A major chemical producer had grown substantially through a combination of business growth and acquisitions, and their sales force had increased dramatically in size as well. Because of the number of newer salespeople and their diverse experience levels, the sales managers were encountering some motivation and sales management issues.
Assessed Sales Training Needs
After consulting with the President of the chemical firm and his senior-level management team, Peak Selling identified some common sales management issues to work on. Two areas identified were time management for salespeople and building successful sales teams. Peak Selling was asked to work 1-on-1 with the sales managers, and sent each of them a survey to assess the specific challenges that each manager was encountering with his or her sales team. Typical responses included comments such as "…one of my best sellers is spending all his time on his key accounts and not enough time on prospecting” and "…some of my experienced sellers think that their performance is better than it actually is.”
Sales Training Solution
Peak Selling designed a series of 1-on-1 sales coaching sessions with each sales manager. Each sales management session was divided into two parts. Part 1 taught some advanced sales skills on how to build an effective sales team, and was taught to every manager. Part 2 was customized for each manager, and addressed the specific sales and management challenges faced by that individual manager. For example, one manager used our conversation to improve her ability to vary her management style with each person on her sales team. Collectively, the material presented to the sales managers used many key concepts from several Peak Selling sales training programs: Key Account Management for Managers, Team Selling, Sales Prospecting and Business Development, Time Management for Sales, and Coaching for Sales Success.