To keep revenue moving sales organisations are challenged to keep pace as new products and markets are launched. Reps need new skills, and they need them quickly. Time – to – productivity has become a key metric when evaluating sales initiatives. However, it’s not just about learning fast, it’s about maintaining productivity during the process. Time has never been more precious, and sales professionals must spend it wisely, maximising interactions with Customers and minimising time sitting in classrooms. Keeping forward momentum means keeping reps in front of clients as they learn new skills.
Will the Old Ways Work?
An emphatic NO! But the next question is . . . what will?
The increasing number of people in our sales forces in Australasia are now millennials. So, the important consideration is how to adapt to how millennials learn. The following was published recently by the research company, the Aberdeen Group. According to its new report, “Sales Performance Management 2016 : How the Best-in-Class Evolve Success, top-performing companies adapt sales management to a changing audience.”
“More than three-quarters of those surveyed, 77%, reported making significant or extreme adaption to managing millennial sales professionals. Further, the majority of these top performing companies are investing in formal learning applications for their reps, knowing how frequently millennials “consume content” and how top-performing reps are “hungry for any new edge they can get on their competition.”
Leading organisations must adapt to managing millennial professionals (and start preparing for Generation Z) because ultimately, their needs and expectations are leading indicators of where the whole organisation is headed. Given that, it’s critical to not just understand the needs of the millennials, but to think carefully about how to deliver thoughtful, blended experiences that meet the needs of a multi-generational sales team.
Next Generation Sales Training
“To engage today’s learners, training has to be flexible, personalised, bite-sized, relevant, provide meaningful data, and be accessible on-demand across a wide range of devices”. Richardson Sales Training
The new learning cannot be achieved without significant innovation.
The new learning must look at two areas, content and delivery. Blending adaptive-learning technology, video content with qualified coaching skills will truly “flip” the organisation classroom.
This means that reps can acquire basic knowledge and familiarity online and at their own pace. Once they gain that knowledge, the time that they spend in a workshop or in-field coaching can be optimised to focus on skill development and practice. This flipped approach saves time and money for reps and their organisations, and it supports constant reinforcement.
The current trend for sales training of the future is the incorporation of micro-learning opportunities, allowing content to be delivered in smaller, bite-sized units with greater engagement. At www.modlettes.com, we believe it is necessary for organisations to invest in the modular content required to be truly mobile and adaptive and also to use a sound technology platform to pull all the elements together in to an exciting and viable solution.