Image by Klearchos Kapoutsis via Flickr

“I’d rather be a boat with a motor than a cork on the water”.  So says the Global HR Director of a FTSE 250 company that I have had the pleasure of meeting on a few occasions.  After the crash of 2008 his company took a battering as some of its core markets declined, and newly arriving into the business he was clear that sales skills and particularly sales proactivity needed sharpening up: they could bob about helplessly on the tide of the global manufacturing market; or they could fire up the engine, set a clear new course and at least drive the business in the right direction, even if market forces made it tough going in the short term.

I’ve been reminded of his maxim lately as I have observed with admiration the joined-up corporate thinking of one of Phoenix’s Sales Academy clients – a business that has engaged with us to help instil a consistent and up-to-date sales approach in its people.  We have worked with this company for several months in the past year, tailoring and delivering workshops in core sales skills, negotiation, objection handling, and other key areas.  Senior management has embraced the project, and directors have involved themselves with enthusiasm in the initial stages, attending the core training personally so that they can understand exactly what the new approach entails, and how it differs from what they had before.

What has really impressed, though, is how they have taken responsibility for their side of our partnership, and come up with a truly interconnected approach to implementation of the learning they have invested in. By implementation I mean what happens internally in an organisation after training.  It’s the process by which learning is embedded into the team or the company once the training delivery is over, and it’s absolutely critical to the success of any training initiative, for without it the learning will not take hold systematically and sustain its effects.

The key people when it comes to implementation of sales training are the line managers who have responsibility for the day-to-day supervision of the sales team.  They need to recognise their paramount role in supporting the learning and providing the environment in which it can take hold – if they do that then this month’s innovation will easily become next month’s habit.  It’s often cited that a new habit forms in roughly 21 days; so you can see how it’s essential to keep the team on-track and practising what they’ve learned daily within that initial period until new best-practice techniques are embedded.

In this company which is currently flying I have been particularly impressed by the Sales Director: as soon as he understood what our expert sales trainers were going to be delivering to his people, he put enormous energy and thought into designing processes that enshrine the new sales methodology at the heart of everything his team does.  For example, he and his Sales Manager take the time each month to listen to half a dozen sales calls made by every one of the team, and evidence is noted on the key elements of the sale (attitude, knowledge, structure, and questioning) and a ’score’ given for each accordingly.  He and his Sales Manager then give feedback and coaching off the back of these observations, in order to keep the sales people focusing on what will make the greatest difference to their results in the long term.  In addition, he has overseen the creation of Product Sheets that lay out information for the sales team to reference, all reflecting the language & structure of the training. Negotiation grids have been created which make clear which variables are preferable to use when striking a deal for each product.  And they are helped and incentivized on a daily basis to apply it, with a newly formulated commission structure that rewards 50% on the right behaviours and not just the results.  As a result he is seeing a powerful consistency of approach which is creating a virtuous circle, with each sales person constantly reminded of best practice by simply hearing their peers around them.

And as expected, this has all had an immediate positive effect on the figures: June 2011 was their best ever month, and the retention team hit over 125% of their target.

But there’s another element to this too, and it is that the organisation as a whole has embraced the new approach, and decided to weave it into the DNA of the company: from marketing materials to product discussions to customer service, the language and structure of their new sales method is constantly reflected and reinforced.  Thus, everything is pointed in the same direction, and there is very little friction or dissonance.

The motor’s running, they’ve set a clear direction, and they’re leaving bobbing corks for dead.  Exciting times indeed.