SEC is involved with ongoing research among their member companies and regularly analyzes, interprets, and disseminates that information on sales effectiveness back to their members. Several years ago, SEC determined that they should form a sales performance improvement team, SEC Solutions, which would focus on improving the sales performance of organizations based on best-practices and approaches that SEC gathered over the years from their members.

In August 2010 both Brent Adamson, a co-author of The Challenger Sale and I presented separately at a sales conference.  Although I was somewhat familiar with some of SEC’s research, they were in the process of launching the Challenger Model and I had the opportunity to hear about it first hand from Brent in a group setting.

The Challenger Sale asserts that there are five profiles of sales reps (click on the graphic for full-size):

• The Hard Worker (21% of their sample)
• The Challenger (27%)
• The Relationship Builder (21%)
• The Lone Wolf (18%)
• The Problem Solver (14%)

The clear winner, from SEC’s perspective, is the Challenger.  The loser, in terms of sales performance, is the Relationship Builder.  Surprised?

SEC points out that the Challenger rep has six significant attributes:

1. Offers the customer unique perspectives
2. Has strong two-way communication skills
3. Knows the individual customer’s value drivers
4. Can identify economic drivers of the customer’s business
5. Is comfortable discussing money
6. Can pressure the customer.

Can pressure the customer?  That’s certainly a behavior associated with the concept of a Challenger.  In fact, SEC goes on to assert that the Challenger is really defined by their ability to do three things: teach, tailor, and take control.

Before you fire off a negative comment to me about this approach to selling, understand I’ve heard them all.  SEC Solutions is an ESR sales training/consulting provider subscriber.  We’ve assessed and analyzed their approach, been briefed by their principals, checked their references, and have spoken to dozens of people about this Challenger Model.  Some of the more traditional sellers and sales experts were actually offended at the idea that a salesperson should pressure, challenge, and control the customer. They cited examples of how that approach would never work among their customers or anywhere in the industry into which they sell. Many of these people are Relationship builders, however quite successful in their own selling situations.

Others see this Challenger Model quite differently.  Once the nomenclature is explained, some see themselves selling this way and are at once amused and appreciate that someone assigned the label of challenger to behavior that is part of their everyday practice of selling.

This is a serious book.

You know I’m not only bored with books about sales tips, tricks, silver bullets, and shortcuts.  I believe they hurt, rather than help the salesreps and their managers that are in trouble.  The Challenger Sale is a serious book for those serious about selling more effectively.  There is enough research-based content for everyone to, at a minimum, at least consider.   Adopting the model, however, involves a willingness to reorient your thinking, approach, and behaviors to what might be opposite from your present selling and management style and, in fact, your company’s entire customer-facing philosophy and orientation. One risk is that the pendulum can swing too far and your sales team can become glib and arrogant.  I’ve seen it happen before.  But that can be managed like many other risks associated with behavioral change.

The book’s impact on a sales manager could be significant. Authors Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson provide some real insight into management and coaching, even going so far as providing a powerful coaching guide excerpt and a Challenger Hiring Guide in the appendix.  If you buy into this Challenger Model, you’ll certainly need that hiring guide.  Since you can’t change people’s inherent characteristics, if you want challengers working on your team, you better have a solid process for making sure anyone you hire has the requisite challenger traits.

Aspects of the Challenger approach can work with an existing sales methodology.  In fact, Huthwaite founder Neil Rackham wrote the forward to the book.  ESR sees the potential for sales training/methodology firms to provide the how and the Challenger Model to provide the what so far as the customer conversation is concerned.  More on that we see the Challenger model being adopted by more companies.

Here’s the bottom line

Dixon and Adamson offer here an absolutely stunning whack on the side of the head to any sales leader who is perplexed and paralyzed about how to get their whole team performing in the never-been-so-tough world of complex, B2B sales. It’s a must read. That’s M-U-S-T.

There is more information about the Challenger Sale here.  And here is a preview of the book.

Graphics source: SEC Solutions

The results show that, over the past two years, rapid advancements in technology, combined with a sluggish economy, have produced a dramatic leap forward in both the types of training provided and the subject matter delivered through virtual training.

The report was published today. Here is the press release: ESR’s 2011 Report on Virtual Sales Training.

