Leverage Gamification in Sales Training and Coaching

Deepti Sundareshan on March 21, 2018

It used to be that training and coaching were time-consuming and infrequent. As a result, less knowledge was retained, skill development was slow and behavioral change with minimal. Now, companies are getting great results by using gamification. Gamification is the application of the look and feel of games to engage people, motivate action, and promote learning.

According to Gartner’s Brian Burke, gamification has proven to be very successful in engaging people and motivating them to change behaviors, develop skills, or solve problems. If you’re wondering how to take advantage of this popular trend, here are some ways to leverage gamification in sales training and coaching programs at your organization.

Get them started with a familiar experience

Many people in today’s sales forces are Gen X and Y. They’ve been playing video games as they’ve grown up. This makes it easy to get them involved in learning when gamification is employed. Introduce the idea of simply getting through one learning module (or “level”) at a time before moving to the next. Rewards at the completion of the first level with points or digital badges reps can accumulate and display to coworkers. The sooner they see progress, the more motivated they’ll be to participate further.

Encourage competition

Although individual employees may be working toward individual goals, badges and points can be used to display levels of accomplishment. Post them on a dashboard or leaderboard that is accessible company-wide, office-wide or team-wide. This will register as a method of recognition too.

Identify SMEs or go-to resources

Gamification allows managers to identify who knows the most about a given topic, or who’s best at a particular skill, based on metrics. This helps identify team members who are becoming subject matter experts or excellent resources for others on the team. This may be used to facilitate rewards to officially acknowledge key accomplishments.

Motivate them to learn more skills

Rewards at the completion of one step or competency, inspire reps to move on to the next one. Elements of gamification incorporated in learning initiatives emphasize achievements and recognize them. People want to gain skills when they go through training but it’s better when others know about it.

Break learning into bite-sized segments

A complicated process, topic, or goal may seem insurmountable when approached through traditional training methods. Gamification can eliminate potential intimidation by breaking the subject down into small segments. This helps the rep focus on bite-sized amounts of information per lesson and makes complex learning more fun and engaging. Plus, as research has shown, small frequent sessions are more successful at facilitating the absorption and retention of knowledge or skills, than lengthy, infrequent ones.

Make deadlines fun

Work schedules are often packed with deadlines and activities. Gamification makes deadlines feel like fun. Instead of telling reps that they must have certain modules completed by a certain date, why not set up a competition around who can accumulate the most points by that date. You can still give them a due date and make it enjoyable in the process.

Gameplay

Incorporate short, engaging sessions that are timed or defined by the total number of questions. Quizzes that are converted into games at the end of modules, allow the measurement and reinforcement of knowledge while being engaging and entertaining. In fact, a study by the University of Colorado revealed that games improve knowledge and skill learning while increasing retention rates by 9%.

Scenario-based learning

Introduce new knowledge and skills in simulations of real-life scenarios followed by the participant recording themselves practicing using that same knowledge or skill. This allows coaches to provide timely feedback. These simulations make it easier for reps to apply what they learn without needing to adapt it to actual situations on the job. This method of gamification is not only practical but engages the team member immediately.

Capture and analyze data routinely

The data collected from all these games allows coaches to gain valuable insights. It facilitates the identification of individual coaching requirements and the provision of important feedback without the need to meet in an office. This way coaching easily fits into busy day-to-day schedules and progress continues.

Social elements

Including a news feed to share updates, recognize team members’ accomplishments, and more adds a social element to training and coaching. It promotes open communication between reps, allowing them to cheer each other on.  This further increases program participation, engagement, and results.

Start to leverage gamification in sales training and coaching at your organization. These elements stimulate friendly competition, encourage a spirit of achievement, keep users engaged, and drive behavioral change. The game feels also motivates participants to continually advance, so you see ongoing growth and improvement. Now, isn’t that the result you’re seeking?

Why Companies are Transitioning from Traditional Training to Enablement and Readiness

Deepti Sundareshan on March 15, 2018

More and more companies are transitioning from traditional training methods like classroom training and webinars. They’re recognizing the need for a change and transitioning from traditional training to sales enablement and readiness instead. According to CSO Insights, 59.2% of surveyed companies currently have a sales enablement program. Another 8.5% plan to start one this year.  Let’s take a look at what’s causing this trend.

Why make the change now?

Companies are recognizing they need a change. Here are some symptoms they’re experiencing. These are clear signs that what they’re doing isn’t working anymore.

Quota attainment continually decreasing: It’s been shown that the percentage of sales reps hitting their quotas have decreased year after year since 2012 and is now 53%. You can improve sales performance to meet ever-increasing targets with sales enablement and readiness.

Sales’ declining ability to close Marketing-provided leads: An inability to continually hone sales skills with classroom training and webinars is an issue many companies fact. Sales enablement, when implemented properly, addresses this issue.

Uncertain of what exactly is working and what needs to change: Sales enablement facilitates identification of weaknesses and strengths.  Plus, it makes it easier to implement corrections and adjustments needed to continuously fine-tune the sales process so it keeps pace with ongoing market changes.

Sales rep ramp times are too long: Today’s sales reps average 2 years on the job before changing companies. With an average ramp time of 6 months to full productivity, reps are only effective for three-quarters of the time they are in any given position. The hiring and training process is too costly for team members to be inefficient for such a long time. Sales enablement initiatives shorten ramp time. Not only that, the ongoing learning and growth associated with sales enablement increases rep retention because it fulfills the desire of today’s’ employees for continual improvement.

