Executive Conversation

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You have high visibility and expectations when it comes to adding value to your company’s field sales organization. Let us help you make the case for your business and financial acumen learning initiative. Start today by taking the first three steps.

  1. » Welcome

    Aligning your learning initiatives with senior leadership’s business priorities positions you to win their support and resources. “Build it” gives you a start on building your case for developing the business and financial skills of your field sales organization.

    View a sample report.

    Use this tool to build the business case for developing your team’s business acumen and securing funding to measurably improve your organization’s performance. Requiring just a few minutes to complete, you’ll receive a recommendations report that can serve as the foundation for presenting your initiative.

    1. IDENTIFY your company’s business priorities
      Align your learning initiative in the context of your company’s business initiatives and objectives.
    2. DETERMINE your top sales challenges
      Minimize challenges by improving skills to maximize sales’ abilities to impact your company’s business priorities.
    3. SELECT your learning initiative audiences
      Consider which groups will be part of your learning initiative.

    As a thank you for taking the time to build your plan, you’ll also receive 5 complimentary Fluency Assessment licenses to begin measuring your team’s current skill levels today.

    Next Step //

  2. » Step 1: Your Company's Business Priorities

    The business case you make for your learning initiative should align directly, or indirectly, to the priorities and objectives that your senior leadership has indicated warrant focus and resources. Please choose up to three of the objectives from the list below that best align with your company.

    If you want to do some internal research first, review your company’s top business priorities for the coming business cycle. To identify these priorities, review the latest Executive Presentation or read the Letter to Shareholders in your most recent Annual Report.

    • Improve Gross Margin

      Examples: Minimize sales discounting, or improve product mix

    • Improve Revenues/Turnover

      Examples: Increase licensing revenues, or increase number of net new customers, or improve customer retention metrics

    • Focus on International Expansion

      Examples: Expand presence in emerging markets, or maximize our supply chain

    • Continue Acquisition Strategy

      Examples: Complement our core strategy, or enter adjacent markets, or leverage our distribution channels

    • Increase the Speed of New Product Innovation

      Examples: Increase R&D expenditures, or market specific solutions for emerging markets

    • Improve Operational Efficiencies

      Examples: Manage cost of sales (COS), or consolidate facilities by instituting mobile workforce

    • Improve Customer Loyalty

      Examples: Improve service levels, or improve customer retention

    • Maximize Shareholder Value

      Examples: Improve net income, or increase earnings per share.

  3. » Step 2: Your Field Sales Organization's Challenges

    As you consider your Field Sales Organization, review the challenges that represent obstacles that must be overcome in order to successfully align sales efforts to your company’s business priorities.  Note some of the indicators that could inhibit overall sales objectives. Please choose up to three.

    • Decrease deep discounting

      Indicators: Customers perceive no difference among competing suppliers other than price, or sellers unable to differentiate themselves, their products and their company from the competition.

    • Improve sales pipeline

      Indicators: Inability to proactively identify trends that could compel organizations to make buying decisions; or, lack of skills to carry out an effective discovery call regarding business value.

    • Increase forecasting accuracy

      Indicators: When contacts are not part of organizational levels that have ultimate funding authority, or when or other business priorities have changed the decision process/timeframe.

    • Decrease the selling cycle

      Indicators: Inability to effectively engage at the decision making level, or misreading or not understanding the customer’s planning and budgeting process.

    • Increase deal size

      Indicators: Lack of access to appropriate decision-making levels which provide broader visibility to more customer challenges, or difficulty in rising above "needs-based selling."

    • Make the business case for the buyer

      Indicators: Inability to align solutions to the customer's business priorities, or delivering sales proposals focus on product features versus value impact.

    • Implement a common sales "language of business"

      Indicators: Varying, ineffective messaging in the global sales environment inhibits uniformity to serve large customers and inhibits the achievement of shared sales objectives.

    • Improve win rate

      Indicators: "No decision" due to lack of a compelling business case, or relationships which are primarily with non decision makers.

    • Cross selling and up selling to Improve product mix

      Indicators: Difficulty making multiple product/services sales, or focused on responding to product bids/requests initiated by the customer.

  4. » Step 3: Select Learning Initiative Participants