These changes represent a significant and unprecedented evolution for the sales training industry. There is no going back to what everyone was doing just three or four years ago.

Here is some of what is covered in this Report:

• Average investment in sales training by salesrep
• Who makes sales training decisions
• Who is responsible for the sales training budget
• Mandates for virtual training
• The reasons companies train virtually rather than in traditional classrooms
• How long the improvement from virtual training lasts
• The differences between live virtual training and asynchronous (on-demand) virtual training
• The strengths and weaknesses of each
• What sales training content is best delivered virtually
• Delivery methods, including Internet- and computer-based
• Customization trends
• Relative increases and decreases in virtual versus live training
• Barriers to adopting virtual training and classroom training

This information is vital for sales organizations and training providers that want to thrive in this new environment.

This is one of the 10 charts in the 32-page Report that reveals changes in the sales training environment. (See note at bottom of post.)

Click on the image for a full-size rendition.

If you are an ESR sales training buyer or sales training provider subscriber, click here to access the Virtual Sales Training Report. The Report is included in your subscription.

Click on the link to purchase the Virtual Sales Training Report.

Important note: Written permission is required from ESR for quotation from this chart and/or any content in the Report or Executive Summary.  Getting permission to link to this post is not required.

1. First we look at inhibitors to winning the individual deal.

• Can’t compete at the lowest price
• Don’t really understand the customer’s buying process
• Don’t have a competitive product
• Don’t understand/can’t control deal timing
• Don’t meet all customer requirements
• Don’t sell to a qualified prospect in our sweet spot
• Our salespeople don’t have the skills required to manage and win an opportunity
• Our salespeople aren’t consultative enough

2. Next we look at the sales infrastructure level.

• We don’t have the right tools: messages, ROI models, collateral, website, etc.
• We don’t have enough qualified sales support people, e.g. engineers
• There are imbalanced territory assignments and/or sales channels. Hunters versus farmers, inside versus outside, etc.
• 20 percent of our reps delivering 80% of the revenue
• We’re not employing the right (or any?) sales enablement technologies
• We don’t have enough qualified leads
• We don’t have a methodology/process
• Our compensation and incentive structures don’t work
• Our people need sales training
• Our forecasts are way, way off

3. At the company level:

• Our reputation, financial viability, brand awareness insufficient or challenged
• Our company’s culture doesn’t support the sales function
• We have customer satisfaction problems
• There are weaknesses in the senior management team
• Our cost base relative to competition prevents competitiveness
• We can’t produce/deliver what we sell
• We are challenged by internal communications
• Difficulty maintaining margins

4. At the external/systemic level/the outside environment

• A challenging economy
• Industry buying trends led by powerful procurement strategies
• What the competition is doing
• Public sector bid requirements/restrictions
• Localization for multi-national corporations

My questions to you are these:

1. Have you done a similar exercise?
2. Do you know, specifically, what the inhibitors are that prevent effective selling in your company?
3. What’s your plan to overcome your selling challenges?

©2011 – Dave Stein/ES Research Group, Inc. – All Rights Reserved

The experts were:

• Brian Dietmeyer, CEO and Co-Founder, Think! Inc.  Brian answered questions about the power of procurement and how companies can begin to regain some of the ground lost as strategic sourcing has surged over the past decade. Previously, Brian and I discussed strategic negotiation on this podcast.
  

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• Braham Shnider, CEO and Founder, Channel Enablers.  Braham is an expert in the area of building and managing sales channels.  Braham said during the call that 70% of  products are sold not through direct sales approaches, but through channels.  I had some questions for Braham in this interview.
  

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• LaVon Koerner, President and Founder, Revenue Storm.  LaVon is an expert in demand creation, among other areas.  His explanation of how salespeople must create, rather than capture, demand was very compelling. A while back, LaVon and I had a great chat on this podcast.
  

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• Rick Page, CEO and Founder, The Complex Sale, Inc.  I asked Rick to join this advanced selling round table because of his thought-leadership in the area of political selling. His comments resonated among the whole panel.  I interviewed Rick a while back on this podcast.
  

