Since 2004 we have been developing the Sales Academy. This short case study reflects the issues and enhancements that have contributed to its exceptional success.
The business stimuli - The requirement of the customer was to provide an “engine” to supply their sales force with qualified target bearing professional sales people who would maintain the on-going growth targets.
The issues - Key issues that the training had to address were:
- Rapid identification of potential
- Plans to deal with that potential
- Education and activity necessary to achieve on-target performance
- Reduction in attrition rates
- Raising the game from transactional selling to consultative selling
The programme - The programme has a 26 week duration comprising training, development, tracking and management which culminates in a graduation process.
- Areas of training covered are:
- Product training
- System training
- Leasing training
- Industry training
- Sales training
Considerable work was undertaken to establish the parameters around which the successful sales person would graduate:
- Knowledge
- Activity
- Results
- On-going development requirements
It was around these parameters that the programme was developed.
All of the 5 training subject areas are interwoven into a 2 week continuous course with delegates carrying out self certificated test papers to reinforce the key points. The results are integrated into the delegates’ own learning and development plans which are also shared with their respective managers.
Classroom training is activity based and each day the delegates are involved with case studies, role plays, scenario, demonstrations and customer presentations. One day is dedicated to telephone lead generation where the delegates are required to spend 3 hours telephoning prospective customers and booking appointments.
A central element of the programme is the four follow-up sessions (one every 5 weeks). These enable us to track the progress of their:
- Knowledge
- Activity
- Results
- And support in the field
Feed-back from these top-up sessions is fed to management to advise on what is required to keep the delegates on track for graduation.
To graduate, delegates are required to give a presentation on activity and results which is followed by a specific role play that is assessed on all of the inputs. Graduation is then either granted immediately or deferred with additional work to be completed before it is granted. There are graduation gala dinners organised throughout the year and the successful graduates are recognised at their regional meetings, the national sales conference and on the company’s intranet.
Results - All of the business stimulus has been met as were the original issues and the Academy has now been expanded to cover other disciplines and areas of the company.
