Sales Collaboration: Why is it Such a Challenge?

Hey Paul. You raise some important questions. I'll add just a few comments to what's already here. First, as you note, the tricky thing about best practice sharing and rep collaboration is how to make that happen and to ensure that the content derived from best practice sharing is actually useful and aligned with training objectives and so on. Which presents a few challenges. If you leave best practice sharing content entirely up to reps, you're likely to get an wildly varying and uneven body of content that may end up being more confusing than helpful. Some reps excel at sharing their success stories, others not so much. Some reps are good at not just describing what they did but also drilling down into the key insights that underly the "win," others not so much. Plus, the tool you link to, while interesting, seems like it gives reps more work to do. If I was a busy, overworked and stressed rep, I'm not sure how good I'd be at finding time to really share valuable insights. In short, for me it's all about how a rep's "tribal knowledge" is packaged and made available for others to learn from. I've worked with reps to help them share success stories, and I'm always struck by how the average rep isn't that great at telling their own story. I've gotten emails from reps about their latest success that are largely incomprehensible, filled with all sorts of jargon and no narrative structure. They have the knowledge and experience, but it takes work and skill to draw the story out and shape it into something that other reps will not only learn from but actually find engaging. Getting that sort of content is not easy--it takes time, planning, and skill with storytelling.

Sounds like a new version of an industry old standby: "The buddy system." (See you next Tuesday for lunch)

Hello Paul, a lot of interesting data and actionable ideas in your post. Nice job. My own experience to foster collaboration among sales teams, both as a manager and a consultant has been simply to start by focusing on face-to-face interactions, not on digital tools. Here are a few examples of what we have tried, quite often successfully (not always). We introduced experience sharing slots in the sales meeting agenda, prepared by high performers and linked to a few on-going important deals, we organized brown bag lunches to share tips especially related to the new offers on which the teams were incentivised, we organized win/loss analysis sessions being smart at who was invited. We also organised focused working sessions jointly with marketing, pre-sales and sales to analyse/improve together sales tools and practice linked to specific situations. The goal was always not only to spread knowledge but to change the mindset so that sales reps would start forming duos or small groups in order to share and help each others without interference from the management. In the background, this requires quite a bit of leadership and coaching to overcome limiting beliefs and to really foster collaboration. This is often the toughest part. The introduction of any sort of digital tools to share knowledge, especially related to specific situations, is only efficient once these face-to-face forums have started bringing a real value. Otherwise, in most organisations, the digital tools for sales reps are almost useless. This being said, once the adequate spirit is there, digital tools can be very helpful. I am myself a big advocate of QStream but only if the adequate culture and behaviour is present.

Tamara makes a great point. Let me take it one step further. Most managers or enablement folks either have been away from the "field" for a number of years or never were there. Ever heard that expression " knows enough to be dangerous"? Well that's what happens when too much of the real world is shared with folks who are in that bridge world of developing processes, systems, content, etc, but don't have to use it day in and day out. All of a sudden salespeople have another "metric" to report on because someone heard something from a good salesperson. At some point you have to believe your salespeople when they ask for specific material or process changes. Let the warriors work the tactics, just provide them great strategy.

(And thanks, Paul)