Month 6
- Accountable Training
Now Pipeline Manager is giving you insight you never had with CRM - for example, critical skill gaps are clear and measurable. Training for the team would be a great next step. But… Remember all your sales training sessions? The team left the classroom pumped up and ready to look at prospects in whole new ways. But a month later almost nothing made it into the workflow.
Don't believe us?
Click here to see what McKinsey says.
For all the great info, most business training is just entertainment. Nothing changes. But when did one or two days of talk ever deliver real learning? Learning comes from repetition. And testing. And feedback. But mainly practice. One or two days of selling time, multiplied by all the reps and managers in the audience. If the quota is $1M/year that means a team of 50 blows $200K in productivity for every day of training. Cheap if there’s real change.
Coaches Need Help!
Is anyone on your team a great sales coach?
To improve the team, you really have two challenges: Upgrade rep skills and transform managers into teachers. Most companies promote reps to managers without a minute of training.
The Pipeline gives coaches and evolving coaches so much to work with. Take those training sessions and drop the best ideas into the sales process. What better way to remind people about the habits they want to build or break?
As people work, coaches can see how the new ideas are working in the field
to ensure that the customers like what you’re doing - action-by-action,
skill-by-skill.
Pick a skill to focus the team on for the next 30-60 days- example: qualification.
Skill Spotlights
Measure qualification. Then set a business outcome that you expect from better qualification.
Example: fewer junk opportunities that stall out. If, after 30 days, you have more stalls, then you know there’s a problem in how you are qualifying.
Do some people have fewer and some more? Find out what works and adjust the sales process to give everyone a better chance at success.
Measure the Trainer
McKinsey says this rarely happens:
Why hire a trainer if you don't know what needs fixing? This isn't a liberal arts program. If you spend thousands of dollars for each student, you have a right to an ROI. Now.
Use Pipeline Manager to hold your trainer accountable. Compare team-by-team to evaluate the coaching behind the new skills. Have your sales training consultant come back after three months. Share access to the Pipeline so that they can see what's changed and then help you set a course for how to improve results.
Is it time to sign up for the next training event? Now, the best from every seminar is tied to consistent execution across the team. Eventually you’ll have your own built-in 'Sales University' your students attend every time they open Pipeline Manager.
