A major industrial manufacturer 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 management issues.
Sales Training Needs Assessment
After consulting with the President of the 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 selling 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 skills on how to build an effective sales team, and was taught to every sales manager. Part 2 was customized for each manager, and addressed the specific challenges faced by that individual manager. For example, one sales 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 these Peak Selling sales training programs: Key Account Management, Team Selling, Sales Prospecting and Business Development, Time Management for Sales, and Coaching for Sales Success.