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• Steve Andersen, Founder and Managing Partner, Performance Methods, Inc. Steve’s company, PMI, is a leader in the area of strategic account management.  Steve shared a few startling trends going on within his clients’ organizations around this critical sales-related function. Steve and I got to discuss PMI and his view of strategic account management on this podcast.
  

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Among the subjects our experts discussed were talent management challenges, future advanced selling trends, collaboration with clients and customers, and how important business acumen is in a complex selling environment.

So here’s the good news

If you missed the round table, here is the MP3 recording, courtesy of Focus.com.  Great working with those folks.

Photo credit: Fotolia.com

The project went well. PRN selected Miller Heiman after as thorough an evaluation as we have been part of.  Bob is smart, disciplined, and understands what sales effectiveness is—and how to achieve it.  Miller Heiman was the right fit for PRN, based on their unique requirements.

Bob was kind enough to give me permission to republish his first internal PRN blog post kicking off the new sales performance improvement initiative.  This is what executive-level ownership and sales leadership is all about:

While there will always be a certain art to selling, research clearly shows that companies who take a more scientific approach to selling create a significant competitive advantage.  However, why would a company want to instill a methodology into the “art of selling?”

I have personally experienced the benefits of using a sales methodology.  Revenue increased due to win percentage and average deal size growth.  I witnessed an organization benefit from using a common selling vocabulary.  Selling behavior changed as sales executives engaged in a different type of conversation more directed around customer concepts and needs.  Sales management learned new ways to coach and provide deal strategy feedback that helped progress opportunities along in the sales cycle.  In general, the organization was more synchronized around priority deals and resources needed to hit revenue goals.

A sales methodology provides a consistent and objective way to evaluate the status of every deal to help you more quickly identify which opportunities present the highest potential for closing. It will help you assess your progress at every step in the sales cycle, and, if necessary, provide the insight required to ask hard questions before it is too late. Furthermore, when a common approach is utilized everyone benefits, as you are able to gain knowledge from other sales executives’ experience that will further inform and refine your selling approach. A sales methodology will provide a consistent and disciplined approach to assess progress and to address unforeseen problems, questions, and risks immediately as they arise. With your new skill set, you are now more informed of how to adjust your selling activities as needed to ensure the opportunity stays on track.  It will enable the art or relationship component of selling to flourish based upon sound information that will guide your actions.

Today, buyers are more informed than ever and are more apt to control a sales cycle.  Therefore, a sales executive must work harder than ever to ensure that their proposed solution will align to the client buying process.  A sales methodology will inform you at every step of the way and ensure you are taking the right steps, or corrective action to achieve success.  Miller Heiman’s sales methodology is world-class, so let’s all look forward to improved win rates, deal size growth, and greater focus on our ideal customer profile.

Happy Selling!!

Bob Seiler

Clients who are using Miller Heiman’s content have been saying they want to take their application of the Strategic Selling process to the next level.  The new tool provides content above and beyond what is typically offered in Miller Heiman’s programs.  Miller Heiman also payed special attention to how salespeople learn, and the fact that they typically access information when they have a challenge—for example, having a deal stuck in the funnel.

Miller Heiman decided on a push strategy, e-mailing modules in the learning series on a monthly basis.  Salespeople can also access the content on demand.  It’s presented visually, audibly, and in document format.

In addition to the content directed at sales reps, sales managers are provided coaching tools to assure that reps are availing themselves of the content and making the most use of it.  Miller Heiman suggests one-on-one or team meetings with reps.

The modules can be customized.  For example, a video or audio of a top sales rep discussing the topic of the month could be integrated into the Miller Heiman version making it more relevant to the audience.

Each module in the series consists of a video, an animated presentation, a “back of the napkin” exercise, and a white paper.  Most of the modules are five to eight minutes long.

Miller Heiman beta-tested Advanced Concepts with 7 clients, with 300 users in total.

Miller Heiman did the right thing in investing in this Advanced Concepts technology-enabled learning platform.  It provides many of the How-to’s delivered by Miller Heiman subject matter experts, whereas their programs often don’t get past the basic components—the What’s—of their approach.  That’s not a weakness.  It’s just the way curricula are developed for companies with limited time and budgets.

