In Brandon Hall Group’s COVID-19: Impact on Workplace Practices Study, 84% of companies say the pandemic negatively impacted sales effectiveness, at least to some degree. At the same time, generating sales and revenue ranked the most critical business priority as companies emerge from the pandemic. These leave organizations with significant gaps between the performance they need and the skills they have. Simply hiring wave after wave of new salespeople is not the solution, either from a cost or outcome perspective. What companies really need is to focus on enabling their current salesforce by giving them the tools, skills and knowledge they require to be as successful as possible throughout the sales cycle.
Even top training companies are feeling the challenge in the fast-paced sales training environment. New product rollouts are happening faster and more frequently as current products are constantly improved. Even before the pandemic, the competitive landscape and customer needs were changing dramatically. The pandemic only exacerbated those challenges and forced sales best-practices to evolve.
Sales training can no longer be a one-size-fits-all, ‘let’s see what sticks to the wall’ endeavor. The training must be focused, relevant and tightly aligned with individual and organizational performance outcomes. Sales professionals are increasingly pressed for time and results. What they need are tools that support them whether they are qualifying prospects, overcoming objectives or closing deals.
Brandon Hall Group Preferred Provider AllenComm works with its clients to create sales enablement programs that strike the right balance between product training and the customer relationship. The goal is to build personalized learning experiences based on the needs of the sales team and the company’s revenue goals.
Some of the ways they help their clients achieve success include:
- Analyzing your current sales enablement training program to determine what is needed to speed time to competency, increase retention and boost engagement.
- Consulting with your team to identify gaps between learner behavior and expected results.
- Using human-centered design to engage your learners and hit your business goals.
- Finding the right technology to align your learning experience with your business strategy.
–David Wentworth, Principal Analyst, Brandon Hall Group
