Sales Training That Sticks for Technology Resellers - Custom Sales Training Program from KLA Group
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To make that sales behavior change happen, Hedin and Lee created a custom
training program. Hedin says he solicited and got much of the funding for the
program—90 percent—from his vendors.
The program went like this: Each two-week period would kick off with a
training session for the group conducted by KLA via phone. Account executives
would receive the session materials ahead of time. In the two weeks that
followed, account executives would put their lessons into practice during their
day-to-day sales calls. In addition, they would submit homework and get
one-on-one coaching. They would also report back to the facilitators of the
training on their results.
Typical training session topics included consultative selling, relationship
selling and lead generation. Account executives would be asked questions such
as, "How do you gain access to a top executive?" "What
discussion are you going to have to secure that first appointment?" and,
"Once you get in the door, what are you going to do?" Facilitators would
coach the account executives on their approaches.
"So the training was live, as sales processes were going on," Hedin
says.
Hedin and Lee ran the training for six months, from May 2008 through
November 2008. After three months they did midterm assessments on the sales
team, and they did another round of assessments at the completion of the
course.
At midterm, Lee reports that the account executives said their level of
comfort and skill with consultative selling to CEOs had increased by 30 percent,
and by the end of the course their level of comfort had increased by 90
percent.
At midterm their level of comfort with getting in the door had increased by
26 percent, and by the end of the course it had increased by 130 percent.
"Our salespeople now have more executive relationships," says
Hedin. "They know what makes an executive perk up and listen to
them." In addition, according to Hedin, they prospect differently,
reaching deeper into client accounts. And that's made all the difference now
that the economic downturn is here.
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