Competitively, this is an important step for Miller Heiman.  A fair number of sales training providers have strong virtual learning/reinforcement offerings.   Here are just a few: Richardson, The TAS Group, RevenueStorm, Mercuri International, Imparta, and The Brooks Group.  Some providers’ virtual offerings duplicate only what is provided in their ILT (Instructor-Led Training) programs.  Miller Heiman’s approach, taking the student further and deeper into the approach, strategy or concept, can be of real value, depending on how the customer implements the tool.

Here’s the bottom line:  What will really determine whether Advanced Concepts becomes a successful product for Miller Heiman is salesrep adoption.  If reps see that investing time their time learning from the modules will put money in their pockets, they’ll use it.  If they view it as yet another demand from management that takes time away from selling, they won’t.  Miller Heiman clients should strongly consider using the recommended implementation approach.

Disclosure: Miller Heiman is an ESR subscriber.

• ESR/Brief: Miller Heiman’s Sales Access Manager ($29.95)
• ESR/Report on Miller Heiman ($99.95), which is extracted from…
• ESR’s Sales Training Vendor Guide ($495.00).

Photo credit: Fotolia.com

Dave Stein: Proponents of employing a formal sales process in B2B selling say it’s the key to winning.  Opponents say it inhibits the creativity that salespeople need to get the job done.  What is Kadient’s perspective on the importance of sales process?

Kadient Team (KT): Kadient is a proponent of employing a formal sales process (the science) and believes that in doing so, there is still plenty of room to allow a salespeople to be creative (the art) in how they engage and deliver within a formal sales process.  Deploying a sales process will allow an organization to identify (and learn) what the successful, repeatable sales activities are and what the quota-achieving reps do to succeed in specific selling situations. This information is what will help drive improved sales results across the board.  If a company is not working to formalize its sales processes, they are simply being negligent as there is widespread proof from analysts that deploying a formal sales process drives significant improvements in overall sales performance compared with those who do not.  We embrace a concept that our Sales Playbooks are “guardrails” for the sales reps and not a set of “handcuffs.”  This allows the new sales rep in an organization to use and follow as much of the sales playbook that they need to become revenue producing as fast as possible.  And, for the experienced sales person, the Sales Playbook is designed to give them the key activities and content they need to move their opportunity forward faster and allow them to take on more opportunities in their pipeline.

DS: Explain to us what sales playbooks are.

KT: While sales playbook is not a new term, traditionally they are synonymous with a pitch book, champion kit or the 25 lb. binder provided to a sales person following a sales kick off or sales training. They contain all of the information used to educate sales for delivering a company’s products and solutions. Some have moved to delivering them electronically on a CD, DVD, Thumb-Drive, or through a smattering of links on a company’s intranet.

Kadient has taken the notion of the traditional sales playbook and made them interactive, dynamic and embedded them within the CRM system. Kadient’s Sales Playbooks align situation-specific sales and marketing strategies, content, tools, and coaching with the customer’s buying cycle / company’s sales process. They maximize sales productivity by delivering this information contextual to the selling situation that a salesperson is working, all within the system where they work their opportunities—their CRM.

DS: How do they help salespeople win business?

In today’s technology enabled world, information about a company, its products, value proposition and competition are readily available and buyers are more knowledgeable than ever before.  Kadient Sales Playbooks spotlight what a salesperson needs to do next to advance an opportunity and reinforces the sales process/sales training with proven sales strategy and tactics. Salespeople are able to drill down into specific activities they need to execute, and complete them, right from within their CRM and in doing so, they are provided with the right information they need to have the meaningful conversations required to advance and close opportunities. Specific competitive sharp sticks, the precise value statements for the products they are selling, and the exact proof points they need for a particular type of opportunity are served up to them—when they need them.

DS: Would you share with us a customer success?

KT: Polycom, the world leader in unified communications, has enabled their global sales force with Kadient Playbooks. In just 6 weeks, Polycom rolled out 12 vertical based playbooks whose use has resulted in significant productivity increases across their salesforce.  Experienced and newer salespeople have been using these playbooks to get to the information they need to work their opportunities much more efficiently than in the past and they have the confidence that the content they are being served up through playbooks is relevant, correct and current.

