How do we ensure that programmes are focused to the needs and priorities of your sales people and your business?

We work with you in identifying the priority needs using a sales competence framework. Our 'Effective Sales Profile' is the basis for defining the key skill areas and current skill levels. Using the outputs from this analysis we will develop a programme that recognises the priorities for development, your marketplace and the challenges you face.

How do we measure effectiveness in definitive business benefit terms?

Our approach in working with a client is to agree at the time of developing a training programme what the basis of evaluating the effectiveness of the training will be. Our belief is that there should be two "beneficiaries" of any investment in training and development;

(1) The individual participants

They should benefit in terms of their skills and knowledge development, so that they feel more confident and can be more effective in their sales role.

You may have your own sales competence model and have performance review processes in place, in which case we will work with you in agreeing the current benchmarks and skill levels and how to put in place the mechanics to assess progress at stages during and after the training.

We can provide a Sales Competence Model, if you do not already have one in place. The Effective Sales Profile is an example of a competence model. This can be developed to the roles in your sales team, the market environment, and the specific objectives they have to meet.

(2) Your business - in terms of definable business benefit and payback

Increased business. Our programmes are practically based and throughout, your salespeople will be working on live prospect and customer situations. We will agree a nominated list of prospects / customers for each sales person and these will be used to track business results and gains.

The specific business measures will be mutually agreed. They may include for example;

• Improving margin via more effective negotiation
• Increasing product penetration in existing accounts via more effectiveness in cross selling
• Developing the large opportunity accounts via more effective key account management
• Building the live customer base by developing new business acquisition skills

These objectives will define the focus and content of the training.

So in summary, we will work with you in establishing measures that will enable us both to quantify the return and the business benefit in definable, business payback terms. We believe that to be a valued training partner to your business we need to show and take responsibility for demonstrating how we contribute to the achievement of your sales goals.