Sales processes didn’t match reality: Reps are being trained one way and then having to make their own adjustments to make it work on the job. Enablement and readiness ensure that training and practice are properly aligned or corrected as needed.

Reps are only spending a fraction of their time selling: It’s been documented that sales reps are actually only spending 37% of their time on revenue-generating activities. Enablement corrects this issue by increasing their selling time and making them more effective as well.

Competitors are winning:  Competitors who have implemented enablement and readiness are closing more business, due to increased efficiency and effectiveness. It hurts companies who haven’t jumped on the enablement/readiness bandwagon yet. Companies are feeling the pain, by losing market share. They know they need to make a change before it’s too late.

Why are sales enablement and readiness better?

It’s been known for some time that training isn’t productive by itself. Without ongoing coaching and reinforcement, 90% of information shared in a traditional classroom or webinar training is forgotten within a month’s time. There are many reasons that sales enablement and readiness are more favorable. Here are some of the more popular ones:

  • More cost-effective: Besides being ineffective, traditional training is costly, involving expenses such as room rental, transportation, trainers, and lost opportunity. Plus it’s time-consuming and reduces staff efficiency by cutting into valuable rep selling time. Sales enablement and readiness keeps costs under control by keeping reps on the job and productive while eliminating many of the additional costs.
  • Proactive: Current sales enablement practices allow companies to push sales learning or updates, instead of creating something and hoping it will be used/consumed. This creates a state of perpetual readiness for successful rep interactions of any type with prospects and customers.
  • Tailor-made learning paths: Transitioning from classroom and webinar training allows for personalized training. It means that not everyone needs to go through the same training, in the same order, and at the same pace. Reps are able to take quizzes to determine their individual training needs and priorities. This determines their specific learning path.
  • Internally sourced: It used to be that companies would hire external experts to train their salesforce. Enablement/readiness allows for the sharing of best practices through of an internally-sourced library. It can be approved by the enablement/operations and accessible/searchable by all, in bite-sized modules. This library may include examples, demonstrations, and explanations of how to do or accomplish certain goals or skills.
  • Bite-sized/spaced learning: Small, frequent learning sessions minimize the impact on busy schedules and provide repetition that reinforces learning. They’re easy to consume and easy to apply on the job. In fact, research by Hermann Ebbinghaus proves that this is the most effective way to learn and retain information, change behaviors, and develop new skills.
  • Available on-demand: Since sales enablement content is available anywhere and anytime, consistent participation is easy to fit into even the busiest schedule. This eliminates the negative impacts of taking reps off the job for training.
  • Facilitates practice and feedback: Enablement makes it possible for reps to practice new skills in a safe environment by recording themselves on the go. It removes the need to be in an office or to schedule meetings, to know what to strengthen and adjust, while learning new methods or information. Feedback, built into the process, reinforces correct behaviors and prevents the development of bad habits or incorrect information.
  • Allows measurement: Enablement and readiness simplify the documentation and measurement of progress through role-plays, quizzes and other methods. So often, companies don’t measure traditional training results or they are unmeasurable. The new way of learning makes it easy.

I’m sure that it’s clear now why companies are transitioning from traditional training methods to more impactful enablement and readiness. Which methods sound better to you? If you need more information about this topic, read this article about readiness or this article about sales training and enablement.

Best Practices for Successful Implementation of Sales Readiness Tools in 2018

Deepti Sundareshan on March 12, 2018

Modern sales technologies have the potential to positively impact sales organizations with increased efficiencies and productivity while boosting results. In fact, according to Aberdeen Research, companies with a sales enablement tool had a 13% revenue growth rate, 3x that of companies without this technology. The challenge businesses face when implementing these tools, is how to effectively proceed so their salesforce will actually use it. So, how do companies successfully implement new sales readiness tools for optimum benefits?

Define the scope
Before getting started it is critical, to the success of your implementation, that you first define your goals, develop a plan, and designate roles for the process.

If you don’t know what you want to accomplish, and how you plan to do so, how will you know what success looks like? It is also important that you identify who will be responsible for which roles during the process to ensure that all tasks are covered and that none are forgotten.

Allocate resources and support
It is important that you and your technology vendor allocate the necessary resources to handle all aspects of the implementation. It’s equally as necessary to have support mechanisms in place as you roll out your new sales tool. You don’t want your salesforce to abandon usage because they can’t gain answers to their questions, or assistance with issues while learning.

Don’t try to do everything at once
Most technologies have many features. Prioritize which features will benefit your organization the most, in the shortest time, and implement around those first. Then build from there. It’s important for your organization, especially your reps and managers, to see results quickly. If they feel that the tool is helping them be better, or more productive, they are more likely to adopt it and use it routinely.

Build the process
Prepare all elements needed throughout your initial process. Be sure that all materials are aligned with your sales process and buyer’s journey. Once you’ve done so you’ll know what content you’ll need throughout your implementation and will be able to plan for future requirements as well.

Consider a pilot
Complete a pilot first for a subset of your salesforce. This allows you to gather feedback from power users and laggards, to determine best practices and roadblocks, to tool use as well as the launch process. You’ll also have success stories and wins to share with the rest of the sale force when you roll out the new technology to them. Plus, you will have champions and mentors from the pilot group to assist with the balance of the launch.

Train each role separately
It’s best to train individuals based on how they will use the tool, not based on a title. This prevents confusion and overwhelm, by only training on tool functions they’ll actually be using, but not on those that don’t apply to them. This will also save valuable time for all involved.

