A new Sales Academy with combined Product and sales Know-How at Course level

The brief was to develop a new type of sales training system that goes beyond pure behavioural training. The training was to map the actual sales process, additionally reduce attendance times of the participants and support digital self-learning. The Institute for Business Education made it possible and created the Sales Academy for Westcon.

Category: Sales Training

Project partner:

Westcon Group Germany GmbH & IWP Factory GmbH

Combined training of sales and product skills via blended learning

The Westcon Group is a specialist for data centres, infrastructure, collaboration, security and supports a network of resellers throughout Europe who serve all customer segments, from small and medium-sized enterprises to large corporations. Westcon supports its partners in marketing innovations in the areas of analytics, AI and cloud among others. A first step in the development of partners at Westcon is the qualification of the sales department of partner companies in the fields of sales and product skills. This concerns both the sales psychology and the technical aspects of the products.

Against the background of a new network technology, a new type of training system for partner sales was to be developed. The special feature: The integration of the psychological aspects of the sales process and the specific know-how of AI-supported LAN/WLAN infrastructures within the framework of a training course. The challenge: The training should reflect the actual sales process, reduce the participants, attendance times and support digital self-learning.

To meet this challenge, the two project partners Westcon Group and IWP Factory launched the project "Combined training of sales and product skills via blended learning", in the context of which a training measure was to be created to convey both the sales psychology and the technical aspects of the new product to integrate them into a new sales academy to be established.

Success through blended learning

Learning needs

At the beginning of the project, after a joint consultation and based on the initial situation, IWP Factory recommended that the project goals could best be achieved with a blended learning concept. The participating sales employees of the Westcon partners are prepared through digital learning units for simulations and the practical implementation of what they have learned in the form of virtual classrooms and face-to-face events. The interaction of the digital learning content with the online presence/presence events is structured with the requirement that knowledge is conveyed in digital form and behavioural change is trained in presence. The learners determine their own pace within the digital phases and can thus adapt their learning times to the individual workload on the job.

In the self-learning units, participants are offered a diverse mix of web-based training, videos, coaching interaction forms and interactive videos. Each learning unit is then concluded with a summary and a quiz to check the level of knowledge. The most important findings of the learning units are graphically presented for the learner on so-called PowerCards. The PowerCards are always available to the learner on demand.

For the qualification of sales skills, the existing IWP training concept is used in order to be able to put together an individual solution with its existing modules. Special attention was paid to the topics of new customer acquisition, needs analysis and motive evaluation as well as customer-oriented benefit argumentation. During the conception phase, it was particularly important for the project managers from IWP and Westcon to intensively link the behavioural modules for the sales psychology aspects with the modules for training the technical features of the products.

Successful completion is achieved through a certificate, which is preceded by an assessment. The technical product features such as AI-supported LAN/WLAN infrastructures are also trained with a certificate of completion. A presentation must be given to obtain the certificate.

Course of the project

At the beginning of the project, the Institute for Business Education conducted an analysis of the needs for the new Sales Academy to be developed at Westcon. This objective, as well as the requirement to combine sales and product training, then formed the basis for fanning out and analysing the individual subject areas of the Sales Academy. In this way, the necessary elements of a training course were determined for the areas of sales technique and product knowledge.

The IWP's Sales Phase Tens Model, for example, serves as a basis for the steps in the sales process. It is a kind of navigation tool that makes it easier for participants to navigate the sales process. The Sales Phase Tens Model describes the interconnectedness of the sales process in its respective phases. In this way, participants and trainers can work out clear action steps for a successful sales process in digital self-learning units, virtual classroom sessions and face-to-face events. At every stage of the sales process, the salesperson thus retains an overview and leadership. The participants understand the goal and meaning of the individual behavioural steps and can apply them accordingly.

In a further step, IWP and Westcon jointly defined the scope of digital self-learning phases, virtual classroom components and classroom training. Finally, the sales and product areas were coordinated with each other and a learning chain was structured that builds on each other in terms of content. The new development of the training for Westcon was concluded with the definition of corresponding interim tests after individual modules and the final certificate.