It’s not just about time savings, though, it’s about changing and improving the way salespeople sell.  Larry Ball, Senior Director of Global Sales Enablement, says, “We have a vast array of products reps are expected to sell. If reps aren’t comfortable with the products or solution positioning, they default back to what they know. Playbooks give them the confidence to have conversations about all our solutions and not just stick with what they know.”

Polycom is leveraging the playbooks analytics at all levels of their organization to  deliver to the bottom line and get a better handle of forecast, “The forecast metrics are key – specifically, knowing if a deal is over or understated,” says Larry. “This information is tremendously useful for every sales manager who doesn’t have the time to go on sales calls but does have to forecast. This way they can know if the numbers they are getting from their salespeople are real or not.”

Note: ESR published an ESR/Brief™ on Kadient entitled, Kadient—A Helping Hand in Sales Process.  It can be downloaded for $29.95 from ESR’s website.

Photo credit: Fotolia.com

The question that comes up in every sales performance improvement provider evaluation we are involved with is this:  How will the sales training provider enable their methodology, processes, and approach be integrated with the client’s CRM system?  Out of the box CRM will not get the job done in the cases we’ve seen.  In fact, it tends to automate the chaos that exists in many sales organizations and demeans the salesperson by forcing them to comply with onerous activities that have no direct value for them.

A sales methodology and the associated processes must be built first and the technology solution customized, tailored or modified to support the salesperson’s use of that sales process.  Or, even better, the vendor provides a software application that sits in front of the CRM system that gives salesperson the tools they need to effectively and efficiently manage sales opportunities or key accounts.

There are four alternatives that a sales training provider has with respect to providing support for their methodology in the client’s choice of CRM systems:

1. Ignore the issue, leaving it up to the customer to figure out.
2. Develop and maintain the software themselves.
3. Join the Dealmaker Partner Network and avail themselves of The TAS Group’s solution, such as InfoMentis, Huthwaite, and Think, Inc. have done, among others.
4. Engage with White Springs, a software company that provides CRM front-end solutions to more than a dozen sales training providers, as well as directly to end-user companies.

Right now, the clients ESR is working with in active evaluations are all looking at sales training providers that use the White Springs solution.  So, I reached out to Chris Hens, COO of White Springs.  The result was this interview.

Dave Stein: More than a dozen leading sales training providers use White Springs as the foundation for their technology-enabled selling solution. What is it that your company does for them?

Chris Hens: Simply put, we enable our partners to easily integrate their training content into any CRM/SFA platform. Our compelling value is that our partners don’t have to invest a lot of money in the technology and dedicate themselves to a limited choice of CRM/SFA platforms. We build their applications one time and then integrate them into whatever platforms their customers have implemented. This model allows our partners to quickly deliver integrated solutions and actually start making money within weeks or months rather than years.

DS: You’ve got a long history in the sales effectiveness business, Chris.  How did you wind up as a principal at White Springs?

CH: Well, I don’t know about the “long” part, but certainly I’ve seen a lot. Interestingly, we are now doing with White Springs what we wanted to do as far back as 1999.

I was with a sales training firm called OnTarget when we were acquired by Siebel. The premise of that deal was that sales training/methodology content should be embedded into sales force automation so customers could drive the greatest effectiveness from both the technology and the training content. So, we were right in the middle of trying to make these two things work together 10 years ago.

The problem was that there was little flexibility in either model. As a result, our solutions were less than compelling for the user and really didn’t end up selling very well. After several years of engaging with our top clients trying to make things work, it became apparent to a lot of folks that there needed to be a better way. That’s when I ran into Gary White (founder of White Springs). He showed me a better model and allowed me to be a part of his company.

DS: In addition to the sales training providers, White Springs has end-user companies using their technology as well. Can you share with us some details of an implementation?

Actually, all of our technology ends up with end-users. Currently, our sole route to market is through our partnerships. We do, however, have many customers who have asked us to augment the original applications (White Springs likes to call them applets) by integrating the customer’s own home-grown or even other third-party tools or content.

The typical implementation for us involves our partner first engaging with the customer to position the integrated solution. White Springs provides pre-sales support to help guide the opportunity to closure. Once it’s closed, we take over and integrate the applets into the customer’s CRM system and provide ongoing technical support. The average SaaS (On Demand) implementation takes less than 24 hours to embed in the customer’s environment.