Drive adoption
Keep it simple and provide opportunities for staff to easily utilize the new tool, so they’ll see its benefits quickly. Some companies find that using the new platform, for information updates and event pre-work, for an upcoming meeting is effective. This is true because it involves all who need to become familiar with the new platform and provides the repetitive practice needed for learning.

Continuous feedback and refinement
Be sure to set up a mechanism to collect user feedback on a routine basis. This allows timely adjustments to the process as you continue to introduce additional features and functionalities.

Taking these steps will result in widespread adoption and successful implementation of your new sales readiness tools. For more tips on how organizations have launched sales technology for optimum results, check out this article or this case study.

8 Benefits of Digital Learning for Sales

Deepti Sundareshan on March 8, 2018

Not all that long ago, in-person classroom training was how companies prepared their sales force to engage in selling activities. They’d provide instructor-led classes that took reps out of their work environments for days at a time. Cumbersome paper binders and manuals were used for reference, being updated maybe once or twice a year, if ever.

It also used to be that managers and reps had to meet for coaching to ensure continuous performance improvement. Today, digitization of learning simplifies these processes and enables your sales force to learn and develop efficiently while hitting their targets. So what are some of the other benefits of digitization? Let’s take a look.

Digital learning minimizes or eliminates in-person events

Allows completion of pre-work, as well as post-work reinforcement, so that in-person training and coaching are kept to a minimum. This reduces the impact and costs associated with these sessions. Pre-work allows participants to prepare before attendance, so that any in-person time may be dedicated to discussion and practice, instead of instruction and one-sided demonstration.

Post-work and ongoing learning is easily delivered in micro-learning modules. According to research by Hermann Ebbinghaus, these small, frequent sessions over time produce better knowledge retention and skills development when compared to less-frequent sessions. Digitization allows for the provision of these bite-sized learning modules that have minimal impact on schedules. They also reinforce lessons learned during live sessions.

Gamification is often part of digital learning. It makes it more engaging and enjoyable, encouraging increased participation and improved outcomes.

Enables timely feedback

Feedback is important when learning. The fact that digitized learning is provided through the cloud makes it well-suited for technologies that are mobile-friendly. With portable, digital learning, reps are able to record audio or video of their practice pitch, demo, or skill to submit for feedback. Their coach, trainer, colleague, or manager may then provide timely input, reinforcing correct behaviors and preventing the development of poor habits.

Flexibility

Digitization of learning provides flexibility to reps and managers alike. Content is easily accessible and micro-learning is simple to incorporate into busy schedules. Plus sales coaching and readiness become a part of the day-to-day routine, instead of being an occasional occurrence. That’s a huge improvement over the 21.7% of sales managers who, according to CSO Insights, have implemented a formal coaching program.

Personalized

Digital learning facilitates personalization. Instead of teaching a group with various backgrounds and knowledge, material viewed by each rep is specific to their learning needs. This ensures continuous growth. It also makes it possible for individuals to progress at their own pace. Those who grasp new skills and information more rapidly no longer need to be held back by those who may need more assistance with certain skills or concepts.

Improves accountability

Learning in the cloud increases accountability. Since it easily fits into any schedule and participation can take place anywhere, there’s simply no excuse not to complete designated tasks on an ongoing basis. Each activity is documented, so there’s no doubt when and what has been accomplished by individual reps and managers.

Simplified certification

In the past, it used to be necessary to take reps and managers out of the field to certify them. They’d travel to a central location to demonstrate their understanding of new products or skills as well as their ability to effectively present them. This was a costly and time-consuming process for all involved. Now, digitization simplifies certifications by allowing performance and evaluation through audio or video recordings. For knowledge assessment, simple tests may also be used at the completion of modules.

Facilitates sharing best practices

It used to be that reps would ride along with more experienced ones in the field, to see how they interacted with or presented to, customers. This was costly, time-consuming, and not necessarily effective. Learning in the cloud facilitates the development of a library of best practices to easily share as examples in training and coaching. The added bonus is that these may be re-used and replayed as often as necessary to aid in the learning process. Not only that, they aren’t dependent on schedules or availability and may be accessed at any time.

Always up to date

The binders and manuals that were previously used for onboarding, training, and reference, were usually outdated by the time they were printed and distributed. There may have been additional updates and inserts distributed, but they were never as current as the digital versions created today. Being in the cloud, they aren’t cumbersome or difficult to handle and are easy to update – plus, no physical distribution is needed.

Digitization also allows organizations to share critical updates without taking reps and management out of the field so they remain productive. It also keeps them current, so they’re aware of time-sensitive internal, product, and market changes.

With all these benefits, shouldn’t you empower your salesforce by digitizing their learning too?

 

The future of the Chief Learning Officer

Deepti Sundareshan on March 7, 2018

“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”―Benjamin Franklin

The role of Chief Learning Officer (CLO) has been around for several years. CLOs are responsible for driving the strategic direction of an organization’s learning. In the past, some have mistaken the role of a CLO to simply be populating the Learning Management System, but things are changing quickly and the role of CLO is now expected to rapidly adapt.

According to

Deloitte’s 2016 Global Human Capital Trends Report

,

“CLOs should become part of the entire employee experience, delivering learning solutions that inspire people to reinvent themselves, develop deep skills, and contribute to the learning of others

.” This change is being driven by several factors, and each one is shaping the role of the CLO in the future.

