Why Should You Demand "Customized" Solution Selling Training For Your Sales Force?

by Philip Nasser

I met a gentleman recently who has been a senior sales executive with a Fortune 1000 firm for the last 20 years. He shared this story with me. "I am approached non-stop by companies who say they have the best sales training program for my sales team. Over the years, I have purchased many of these programs hoping to improve the productivity of our sales folks and squeeze out some additional efficiency. In almost every case, I have been disappointed with the outcomes. Since my results have been less than impressive, I no longer even take their calls. I don't trust they can deliver what we need."

When I asked why, in his opinion, the programs were unsuccessful, he said essentially they were too general and did not reflect the situations his sales force encounters in their day to day work. Citing one specific he said the training did not help his sales people uncover inefficiencies in the prospect operation because the discovery models were too generalized. In another, the role-playing sessions did not approximate the real-life prospect situations sales people encounter.

The reaction of this executive mirrors closely what we have heard from executives over the years. Possibly you have been in a situation where sales trainers were brought in to teach you and your sales teams the "latest" skills and can relate to the feeling of disappointment after the training session was completed. The training just missed the mark. Sales executives should demand that sales training be customized for their sales force so they are assured the training will be on the mark.

You might be saying "wait a minute, isn't a little sales training better than nothing?" It is true that conducting a "standard" out-of-the-box solution selling training session is better than not conducting one at all. No argument there. The popular sales training programs (e.g., Strategic Selling, Target Account Selling, Counselor Sales Person and Solution Selling) are all quite good. But, without significant customization, they almost always miss the bulls-eye.

A "customized" sales training session is the best approach of all...and here is why:

Sales Methodology. A sales methodology is a method of approaching, engaging, qualifying and reaching mutually-beneficial outcomes with prospects. It covers everything that occurs with a prospect (i.e., your defined market) from the time the prospect is identified until there is a happy, referenceable, repeat customer. The methodology builds a value-chain for all activities the sales force engages in during their prospect's buy cycle. While all sales methodologies work, they might not be appropriate for a company. Each popular sales training program has an underlying methodology. Is it appropriate? We frequently find our clients would benefit from pieces of many selling systems rather than everything that is in any one of them. A customized sales training program is able to take the "best of the methodology" and incorporate it into a training program that builds "best practice" for a company

Process. Each sales methodology includes or assumes an underlying sales process. Does a company's sales process match the standard program's process? Likely it will not. There are almost always unique features and twists in a company's sales process. When is the best time to start talking about products or services? How much of the process work can be conducted over the phone as opposed to face-to-face? When does the qualification process end? When is the ideal time to use references? Or conduct demonstrations? Or visit a current customer? Each firm has enough uniqueness to cause standardized programs to fall short.

If a company uses an alternate channel, how does the sales process work for the indirect sales people? The sales process for direct sales people is always different than indirect. A customized sales training program should be able to incorporate this uniqueness in a seamless fashion.

Lead/Inquiry Process. Does the standardized sales program provide a "closed-loop" lead process (lead management system) so a company can be assured no lead goes un-served? Likely not. Who is responsible for qualifying incoming inquiries? The sales people or someone else? Further, does this work interface seamlessly with the most popular Customer Relationship Management systems? If it doesn't, what is the sense of spending corporate resources to generate leads or create demand?

Marketing departments recognize their responsibility to create demand and generate leads through branding, advertising, direct mail and public relations. They have been known to lobby ferociously at budget creation time for funds to accomplish this task. Many times they are successful. Does the standardized sales lead process allow the marketing people to track each lead and develop accurate ROI (is this a commonly recognized term?) to justify their demand creation spend?

Discovery/Major Inefficiencies. Prospects improve their business through the use of a company's products and services. Otherwise, of course, they wouldn't buy them. What major inefficiencies does a company's product or service remove in prospect operations? What is best practice in discovering prospect inefficiencies? This is the one area where sizeable advances/improvements in efficiency can be made in the sales forces of most companies. Even more improvement can be made if the solution selling system being used incorporates this important requirement. Will the standard solution selling systems be able to accomplish this? Almost certainly not. In order to accomplish this, the system will need to be a customized sales training program. Actually, unless the sales system is customized in this area, we would suggest not using it.

Qualification. A company's qualification system is central to the successful growth of its sales. Working with miss-qualified or un-qualified prospects is a major waste of corporate resourcesbut it never shows up on the income statement or balance sheet. It is simply a hidden cost. As most sales managers will tell you, the skill they most want their salespeople to have is that of qualification. When prospects are well qualified many good things happen; forecasts become much more accurate, budget planning becomes easier, resources can be deployed where needed, skill-building efforts can be directed to the proper areas and executive management gains confidence in the sales force.

It is simply mandatory that the selling system a company uses must be customized to its individual needs. Standard selling systems will not meet this requirement and must all be customized.

Other areas where a standard selling system will fall short are:

Scripts and call flow. These must be customized for your company. There is no by-passing this requirement.

Prospect Grading. Prospect grading must be customized. A standard approach will not be "best practice".

Ideal Prospect Definition. This requirement can't be overlooked and is very likely not a part of a standard selling system.

Forecasting. If prospect grading is not accurate and your sales force is not working with ideal prospects, your forecast will be unreliable. And nothing is as frustrating to a CEO as a sales forecast that is unreliable. Inaccurate forecasts are also a key contributor to the short lives of Sales' VPs.

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