THE PROBLEM
A global firm has invested heavily in training for its salespeople but never sees results. The training is thought to be good but needs to be embedded. What is missing from the process?
A giant global corporation has spent millions of pounds on training programmes over the past few years for its sales teams all over the world. There has been no visible return on this investment and, although it is judged that the sales techniques being taught are of value in themselves, the sales teams do not appear to be using them. The global head of learning wishes to introduce ways of sustaining and embedding the training so that the investment is not wasted.
The training currently focuses on using sales methodologies to move from a transactional approach to improving the quality of the business brought in, without giving away margin. Core elements are: understanding that a deal must be a good one both for the customer and the company; offering incentives such as multiple equal offers; and improving follow-through. Sales teams are trained on two- or three-day courses with no formal follow-up or evaluation process.
An additional complication is that in some parts of the world, senior managers and directors of the sales teams are entrenched in traditional methods, having held their management positions for some 10-15 years, and are resistant to new ways of doing things. They behave like country barons and want to be left alone.
THE SOLUTION
Carol Wilson
Managing director, Performance Coach Training
I have heard many managers say that they go on a course, learn valuable new skills then come back to 300 emails and forget it all. The first step here would be to get the buy-in from the “entrenched” managers. I would give case histories to the global head of leadership and help them to construct a strong case for presentation to the managers, ideally including a pilot programme to win their confidence.
I would work with the designer/deliverer of the sales training to integrate coaching skills. I would start with a day of coaching skills training, covering listening, questioning, clarifying, reflecting, mirroring and asking permission, plus the Grow and Exact (Exciting, Assessable, Challenging, Time-framed) models, and some strategic action planning. I would be present to ensure that the participants employed their coaching skills to perform their sales training exercises.
The crucial element that is missing is any kind of follow-up to ensure the techniques are used. I would design a series of exercises for participants to practise in pairs, for one hour a week, by telephone or face to face, over the months following the course, using coaching skills to work through their sales training modules. That way they would integrate not only the coaching skills but the sales methods as well.
If trainees have to make their mistakes in the workplace, they will never use the skills. The practice provides them with a safe place to fail and increase their confidence.
I would also arrange fortnightly conference calls to mentor the participants and highlight their achievements, which would encourage them to keep practising.
I would end with assessment and accreditation so the participants have something to work towards.
David Clutterbuck
Senior partner, Clutterbuck Associates
The critical question here is: who is driving the training process? Managers and salespeople at this global corporation might be forgiven for concluding that it is the training function and not them.
I would start by creating a steering group of salespeople and managers to develop a strategy for changing both the behaviour and the culture and systems that people operate within.
I would redesign, with the help of this group, the recognition and reward systems to support the desired behaviours at both individual and team levels.
I would invite managers to volunteer as role models for coaching and give them responsibility for supporting their peers in coaching salespeople to adopt, and become comfortable with, the new behaviours.
I would then give salespeople the right to demand coaching and practical support in embedding the new behaviour in their day-to-day work.
If individual managers or directors are obstructive about this process, I would expect salespeople to take their concerns .rst to the steering group or a role model coach; they, in turn, would have access to the chief executive, in recalcitrant cases.
This mixture of a carrot and stick approach, along with the active engagement of the programme participants, should bring about a major shift in both expectations and attitudes.
It would also require one other ingredient – a sense of urgency – which should be imbued in them by the CEO and actively endorsed by directors, not only in what they say but in what they are seen to do.