through this process, the instructor can also identify high-performers who may be engaged to lead or facilitate a classroom exercise.

Instructional Design

Upon completion of the organizational assessment and participant evaluation, we will recommend an educational program that best meets the learning needs of the organization. We have a library of over 100 individual learning modules from which we select and combine the right mix of topics to construct a course that is completely customized to the client.

A focus group of select sales people and managers is engaged to help fine tune the content, modality and logistics of the classroom sessions. The focus group also helps us to incorporate terminology and examples from the company’s industry to further customize the training. Each course is constructed with a sensitivity to the client's business needs, as well as their time and budgetary constraints.

Organizational Readiness

It is important that the organization becomes an environment in which the participants are motivated and excited to apply their new skills. We encourage very active and visible leadership support, starting with the CEO and other top executives of the firm. We help define and implement management and accountability systems so that the learning can be reinforced and the desired behavioral changes can be measured.

Educational Program

Courses are delivered in a blended fashion combining online content with classroom activity-based learning and field application. The content for each module is delivered via online narrated videos that participants can access 24/7 through a dedicated customer portal on our web-based learning management system. This allows us to reserve expensive classroom time for experiential activities such as group discussion, role play and other exercises. Instructors coach participants in completing field work and online forum posts in the weeks between classroom sessions. We have purposely adopted this multi-modal approach to maximize the adult learning process and to minimize time in the classroom away from clients.

Reinforcement and Measurement

In order to for the learning to have an impact, it must result in changes in behavior. To accomplish this we place a major emphasis on the transfer and reinforcement of knowledge. Participants are given multiple opportunities to apply their newly learned practices in actual sales situations – before, during and after the classroom sessions. We engage the company’s top sales people in teaching their co-workers how to use their new skills on the job. We train sales managers how to be mentors to the staff and coaches for their best sales people. We ask the participants to select actual prospects for the classroom and fieldwork, and often use a team capstone project involving the prospect as way to demonstrate the mastery of concepts learned.

Other sales training firms ask for feedback on course content and the instructor as the sole measure of the success of the program. Sales Innovation is very different. We review the quantitative and qualitative measurements of behavior before and after the sales training. And not just once, but at regular intervals, to assure that the training continues to meet the metrics we set in partnership with the CEO and sales manager.

We recommend both quantitative and qualitative performance measures, and provide tools and resources for establishing the initial baseline and for ongoing measurement. Quantitative measures might include number of referrals, number of presentations, conversion rates, and the like. Qualitative measurements might include the level of thoughtfulness and thoroughness in preparing for a prospect call, the quality of a presentation as assessed by the manager, and other behaviors critical to sales performance. The key is making the measurements meaningful, yet simple enough for the sales force and managers to track.

We are so confident that measuring changes in behavior will lead directly to financial results that we guarantee the company’s satisfaction and return on investment.

Every Step Supported by Technology

Technology also sets Sales Innovation apart from the rest. We use the latest software for training content, elearning applications, online collaboration and knowledge sharing. We provide each customer with secure access to a private client portal via the Internet. Our technology platform supports sales performance improvement on many levels.

For training programs
Course management functionality gives participants 24/7 access to learning content, schedules, assignments, webcasts and more. It also allows e-learning outside of the classroom.

For reinforcing learning
Web 2.0’s Internet communities and collaborative tools, such as weblogs and wikis, are changing the way people interact and work together. Through the Sales Innovation client portal, customers can apply Web 2.0 capabilities specifically to sales, a trend which is becoming more commonly known as Sales 2.0. Online communication and collaboration tools are a great way to reinforce adult learning through action-based applications.

For strategic selling
This technology also allows Sales Innovation to capture competitive and market intelligence and store it so sales people can easily access and use this data for future sales situations. During training sessions, participants talk about their company, products and services, value proposition, competitors, customer success stories and much more. This knowledge is collected and stored securely online for their company to use for pursuing new business and additional training.

Some customers may believe that Web 2.0 technology is out of their reach, either in terms of time or a financial investment. By working with Sales Innovation, customers at every point on the technology spectrum can move forward in manageable steps and stay ahead of their competition.