How to sell a sales training

'So, Marc, so nice of you to set up this meeting.'

'You were quite persistent on the phone, Jan. Your promised that you would be helping me to to improve the results of my team. Can’t say no to that, can I?'

'Indeed, Marc, the objective of this conversation is to explain to you how our training programs will enhance the skills of your field sales people, how we can help them become more effective, and as a consequence, their results will improve.'

'You’re promising an awful lot. Tell me how you do that.'

'Before I explain our approach, I would like to ask you a few questions. Is that ok with you?'

'Sure.'

'So, what does your team look like?'

'I have 10 account managers who work on a list 100 named accounts, geographically clustered. They have well defined regions and in those regions they have a well defined set of accounts.'

'OK. Those accounts, is that a mix of existing customers and prospects they are supposed to open up?'

'Indeed, besides managing the existing accounts through upselling and cross selling, they need to bring in 5 new accounts per quarter. We have a growth strategy. Deeping the installed base and acquiring new business.'

'Excellent strategy. How is that working out?'

'Well, it could be better. Our guys focus too much on their existing customers, and they are not doing enough prospection efforts.'

'Why is that?'

'Let me be blunt. Laziness and fear. They feel comfortable with the people they know, the up and cross is quite easy with our portfolio, and they are afraid to do much work that might produce nothing in the new business area.'

'New business is a concern.'

'Yes, we definitely need new customers.'

'Any other concerns you have with your sales team?'

'The sales cycles take too long. I feel they don’t manage the sales process very well. They need to improve on their closing skills. That is for sure.'

'There seems to be a lack of sales effectiveness. Is that a correct assessment?'

'It is a geat team, they are great people, and I am very proud of them, but yes, they could be more effective in working the market.'

'What about the win/loss ratio? Any idea of the projects they lose.'

'It is one out three, they win. So, they lose two out of three.'

'Are you happy with that?'

'It should be one out of two.'

'Any idea of the amount of money that has been missed?'

'Oups. That's a good question. I can look into the funnel program. Let me see. That should a about 5 to 6 million euro on a yearly basis.'

'That is a respectable amount of money.

'And market share!'

'The relative ineffectiveness of your team is costing you 5 to 6 million euro.'

'Yep.'

'Now, suppose we implement a sales effectiveness and sales excellence program that will help your people to make those 5 to 6 million euro in additional revenue to what they do today, what would be the benefit?'

'I would be dancing in the streets, they would be dancing in the streets, our CEO and the the board would be dancing in the streets.'

'Would be quite a party!'

'Yeah, but we are both are in sales, Jan, and we both know that it isn’t all that easy. Be careful with raising expectations that are too high. Overpromising and underdelivering might kill you. Training people to do things better and differently is only one aspect.'

'I totally agree with you, Marc. We need to be careful with what we wish for. And we need to be realistic.'

'Sure. Now tell me about your magic formula, that us going to make us all very rich.'

'Two words, Marc. Customisation and integration.'

'Sounds heavy. Go on.'

'Together with you, we develop a program that is customized to your market, your products and your people.'

'OK. Sounds logical. But I have heard every sales training company say that a thousand times before.'

'I bet they claim they do that. The second key notion is integration. We become part of your organistaion, in the sense that we help to execute your strategy, and we integrate the various levels and stakeholders into a comprehensive market driven approach.'

'More buzz words. What does that even mean?'

'It means that you will be playing a prominent role in the implementation of the learnings. We will give you the coaching and management tools to make sure your people will do the right things as they have learned in our trainings. We will also implicate the back office and marketing in the process.'

'Marketing? That would be a good idea. They lack the connection with the market and with our team. '

'That is not unusual. We will build with your team and with marketing people a sales toolkit that will drive the conversations with the customers. What questions to ask, what arguments to use, how to respond to objections.'

'I am warming up to this. What does it mean in terms of time? '

'We need to do the intake and the thorough preparation of course, but my educated guess would be three two day session over a period a year.'

'6 days out of the field??'

'It is an intricate change process, and we need repetition and implementation to see the benefits of the program. This process will be closely monitored by you and me, in the steering committee.'

'And what is that going to cost?'

'Nothing, Marc.'

'Sorry?'

'The return on investment is so big that the price of the program will drown into the new revenue stream.'

'Hahaha. Again, Jan, be aware of overpromising and under delivering.'

'You know, Marc, we always tell our participants that they won’t be selling unless they have ample proof of what they say. And it is more credible when you use reliable sources to prove your point. After all, sales people are not always trustworthy.'

'You guys are famous for your reality distortion powers, to put it mildly.'

'A German MBA student graduated on a dissertation about the ROI of our programs. He very thoroughly interviewed our ten biggest customers. Allow me to quote him on page 48 of his dissertation:

’The investments in the VSTP were quantified by 8 interviewees in particular, which provides the ability to calculate the return on investment for the organization. For instance, Interviewee RW stated that the financial benefit of the VSTP resulted in € 450.000 additional profit margin from January to September 2016.’

450.000 extra margin against a investment of 25.000. What do you think of that, Marc?

Well, ehm, Jan. I am speechless.

When do we do the intake interview with you and your team members?

For more sales stories, see Jan Flamend, Keep calm and sell your socks off, De Cavalerie.