The completion of the individual three course blocks has been defined as milestones. Each course is self-contained and represents a phase of the sales process. The following course builds on the knowledge gained in the previous course. In order to ensure that the participants have the appropriate know-how, a knowledge test is carried out between the courses. To further ensure a sustainable learning process, a monthly meeting is held with the participants' supervisors and the Head of the Business Unit of the Westcon Group. The Sales Academy programme has a total duration of six months. The course ends with a final test and a final presentation. The successful participants then receive a certificate. The results are also communicated with the manufacturer of the AI-supporting LAN/WLAN systems that are the focus of the technology module.

During their participation in the Sales Academy training, learners also have the opportunity to contact the trainers to clarify questions about learning content in individual discussions. In this way, the trainers accompany the learners through the individual phases of the training and are available to the participants beyond their classic role as "sparring partners" or "soundboard". Another support tool for learners during their learning is the participant forum within the learning platform. This provides a wide range of communication options for discussing current topics in the group, both in the virtual classrooms and face-to-face training sessions and during the self-learning phases. Support is also available for participants with technical queries.

The Westcon Group actively promotes the Sales Academy through its own marketing. The partners appoint sales staff for the Sales Academy. After interviews with direct supervisors and potential participants, ten participants were accepted into the programme for the first course. Nine of them took part in the Class 2021. Further classes will follow.

Short explanatory sequences and interactive videos

Project result

The newly developed Sales Academy offers a unique blend of technical and sales skills in a blended learning format in all phases of the training: in the purely digital self-learning units as well as in the virtual classroom and presence formats. This creates a seamless and coordinated learning chain because all content is closely interlinked.

The strong practical relevance of the Sales Academy is particularly evident in the acquisition training. It is true to reality because it is carried out with actual customers. The participants receive contacts and conduct a sales conversation by telephone during the exercise in order to apply the previously learned sales techniques in practice. The trainer follows these conversations inaudibly in the background. These live sales calls are then reflected on in detail and the potential for optimisation is discussed.

Success is a measurable variable. Through the blended learning approach, concrete statements can be made about the learning success of the participants via the platform. The assessment before and after the training makes concrete statements possible, especially with regard to the success of the training. In combination with the measurement of the real sales successes achieved by the participating sales staff immediately after the training, this results in a unique evaluation method of the Sales Academy.

?Methods:

• Blended learning
• Gamification
• Learning Portal/ Learning Platform
• Micro learning
• Virtual Classroom
• Web Based Training (WBT)
• Mobile Learning
• Webinars

Conclusion

"We, as Westcon Group Germany GmbH, have decided to cooperate with IWP in order to jointly develop a new training concept for our partners. As far as we know, this is currently unique in the distribution landscape and combines various success factors. On the one hand, it enables modern, hybrid learning and on the other hand, it integrates practical relevance and direct practicability through the inclusion of product know-how," Stefan Bontenackels from Westcon summarises the development of the Sales Academy.

The contents of the training so accurately reflect the reality of the sales process that on-the-job training not only simulates the acquisition of new customers, but is actually carried out. The feedback loop from learning to doing cannot be more direct. There is no better way to make learning success measurable. It is hardly surprising when Stefan Bontenackels states with satisfaction: "Due to the success of the measure so far, we are planning to offer it to our partners on a permanent basis.

That's right, says the jury of the eLearning Journal and awards the project "Combined Training of Sales and Product Skills via Blended Learning" the eLearning AWARD 2022 in the category Sales Training.

INFO

Specifications:

The training measure to be implemented aims at training sales teams of the partners in a new network technology. Both the sales psychology and the technical aspects should be conveyed, but go beyond pure behavioural training.

Special features:

The training reflects the actual sales process, reduces the participants' attendance time and supports digital self-learning. The learning content is tailored to the target group and structured learning impulses are set in order to achieve a sustainable learning success.