Successfully installing a sales process How we get our sales process to stick? It s the most common question we get asked, and there is no straightforward answer. Nevertheless, we believe that the foundation for an effective sales process begins with ensuring everyone knows what the process is and how they are supposed to do it. Therefore, the first step of installing a sales process is effective sales training. Table of Contents 2 Executive Brief 3 Modern adult learning behavior principles 5 The fifth environment: Field application 7 Empowered sales management 8 Summary 1
Executive Summary Unfortunately, many organizations have experienced the training du jour phenomenon, and are skeptical that sales training may go in one ear and out the other. For sales training and process to be effective, it must yield long- Unfortunately, changing adult behavior is a large, complex, and ongoing effort. lasting results. This paper is a collection of our customers best practices for implementing a successful sales process and training initiative. This paper will describe the components necessary to create a successful sales process implementation, and will give real-life examples of success. The key point in this paper is that training theories and practices that are successfully implemented in the classroom setting are also required in the field application phase of the training initiative. If they are not continued after the classroom experience, learning is likely to be heavily diluted, or lost completely. Adult behavior change is not easy. This white paper will give you a high-level understanding of specific things you can try, based on what our clients have told us works. We urge you to expand your research and take advantage of plentiful resources available on the Internet. Readers who would like to understand more are urged to review commonly available resources on the subject of adult learning. 2
RULE #1: Require all of the training concepts learned in the classroom to be practiced in the field. Why doesn t sales training stick? 1. Failure to trigger long-term motivation to learn and try new ways of doing things. 2. Failure to supply the learner with a long-term growth and development environment in order to continually reinforce the original training experience. Sales training initiatives fail because there is no plan to extend what s learned in the classroom into a sales rep s daily life, on all the key concepts that are important to the sales framework initiative. Modern adult learning behavior principles: Adults are goal-oriented Adults are relevancy-oriented Adults are internally motivated and self-directed Adult learners like to be respected Adults are practical Adults bring life experiences and knowledge to learning experiences 3
4 1= + retention or adoption Four traditionally accepted adult learning theories include: behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and social environments. Many modern training programs include all four learning theories to deliver high-impact training; however, a disparity results because the classroom is only one part of the learner s entire world. That s why we propose a fifth environment to incorporate into the sales training process: field experience where clients get to put their new knowledge to the test and apply it immediately. Let s first take a look at each of these more theories, then dive into the missing piece that will help you get the sales process to stick with your clients. Behavioral The learner is rewarded for visibly changing their behavior. The net result is a high likelihood that popular training programs reward positive learning behavior in the classroom setting. Unfortunately, if rewards are not extended to the job environment, learning achieved in the classroom will be temporary, resulting in no long-term behavioral change. Cognitive The environment, exercises, and other learning applications are designed to help the learner relate to the new information based on what they already have learned and experienced. In this case, as soon as the learner leaves the classroom, their previous environment will override the new learning experience. Once again, the field application phase is not integrated as an extension of the classroom setting. Humanistic The learning environment depends on the learner s desire for personal growth and development. Maslow s classical hierarchy of needs is a significant foundation of humanistic learning. While the instructor may do a reasonable job of providing a curriculum that uncovers the learner s personal motivation to learn, the field application phase can cause the learner to lose their focus on personal motivation, and they falls back into their old patterns. Social Finally, the social learning environment is highly dependent upon the instructor s ability to model the learning and interaction between people in a business social context. Consider role plays, simulations, and the trainer s war stories as examples of social learning. 4
The fifth environment: Field application Field application 101 In our studies of companies here sales process introductions have succeeded, we identified four common similarities. They are: A clear connection to the business objective A distinct initiative for applying the new behavior toward the business objective Empowered sales management We add this fifth component to this collection - application in the field - that we believe is the missing piece to effectively getting the sales process to stick with clients after the training is over. This is where the most opportunity lies for ensuring that training is remembered and business impact achieved. Yet most training programs fail to include this component. When the learners return to their daily job, or field application phase of training, the classroom role model is gone, and the replacement role model, otherwise known as the sales manager, has not been required to carry the training concepts torch. How do we make sure that sales training does not fade away after a few short weeks and that it will yield business impact? We need to extend the four components of adult learning classroom success into the field application phase of the training initiative. Failure to do so results in a diluted internalization of the concepts delivered in the classroom. Long-term curriculum reinforcement What works: Build on the existing process targeted at a key initiative Communication connects the objectives of the organization down to the employee Sales management models new behaviors, inspects with a positive coaching approach, and becomes the trainer Compensation updates to reinforce new behaviors with rewards and recognition 5
Humanistic: Clear connection to the business objective Successful sales training implementation programs provide the salesperson with a connection between their training and the business objectives of the company. This needs to be communicated at the highest level. Define your initiatives from the outset to measure the success of applying your training. The communication should originate from the office of the CEO or other high level CXO, and it needs to be reiterated by the key management ranks that connect the salesperson with the CEO. In many cases, the communication needs to describe the unresolved business challenges that were making revenue or profit growth difficult. Additionally, the communication should describe the salesperson s role in overcoming the challenge and how the training would invest and build new skills to facilitate the business results. The communication should also describe how the learner s contribution would be rewarded. This clear communication and linkage to the business objective satisfies the need for humanistic learning adult learning theory because the salesperson can clearly understand their role and contribution to a critical cause. Without this communication, it is left up to the individual to make the connection themselves, most likely overlooking a chance to motivate their own self with a contribution to the overall organization. This connection will rarely be made by salespeople on their own. Cognitive: Having a distinct initiative In contrast to the successes, the case studies that failed revealed a critical missing piece: a clearly defined initiative targeted at impacting the business objective through the application of the new learning. For example, one of our clients ended the sales training phase with an effective initiative. He assigned every salesperson with the task of calling on three executives in their customer base they had never met before. For the executive meeting, they were asked to inform the executive about their new service offerings and describe how they were intended to help that executive with his or her key objectives. 6