The future is coming quickly

It might sound obvious, but learning strategy has to reflect the business’ objectives. In the past, learning has sat to one side and focused in on specific technical knowledge or skills, but that’s no longer enough. The CLO needs to understand how the learning agenda fits into their company, the industry and what their competitors are doing. This is because the learning must not only support the business today but into the future.

While CLO’s don’t have crystal balls, they now need to keep an eye on future trends and ensure that their business has the capability and capacity to adapt quickly when required. Disruption is no longer something that happens to other businesses, it’s a real threat for every business so the CLO has to ensure that the business is prepared to weather any storm that may come their way.

Change is the new normal

In the past, learning programs could take weeks to create and be rolled out over the course of months or even years. This approach no longer works, what you learn today could change or be updated next month. This has dramatic implications for the learning agenda.

Learning programs now need to adapt and be flexible enough to accommodate continuous change. This creates challenges both for those who create learning programs and all for the people who are receiving the learning. Not only does information need to be added, changed and updated regularly, but it also needs to be easy to digest.

Learning is a continuous process, and that can’t be taught in workshops or meetings twice a year. Learning programs need to be fluid and integrated into business as usual. This means that managers and those close to the end users need to be integrated into the learning process.

The closer to a topic you are, the quicker you are able to adapt to any change to it. Things like learning agendas that enable managers to give structured and continuous coaching to their team are part of this change. Just in time training is another development that is gaining speed as it allows employees to stay on top of things as and when they need to know them.

Another thing that’s impacting this is the way work is changing as well. More workers operate remotely, work virtually and have flexible hours. This adds a new layer of complexity to how learning programs are rolled out, accessed and reinforced.

New generations are entering the workforce and older ones are leaving

By 2025, 75% of the US workforce

will be millennials, but presently they share their workplaces with Baby Boomers and Generation X. Managing multi-generational workforces has also made the role of the CLO more challenging. Each generation has different learning preferences – millennials are connected to their mobile phone while many baby boomers prefer face to face communication.

When it comes to developing learning strategies, the preferences and needs of each generation need to be taken into account. If all employees are not engaged then some will be left behind when it comes to development.

CLOs need to look at not only the content of learning programs but also how it is delivered. Some things to consider include social networks, mobile enablement and the way content is structured. For example, millennials have a preference for microlearning, which is a big shift from traditional instructional led training.

The changing dynamics within the workplace is also raising new issues. As Baby Boomers prepare to leave the workforce, along with them goes decades of experience and knowledge. Some would also prefer to remain connected to their workforce, raising the possibility of new learning opportunities like mentoring.

All of these factors need to be included in the learning agenda and prioritized by the CLO in a way that engages all employees and meets business objectives.

Every business function needs to justify their position

In the past, learning has been measured by the number of people who have completed courses but this doesn’t demonstrate the value that the learning programs have added to the organization. As organizations become leaner and more agile, every executive and each function needs show how they contribute to the achieving the business goals. This forms the basis of a business case when competing for resources. To do this CLOs need robust reporting and tracking.

Analysis should show how the learning programs have changed the way people work, made them more productive or improved their revenue earning capability. This must then also dovetail into the broader business objectives. Is the learning program a competitive differentiator in the recruitment marketplace? Does it help the business retain employees? Does the learning have a positive impact on engagement?

Retaining and engaging employees is becoming harder

Learning has traditionally been a one size fits all approach, but in order to retain employees and keep them engaged organizations need to focus in on the individual needs of their employees. Learning programs need to be flexible enough to allow individuals to develop on their own journey. By giving individuals the ability to take some responsibility for their own development and have a say in what capabilities they develop, organizations can improve engagement and build capable workforces.

This means providing learning opportunities outside the classroom. Rather than focusing on role-specific learning and build capabilities. Capabilities extend beyond technical skills and can include understanding, empathy, stakeholder management, and networking. Empower employees to learn at their own pace and to be in charge of their own destiny.

Underpinning all of these developments is the need for technology that supports the changing world of learning. Learning tools that are able to be customized and can adapt to different needs, yet still provide enough structure to support managers and leaders to have consistency in the organization. Technology can’t be an afterthought, it needs to fit in with how people work today and how they will work in the future.

The role of the CLO is certainly changing. With each and every day it becomes more challenging and complex, but it brings so many opportunities to innovate and think differently about how people learn. It’s an exciting time to be a leader in corporate learning.

Are you an Ultimate Sales Leader yet?

Deepti Sundareshan on March 1, 2018

As a sales manager, you have a big impact on the success of each member of your team, and your team knows it.

Research has shown that 69% of salespeople who exceed quota rate their sales manager as ‘excellent’ or ‘above average’. While it’s great to be recognized, ultimate sales leaders don’t do it for the glory, they live to inspire their team to achieve greatness and know how to push all the right buttons to help them succeed.

While most good sales leaders have high-achieving teams, they have a lot more in common. Here are some of the sales leader traits that make the difference between being good and being an ultimate sales leader.

Lead for the long-term

No sales team is successful based on one deal. A good sales team requires a long-term and strategic approach and it’s up to their sales leader to provide the big picture. Great sales leaders develop a sales playbook with vision and makes sure there team follows it to achieve their end goal. The playbook looks at every aspect of the sales process, from prospecting to closing and communicates a clear plan on how they will achieve it.