DS: Where do you see all this going? What should sales leaders be looking for on the horizon?

CH: Embedded learning. That’s the buzz-phrase for me. We know that a great deal of learning is retained when it is done in context. So, we need to bring learning into the sales person’s daily cadence, making it relevant and useful in real-life scenarios and interactions. This type of “just-in-time, in-context learning” is where I believe we will see a lot of focus in the next few years.

DS: Any advice to sales leaders who don’t know which end is up from a technology perspective? How can they leverage technology for increased sales performance?

CH: This may sound a little strange coming from a software company, but I often say to prospective customers, “Please, PUHLEEAASE, don’t get hung up features and functions in a ‘cool tool.’” The key is to stay focused on the reasons you invested in sales training to start with. Technology should be the means to that end. It should be simple, enable the users to engage the content effectively and ensure that customers can manage the learning process.

It’s funny, though… even when we try to focus prospects on those tenets, they invariably want us to show the whiz-bang features or discuss “wouldn’t-it-be-cool-if-it-could-do-this” futures…sadly, the sizzle still sells.

Photo credit: © Steve Mann – Fotolia.com

I asked tough questions during the briefing, but I got answers that made sense.  Every one of them.

They suggested that I log onto the new Dealmaker Genius customized opportunity management process application.  A few days later I did.

Here’s how it works:  Based upon the industry you’re selling into, how your customers buy, and certain characteristics regarding your sales approach, products and services, the application poses a series of questions about what it takes to successfully manage a sales opportunity.  It proposes a very comprehensive list of qualification criteria, allowing you to accept, change, or delete.  You can add criteria as well.  When your list is complete, it then cycles back and asks for the importance, or weighting factor, for each criterion.

The end result is a documented sales process, replete with metrics—for example, how much potential business must be in each stage for a rep to achieve their targets.

The results of this process documentation exercise can be incorporated into The TAS Group’s Dealmaker sales performance automation application. But here’s the thing…  The output from the 15-minute exercise can be used as a stand-alone tool as well, or as the foundation for customizing their existing CRM application.

Powerful.

Here’s my quote from the press release:  “For the experienced sales leader, this is better than sliced bread.  Rather than spending time and money on tips and tricks with little sustained impact, being able to create a customized sales process for their own business can set them on the path to lasting, measurable sales performance improvement.”

This is another big step by The TAS Group in providing sales professionals with appropriate technology that will enable them to be more effective and efficient.

I’d be hard-pressed to accept any excuses from process-averse sales leaders as to why they wouldn’t avail themselves of this tool and the benefits that it will bring.

Photo: © Albert Lozano-Nieto – Fotolia.com

That sole trainer (or two- to three-person firm) won’t be rolling out simultaneous live instructor-led training classes in 20 countries.  Nor will they be getting in front of every one of 3,000 reps in the North American operation of a large client during a rapid 6-month deployment.

But we have seen one- to three-person sales consulting and training firms be very effective in:

• Filling a gap in a company’s existing sales methodology in their unique area of expertise.  We’ve recommended domain experts in selling outsourcing, gaining and leveraging business acumen, demonstrating software effectively, and understanding and selling into specific industries, as just four examples.  These experts contributed significantly to their clients’ overall sales effectiveness;
• Adding unique or custom-developed content to that company’s existing sales training curriculum, which is then delivered through a train-the-trainer approach;
• Coaching sales managers and individual sales reps toward closer compliance with the company’s sales methodology.  Two common examples are “deal management sessions,” and objective pipeline reviews.  We know a number of consultants who do a terrific job in these areas for some very large companies;
• Extending the value of a company’s investment with a larger sales training provider who might do a great job of providing the “what to do,” but not the “how to do it.”  That’s a common compliant among sales training buyers we speak with;
• Consulting with and/or delivering special learning content to a small, diverse division or business unit of a large global player.  That’s one explanation for seeing names of some very big companies on the website of some very small trainers;
• Developing and delivering virtual content that can be translated where required and rolled out globally.

There are many situations where an individual trainer just can’t get the job done for a big company.  But there are plenty of times where they not only can, but they’re the best alternative.

Would you let me know by email if you’ve had a high-value experience working with an individual trainer or small firm?

© photo-dave – Fotolia.com