The results were phenomenal. On average, one of three targeted executive meetings developed any follow-up activity. Of those, the sales team identified and closed almost $100 million in new opportunities. The by-product was a sales team that now had a great deal more confidence in calling the C-level, and found success in the new behavior requests. This same company went on to identify several new initiatives using additional incremental behavior change requests. They rolled them out one by one, careful not to overload the sales organization with activity, while at the same time, making sure they had a measurable return. You might think of this in terms of working out at the gym. Many of the sales organization s muscles are well developed for the job, while some have atrophied or have never been developed. The application of new behaviors is like isolating one muscle group and doing an lifting routine to develop only that muscle group. The cognitive learning theory provides a basis for adding to what was already in practice rather than having to rewrite the entire customer engagement process. This provides a foundation of continued comfort with the status quo while minimizing the discomfort of changing behavior. Social: Empowered sales management Successful training installation in an organization has led to empowered sales management. A sales management team, tasked with transforming the sales organization based on the business objective and the associated training, is also measured, rewarded and disciplined on results. Here are some examples of empowered sales management: Lead by example: The best transitions occurred in teams where the first- and second-level sales managers were able to lead by example on a consistent and long-term basis. This means that the sales managers would personally apply the learning in selling situations to model the expected behavior for the sales people. Inspect what you expect: They also applied this age-old management technique to speed up the transition. In most cases, the sales manager would inspect a representative example of each sales person s pipeline, confirmation letters and evaluation criteria for examples of the learning (or lack thereof). Positive examples were rewarded and insufficient evidence generated appropriate feedback. 7
Coaching: This behavior is best described as developing people by asking them good questions that uncover the risks to a sale. The manager s questions are aimed at reinforcing the learned material, and are open-ended in nature. Start with: What is the value to the customer? Follow by: What s the impact to your opportunity if the customer does not recognize the value? And then follow with: So what are you planning to do about it? This is in sharp contrast to the traditional advisor role of the sales manager that says: Here s what you should do next... This robs the learner of the opportunity to develop the connection of the training to their challenges in everyday activities. Measurable initiatives: Objectively measuring and reporting on the progressive improvement of key measurements tied to the business objective as a result of the training initiative. These were typically subset metrics to the overall objective. For example, in the case of revenue improvement as a critical objective, subset measurements included metrics such as average deal size, average discount level, pipeline numbers and close ratio, among others. Incentives and consequences: Typically, there were examples of incentives and consequences for exhibiting or not exhibiting the new behaviors. These ranged from acknowledgment at meetings, prizes, increased compensation plans for preferred behavior, written notification, up or out plans, and reduced compensation on the lack of new behavior. Minimize paperwork and reporting: Some of the best implementations were very careful not to burden the sales people with undue reporting requirements. Even though management inspection levels were increased, the written reporting requirement was minimized. In several of the case study examples, the management team consciously decided to minimize paperwork to avoid having the new behavior come across as a penalty. In summary, the management s long-term contributions in modeling the correct behavior and dishing out rewards and consequences were critical to the social and behavioral learning requirements. 8
Behavior: Long-term curriculum reinforcement Training is not an event, but rather, a strategy to develop the behaviors, habits and processes that the organization deems critical to success. All of the successful case studies engineered a long-term communication plan so that the learner was continually exposed to the curriculum material in regular doses. Training is not an event, but rather, a process to develop the behaviors and processes that the organization deems critical to success. The long-term curriculum reinforcement was typically designed around bite-sized reviews of previously covered material, or new complementary skills with deeper application opportunities. Can you succeed with just one of the contributors? Any reduction in the application of the four learning theories into the field application phase will result in a dilution of the classroom success. Keep in mind, though, that a dilution doesn t mean failure. Not all of our case study subjects used all of the adult learning theories. They just used what worked for their actual situation within the organization. Summary The successful roll-out of a new sales process must be accompanied by a thoughtful, well-designed implementation plan that leverages the four adult learning theories. Since every organization has different strengths, weaknesses, resources, and operational expertise, each plan should be customized for that organization. You cannot expect people to follow a sales process if they don t understand why they re doing it. In addition to the four theories, the sales training process should include an in-the-field, or application, component, where clients have the opportunity to practice what they ve learned. For optimal returns, we advise our customers to set aside half of the cost of the initial training for designing and implementing a successful implementation plan and ongoing reinforcement. About ValueSelling Associates ValueSelling Associates is the creator of the ValueSelling Framework, the sales methodology preferred by sales executives around the globe. Since 1991, ValueSelling Associates has helped thousands of sales professionals increase their sales productivity. Offering customized training to FORTUNE 1000, mid-sized and start-up companies, ValueSelling Associates proprietary sales training tools and consulting services deliver measurable results. Clients turn to the experts at ValueSelling Associates for services that yield immediate impact, repeatable strategies, and sustainable results. Works Cited; Knowles, Malcolm S. The Modern Practice of Adult Education; Andragogy versus Pedagogy. New York: Association, 1970. Print. ValueSelling Associates, Inc. P.O. Box 8364 Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067 +1 800 559 6419 toll free +1 858 759 3565 local www.valueselling.com ValuSelling ValueSelling Associates ValueSelling Associates ValueSellingAssoc