While any manager can write a playbook, what separates great leaders is their ability to set the vision, communicate it and follow through. They don’t chop and change their mind or confuse their team. They communicate the plan clearly and make sure everyone understands what it means for them and for their customers. They also define clear development plans for their people and deliver on them.

After all, sales are only successful if the customer wins, and ultimate sales leaders know this and make sure the customer is front and center of their vision.

Be motivated by the end goal

Sales is a numbers game and the best sales leaders never allow their team to take their eye off the prize – achieving target. To achieve the sales leader may have to put themselves in a position where they absorb any noise, distractions, and negativity that may bring their team down. They’re good listeners and know how to remove roadblocks or just lend an ear when a salesperson needs to vent.

What sets an ultimate sales leader apart is their ability to know when to step in and fix something, and when to let it go. This requires good judgment and an understanding of what things can actually make a difference to sales results, and what are just irritations that are having minimal impact.

Hire the right people

Nothing wastes more time than hiring the wrong salesperson.That’s why good sales leaders take the time to recruit the right people and onboard them properly. There’s no time for bad recruits or sales reps that are struggling to ramp up in a high-achieving sales organization.

Hiring the right people is a skill. You can’t just look at someone’s CV and know they’re perfect for the job. It takes good judgment and instinct to know whether someone has the skill to build strong relationships and help customers find the right solution. Great sales leaders know how to spot someone who can close a deal or know when to fold and move on to better opportunities.

They can also identify potential where others may not notice. This means they don’t spend countless hours, weeks and months trying to get a salesperson to quota when they just don’t have the capability to make it. They can then devote their energies to other tasks that will make a difference when it comes to helping their salespeople achieve success.

Coach with passion

Salespeople are hungry to sell and have a thirst for anything that will help them do it better.  Ultimate sales leaders not only know this, but they know how to tap into this desire and help their salespeople channel it. One of the best ways to improve how reps sell is to take them on a journey of discovery and learning about their profession through mentoring and coaching. In fact, dynamic coaching can improve win rates by up to 27.6%.

Structured coaching helps salespeople improve how they approach customers, manage their sales funnel and close deals. But to really make a difference, sales leaders need to customize their coaching programs to meet the individual needs of each sales rep. After all, different reps need different types of coaching. An astute sales leader will determine the best approach for the individual and adapt their coaching plan for it, whether it’s going out to sales calls with them or scenario-based coaching.

Ultimate sales leaders know that coaching is good for their team, but they also are passionate about it. They embrace the opportunity to tap into the needs of each rep and build a cadence for sales coaching. This allows ultimate sales leaders to build momentum and ensure their sales team grows and prospers.

Empower everyone through accountability

75% of high-performing sales managers hold their salespeople accountable for their quota, compared to 58% of underperforming managers. But it takes a lot more than tracking your sales reps quotas to make them accountable.

Great sales leaders strive to achieve consistency in all aspects of the sales team, from following process to the message that customers hear. They do this by empowering their team through data and process.

Research shows that 43% of high-performing sales managers have a sales process that’s closely monitored, strictly enforced, or automated, compared to 29% of underperforming sales managers.

The key to keeping a sales team accountable is in the data. They set transparent performance criteria and use this to monitor and assess their team. There are no surprises, but there’s also no room for ambiguity.

Ultimate sales leaders don’t focus on lagging reports, they’re driven by data that shows them what their reps are doing today and how they can improve tomorrow. This information can then be used to both improve and inspire reps by identifying knowledge and skill gaps before they become problems and rewarding achievements straight away.

Empowering and rewarding reps is important for accountability. It keeps high performers accountable for their achievements, gives them control over their own development, and puts a fire in the belly of the laggards who also want their peers to see their name in lights.

Listen and communicate with care

Last but certainly not least, a true leader cares about the welfare of their charges. They don’t want to take the glory for themselves, they want each individual to learn, improve and for them to succeed together. By demonstrating that they care about their team, ultimate sales leaders gain the respect and trust of their reps. This helps them open up and be honest about their concerns and fears. With this knowledge, sales leaders can then help their reps become even better at selling.

The reality is that ultimate sales leaders don’t spend their time sitting behind a desk and watching the sales come in. They’re part of the team and in the trenches with their salespeople. Whenever a shot is fired they’re there – leading the way and giving them the support they need to win each and every battle.

It’s the Year of the Coach

Ryan Pimlott on February 28, 2018

Coaching is at the top of everyone’s minds at the moment – for good reason. A good coach can help more salespeople achieve quota by up to 10% and when you combine training and coaching, sales productivity also increases.

With these results, it’s no surprise that everyone is jumping on the coaching bandwagon, but not all coaching impactful.
According to the International Coaching Federation, coaching is:

“An interactive process to help individuals and organizations develop more rapidly and produce more satisfying results; improving other’s ability to set goals, take action, make better decisions and make full use of their natural strengths.”

Impactful coaching focuses on the needs of your reps and helps them improve how they approach different parts of the sales process or their customers. The results from impactful coaching go straight to your topline revenue.

Managers that are not impactful fail to move the needle on reps’ behavior and/or their performance. They just don’t have the skills required of a coach – perhaps they’re doing less coaching and more telling or controlling. Reps’ learn little from being told what they’re doing wrong, impactful coaching is a collaborative way to help them learn how to improve how they sell. Sometimes coaching is ineffective because managers just aren’t doing it properly — perhaps they’re just ticking a box or scoring their team more favorably in coaching exercises due to bias or even apathy.

