Sales Trainings More Bang for the Buck
Channel Insider & Amazon Consulting asked IT vendors about the professional sales training and certification they make available to channel partners and the benefits they gain from it. We also polled 457 solution providers on the same topic to see how regularly they avail themselves of sales training and what rewards they receive from it. The results are a clear indication that solution and consultative selling leads to higher sales and margins.
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In today’s technology environment, solution providers no longer can rely on transactional product sales and must up their game to sell consulting and services. Many vendors have stepped in to help. Three-quarters of the vendors we polled offer a formal sales training program to their partners, just 22 percent charge for it and just over one-half of vendors credit partners who complete the training with formal certification status.
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Vendors invest in sales training for their partners because they see a direct correlation to the bottom line. A three-quarters of vendors polled ranked sales certification as the highest or an important priority behind their partners’ ultimate value add and ROI for their organization. Only 6 percent of vendors deemed sales training unimportant.
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As vendors have seen the benefits of sales training, they nonetheless have made the requirements to get certification more stringent. More than one-quarter of vendors polled have increased the number of sales staff positions that must achieve formal training for that partner organization to be certified. One-half of vendors vary sales certification requirements based on the partners’ geography, which often dictates business model.
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Only 38 percent of solution providers on average have attained some level of sales training with the vendors polled, so there’s plenty of room for skills improvement in the channel. Of the solution providers, those with between $500 million and $1 billion in revenue take greatest advantage, with their vendor partners reporting nearly 100 percent of those organizations have some level of sales training from their program.
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Vendors apply the sales certification pretty evenly, with 29 percent of them awarding it at the individual partner sales/engineering rep level and 22 percent at the partner company level. 27 percent of vendors allow a partner to hold the sales certification at both the individual and company level.
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It’s a mixed bag when it comes to whether vendors reward partners who get sales certified or accredited. One-third of vendors reported providing higher partner program benefits based on the number of individuals who are sales accredited and one-third increase the benefits if the partner organization as a whole is certified. But the other one-third, while recognizing sales training as important, said they do not formally advance partners through the program.
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Get sales accredited and one-half of the vendors surveyed said they will increase discounts available for reselling products and services, while 55 percent will dole out more leads and two-thirds will up their marketing support and visibility for a partner. The marketing dollars are a major perk as research shows that solution providers who invest in marketing activities that are targeted and well-executed are more profitable than the average solution provider today.
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One of the major benefits of retooling a sales organization around consulting and services is the cross-sell, up-sell and services-attach opportunities, solution providers report. Nearly one-half of the solution providers surveyed said that an emphasis on services-based selling helped them formulate additional sales and service strategies that address customer pain points.
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More than one-half of solution providers cited better customer satisfaction as the best ROI measurement for investing in sales certifications. But solution providers are not dedicating much of their own resources into the training. Nearly 60 percent reported that no more than 5 percent of their SG&A costs are dedicated to sales and technical certifications combined.
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Based on our survey, Channel Insider offers these tips:* Sales training is an investment that will produce larger and more profitable deals, as well as better benefits from vendors.* Take advantage of vendor resources; it’s in their interest to make you a better sales organization.* Use sales and tech certifications as a market differentiator; customers like certifications because they demonstrate competency.
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Check out Channel Insider’s ongoing reports of our 2009 Certification & Training study at www.channelinsider.com/c/s/CertificationsAlso check out Amazon Consulting for their insights and analyses at www.amazonconsulting.com