It is possible to turn ineffective coaches into impactful ones, but in order to do that, you need to identify who is actually ineffective. Every sales manager is different, and short of watching every coaching session, it can be difficult to objectively know whether they’re making a difference to their reps’ performance. To do this you require data – but not just any data – the right data.

Identifying whether sales coaches are ineffective or impactful

The Sales Capability Index™ (SCI) is an index that has been developed by Mindtickle, which provides a capabilities score that, for the first time in the industry, provides a holistic, quantified assessment of sales rep and team readiness while also producing a leading indicator of their expected performance.

Essentially, the SCI provides a holistic, quantified assessment of individual sales reps and a manager’s entire team’s sales readiness. This is then linked to their performance, producing a leading indicator of their expected performance.Sales_capability_index

The SCI combines not only coaching but also knowledge and skill, so you can see what’s really impacting performance and what’s not. For example, if you’ve just launched a new product, coaching program, competitor series or other sales enablement initiatives to your sales team, you can see what elements have had an impact and by looking at scores before and after.

The score gives you a high level of conviction about how prepared your sales teams are and identify what initiatives are making an impact and what aren’t. It will also give you an indication of whether coaching (or other initiatives) are likely to impact your sales results so you can predict revenue more accurately.

As the data can be broken down by individual and by team, you can also see whether individual sales managers are coaching effectively – are they making a difference to the sales outcomes or not. This brings issues with sales manager’s coaching abilities to the surface, so they can be addressed long before the quarter or year is lost.

Coaching is only effective if it drives a business outcome. There is no point having your management team spend hours each week coaching reps if your top line revenue doesn’t grow. By using this data, coaching can be directly linked to real outcomes.

The same data can be used for most sales enablement initiatives. So if you launch a new product you can also look at the curriculum that was delivered to reps and assess whether it’s helped them sell or not. This helps you measure your enablement initiatives and identify where they need to be adjusted to make a real impact on your sales teams.

Coaching needs to have specific criteria for maximum effectiveness

In order to be effective, sales managers also need to know what to coach. No rep needs to be developed in every aspect of the sales process, but trying to find what they need help with isn’t always clear-cut.

By breaking down down the entire sales process and connecting each step with the enablement data that you have, you can look at sales competencies across each stage. This shows you exactly where a rep or a sales manager may need help.

The chart below gives you an example that shows you a rep that is able to explore opportunities and manage objections well, but perhaps needs help upselling and in call scheduling. The data pinpoints exactly where opportunities fail and evaluates qualitatively and quantitatively what competencies are needed at that specific stage.
Sales capability index™

This level of granularity allows managers to do tactical coaching and allows you to identify whether sales managers have skewed competencies. It gets to the heart of the issue and allows you to hone in on what needs to be done.

When looking at your sales team as a whole, it means you can identify if there is consistency across how teams are coached or if managers are perhaps playing to their strengths to the detriment of their team’s performance.

This kind of data has the potential to be a game changer. It can help identify bias in coaching performance and gives you the opportunity to address it objectively.

Empowering end users

A final way to improve impactful coaching across your sales teams is to give users the ability to approve or disapprove coaching feedback. Rather than just letting the sales managers have a say about how a coaching session went, let the reps tell you if they felt the session made a difference to them. This data can also be telling, because if your reps don’t feel like they’re benefitting from their coaching sessions, then it may be symptomatic of a broader problem – either with your coaching program or with individual coaches.

We all have so many tools in our sales stack, each providing an array of data. While it’s nice to have these numbers at our fingertips, they’re irrelevant if they can’t tell you how to improve your sales outcomes. After all, who has time to look through every data point available to them and work out what they’re saying.

For the Year of the Coach to make a real difference to your sales outcomes, you need to ensure that you have access to data that clearly and succinctly helps you link your coaching plans to your sales outcomes like the SCI does.

Drive Behavioral Change Through a Sales Readiness Culture

Deepti Sundareshan on February 21, 2018

One of the main goals of training and coaching is behavioral change. So often these activities, alone, don’t produce the desired improvements. Research by Hermann Ebbinghaus shows that training without reinforcement results in 80-90% of information being forgotten within just one month. A systemic approach to

continuous

coaching and training is necessary to really prepare your salesforce to be “ready” to effectively engage customers and keep them prepared. A culture of sales readiness will do the job. Let’s look at how developing this type of work environment will result in the behavior changes and outcomes you’re seeking.
Continuous learning:

According to Ebbinghaus, the information presented

over spaced intervals is learned and retained more easily and more effectively.

So, learning in bite-sized, frequent increments, also known as micro-learning, fits into sales rep schedules in their usual work environment. This allows them to remain productive as they learn. It also reduces the number of group trainings, or may completely eliminate them, while improving knowledge retention.
Repetitive practice:

Practicing new knowledge application or techniques through role playing is preferable to experimenting with sales pitches or presentation with actual prospects. Your team will be more prepared, confident, and effective in the field as a result.
Feedback:

Timely feedback on role play and practice reinforce desired behaviors while preventing the formation of bad habits. This sales coaching and guidance is critical to driving results. According to the 2017 CSO Insights Sales Enablement Optimization Report, formal and dynamic coaching delivers the most significant performance impacts.
Easily applied:

When contextual training is used, your reps don’t have to translate what they learn to effectively apply it in real-life situations. This allows them to easily build on what they know and continually improve.
Accessible anywhere:

Making the elements of sales readiness accessible from anywhere allows team members to learn and participate at their desks or on the go. This improves compliance and results because it makes it easy to complete desired activities without changing their schedules.
Measurement:

The only way to really know if your sales reps are progressing toward the desired level or type of performance is to measure it. Sales readiness includes documentation throughout the process and awards certification when the specified behavior is demonstrated. This may be used to qualify reps to promote new products, ensuring they have the proper knowledge and presentation techniques before doing so.
Best practices:

According to CSO Insights, the sharing of best practices across the sales team is a characteristic of a formal coaching process. This was once accomplished by reps riding along, or listening in on calls, with a more experienced one. A far more efficient method is to maintain recordings or videos of desired behaviors. These are then used as examples for those learning them and helps the student to recognize what success looks or sounds like.
Up-to-date information:

The sharing of internal communications are the final aspect of the sales readiness culture. They’re critical to keeping reps current on product, market, and company changes so they are always prepared to speak intelligently with customers.

All these elements combined create a culture of sales readiness. They’ve been proven to produce the desired behavioral changes on an ongoing basis. Give it a try for continuous performance improvements and successfully attained goals. To learn how Mindtickle can help, check out the value our customers are gaining by reading our

customer stories

.

Sales Managers’ Guide to Bridging the Training Gap between Mavens and Rookies

Deepti Sundareshan on February 7, 2018

training mavens and rookies 2As a sales manager, one of your many challenges is continuously developing different sales reps. The needs of reps who are relatively new to the job are very different to that of seasoned reps, as is their attitude to development. While your newbies may be thirsty for knowledge and ideas, it can be harder to bring a veteran salesperson along on the ride with you. And while an experienced rep may hit the ground running, but they may not be able to sustain improvement in their sales results over time unless they overcome their reluctance to change.

In the past, it may have been alright to leave veterans to their own devices, but now the velocity of change in products, consumer buying behaviors and industry dynamics are just too quick to leave development in reps’ own hands. Your rookies and mavens must both be constantly on the ball. To achieve this they must be open to learning, developing and changing their behavior. There are several things that you can do to help bridge the training gap between your mavens and rookies.

Understand who you’re working with

Before you can determine how to approach your reps, it’s essential to understand where they are on the development curve. While years of experience may be an indicator of expertize, it isn’t necessarily the best one.

The best way to tell a pro salesperson from a novice is through observation. Experienced reps know how to get under the skin of a customer’s problem and present them with solutions that best address their needs. They can create a strategy even for the most complex of sales processes, that will see them through preparing for customer meetings to the demonstration of closing the sale. At each stage in the process, a seasoned rep will know how to adjust their game plan, question the customer in more depth, envisage the result and nurture the opportunity to completion. This takes vision, preparation, and skill.

In comparison, a rookie may be uncertain or less organized in their approach. Their lack of experience may see them missing crucial opportunities to uncover customer pain points or suggest appropriate solutions. While newbies may be good at following a sales process, that doesn’t mean they can see the end point and adjust to new circumstances as they arise. Following a process is simple, preparing and reacting to the unknown takes experience.

As you observe your reps, note areas where they have skill gaps that require development. This will then form part of their development plan.

Tailor development plans to meet the needs of your reps

Once you know who you’re dealing with you can start putting together a development plan for them. The key to helping both mavens and rookies get to where you need them to be is to tailor development to meet their needs.

While your standard onboarding process may go through the basics of selling, this may bore and potentially make your seasoned reps tune out. As soon as someone tunes out of your training program it’s very hard to regain their attention, even if something is relevant to them later down the track. That’s why it’s important to tailor development and training from the get-go, starting with your onboarding program.

Newbies will need to cover everything, from your sales process to who everyone in the sales process is. But your new seasoned reps may already know the basics of selling so focus on showing them your points of difference. Highlight the aspects of your sales process that are unique to your business, provide them with training on how to use the tools in your stack that they’ve never seen before and of course focus in on the nitty-gritty of your product. Even if they’ve worked in the industry before, your product is unique and every new sales rep will need to learn the finer points of your solution to sell effectively.

A good place to start developing an ongoing individual training and coaching plan is the skill gaps you identified when you observed your reps in practice. Regardless of whether your reps are new to sales or have been selling for decades, it’s best to customize training to meet their individual needs. If your newbies need more help articulating your value proposition then focus on role plays to coach them. Whereas your seasoned reps may need more help moving prospects through the sales pipeline, so focus in on techniques like gathering case studies and success stories to help them get prospects closer to closing.

A common technique to support new hires is to provide them with a mentor. While this may be a great idea for a rookie, because they can learn from a more experienced rep, a maven may find it a tad condescending. Rather than giving them a mentor, offer your seasoned reps the opportunity to meet with the A players on your team and hear their thoughts on the business. They can then connect with peers on the same level.

Show benefits and gain buy-in

Any adult who is being trained needs to understand what’s in it for them before they will embrace change. Relatively new sales reps may be a little more open to training because they understand how they will benefit  – if they’ve never done something before they know they have a lot to learn. But it’s important to still show them the benefits of what they’re learning.

For seasoned reps, it’s no different, they need to know what the benefits to them will be, and this may be harder to show them. But if you want them to accept your coaching then they need to understand how coaching them on using competitive insights will help them reach their quota.

One way to help someone overcome resistance to training is to understand why they’re reluctant to learn – perhaps they’ve done training sessions before and it didn’t help them. If that’s the case then you may need to understand what their past experiences were and how your proposed development plan is different.

Another way to bring people on board with your training program is to get their buy-in. This can be used for both rookies and mavens. Ask them what areas they would like to develop and how they believe it will benefit them. The training then becomes their idea, not yours, and will help them commit to it.

Make them accountable

There’s no point training anyone if you don’t clear expectations and defined goals. Everyone involved in the training should be held accountable for the outcomes, not just the reps. This creates a team environment – you’re all in it together – and makes it easier to have enforceable consequences if someone starts slipping into old habits. This approach works for everyone, seasoned reps, and newbies because everyone needs to know what they’re shooting for.

Where it may differ between the two groups of reps is in terms of how you monitor and enforce behaviors. Micro-managing isn’t all that effective for anyone, but a new rep may be more open to hand-holding through the training process than a pro rep. If they’ve never sold before then they may find it useful for you to break down their goals further – rather than just showing them their monthly quota show them what that means in terms of the number of calls, meetings, and demos.

It may be a lot more difficult to get your more experienced reps to put their new skills into practice. Even if you’ve shown them the benefits and gained their buy-in they may need more coaxing to truly see the value in the skills. If talking them through it doesn’t work, try showing them the value by giving them hard facts. Measure the difference in their performance before and after they use the skills to demonstrate how it will impact their performance. This will not only demonstrate the value of the learning but may also encourage them to adopt the new skills faster.

If this still doesn’t work, make them accountable by putting in place hard consequences if they don’t put their new skills into practice. This shows them that you’re serious about behavioral change and lets them choose between playing ball or facing the music. It will soon become clear whether they’re committed to their own development or want to stay stuck in the past.

The reality is that no two sales reps are the same, so it makes sense to tailor training programs to meet their needs. Thanks to new sales readiness tools, it’s easier to create customized training paths and help reps, regardless of their experience levels, to learn new tricks.

6 Ways Sales Managers can Make Time for Coaching

Deepti Sundareshan on February 1, 2018

6-ways-Sales-Managers-can-make-time-for-coachingAs a manager, there is so much to do and never enough time. Research has found that sales managers spend just 32% of their time managing their team and only part of that is spent coaching.
How-Sales-Managers-Should-Spend-Thier-Time
To make the most of your time prioritization is key – and the top priority for any salesperson is their targets. So it follows that any task that helps your team reach its targets should be at the top of your list.
According to CSO Insights almost half of the businesses they studied left coaching up to sales managers. The same study found that quota attainment was only 53.4% when left up to managers, but this improved by over 10% when a dynamic approach to coaching was implemented and win rates increased by 27.9%. Coaching does make a significant difference in sales performance, so it’s imperative that you find time to do it.
So how do you find more time to coach when you’ve still got to do all this other work? Here are 6 ways that you can find more time in your week.

1. Look at what you’re reporting

We have access to so much data now that it’s easy to fall down a rabbit hole of metrics and reports. Take a look at the reports that you generate and review each week. How many actually give you or others information that can impact the performance of your sales team? If some of the reporting and analysis that you’re doing doesn’t have a direct link to meeting quotas, giving your reps more selling time or improving your ability to make decisions, then it may be time to stop doing it.

2. Give your meetings an overhaul

Meetings are a fact of life in any business, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be productive. Take an objective look at every regular meeting that you have scheduled in your diary and see if there are any that perhaps you don’t need to attend or can delegate. For those that are important and actually add some value to you or your team, consider whether they can be more efficient. Could you cut the meeting time in half with a clear agenda or pre-reading?

3. Control technology don’t let it control you

Many of us are slaves to technology. Every time we hear a ping we have to drop what we’re doing and check our email or pick up our phone. The reality is that most things aren’t urgent or don’t require our immediate attention but they are very distracting. Take back control of your time by turning off your phone or WiFi for blocks of time so you can concentrate on specific tasks. Alternatively, you could allocate a couple of times a day to check your emails and messages rather than having a look every time something new is in your inbox.
If your inbox is becoming quite overwhelming you can also use tools or apps to manage your messages. Color code your messages and move them to different mailboxes so that you can then look at them when you need to.

4. Use your calendar to your advantage

Do you schedule regular one-on-one’s with your team? Even if you manage a remote team, you can book in regular calls with each of your team members. This means your coaching sessions will be planned and become part of your daily or weekly routine. By having the time scheduled you also demonstrate to your team how important coaching is to you. A good tip is to set up coaching sessions first thing in the morning before you and your reps become distracted with other things.
Customer visits are another important task that you can schedule in each week. This not only ensures you get out and meet customers regularly but also gives you the opportunity to observe your sales reps in action so that you can give them immediate coaching and feedback.

5. Say no

Just because someone asks you to do something doesn’t mean that you have to do it. While saying “no” doesn’t come naturally to many people, it’s important to say it sometimes, particularly when you’re asked to do something that doesn’t add value or isn’t important. Otherwis, you may risk becoming overwhelmed by a growing to-do list that isn’t helping your team sell more.

6. Set achievable goals

Write to-do lists and actually set small goals to work through it. Perhaps allocate one crucial task that’s a priority each week. This means you can slowly chip away at your to-do list and actually get some of the most important tasks done slowly but surely.
If it helps you can use tools that list tasks, prioritize them for you or allocate them to days or weeks. Tools like Asana or Trello let you keep track of things that you want to do and allocate them into the future.
By following some or all of these tips you can take control over your to-do list and calendar and create time to coach your team. As coaching becomes an integral part of your schedule, you will also start to see a difference in the performance of your team.
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