How To Grow Sales Talent

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>> Gail Hetchwanta: assumed spelling Hi. My name's Gail Hetchwanta, and welcome to Selling Power TV. Today, we talk about how to grow sales talent, and we have here Nancy Martini assumed spelling, and she's the President and CO of PI Worldwide. Welcome, Nancy.

>> Nancy Martini: Thank you.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: So, let's say I'm a sales manager, and I'm coming to you. I need help. I need this, these are tough times. I need to grow my sales talent. Where do I start?

>> Nancy Martini: The best place to start is to understand exactly what you have in your sales force. What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? Who's well-equipped for the more challenging times? Who's going to need support, and in what way? So I would ask you and, and advise you to first turn to some assessments. Figure out what have you got on your team for talent, and what do they need from you.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: And when we talk about assessments, do you mean the skills and motivation or drive? What do you measure?

>> Nancy Martini: Yeah. There's two areas that we highly recommend. One would be on the skills side. So understanding exactly where someone's skills are. Typically, there would be five areas, you know. Opening, how to build trust and credibility, investigate. Can they ask really good questions, and pull out information from the client? Present. Do they know how to articulate the products and services that you have and the value? And then, certainly, how to gain agreement? Can they navigate decision-making with a client, and in this tougher challenging time, how to position for tougher times to come or when times turn around.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: On your website, you actually have a 25-point skills questionnaire. Tell me about that.

>> Nancy Martini: Yeah. It's called the selling skills assessment tool, SSAT, and it looks at the top 25 dimensions of selling clustered into five buckets. And it looks at the sales skills that would be essential to any sale, primarily consultative. We are a relationship results in business being done.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: So, you can test yourself and, and, you know, get appropriate help as needed?

>> Nancy Martini: Yeah. A company actually would test their sales reps so it's not for an individual to take, but a -

>> Gail Hetchwanta: Right.

>> Nancy Martini: Company can test their actual reps. And you can diagnose things like what does my sales force look like? What are my regions look like?

>> Gail Hetchwanta: Right.

>> Nancy Martini: You know, got some West Coast/East Coast different groups, and then every individual gets their own scores.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: So, let's say I find out that my sales people need help with articulating value and with, with closing the sale. What do I do next?

>> Nancy Martini: Yeah. Typically, you would then use sales training. You would say I really want to focus in this area, and you know, it would give you the information that if you're going to invest in sales training, and you have a two-day course, you're going to tailor it so that you spend a little more time in the areas where they need help. You also want to leverage the, the areas that they're strong. Uncover best practices. So you'll get not only information about the weaknesses but information on the strengths, and sales training is the next logical step. The difference is it will be focused on exactly what your sales force needs today.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: So, a lot of people say that sales training does a great job in raising the awareness level and proving knowledge, and then when people get back in the field, they revert back to the old routines. How do you prevent that?

>> Nancy Martini: Excellent question, and that leads the other side of the bucket. So, if you knowledge, a body of knowledge in your head, the next question is how will you execute on that knowledge. And that's really about behavior. Motivation and drive. If I've learned something in the classroom, what do I do with that body of knowledge when I leave? Motivation is innate, and that's something the more a sales manager understands exactly how that person learns, they can use that data to drive the day-to-day performance. So the combination is powerful.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: So, what does the sales manager need to do in order to maintain that motivation after the training so people actually apply what they have learned?

>> Nancy Martini: Yeah. The best way to do it is to tailor all coaching and reinforcement to that individual's specific motivation and modes of learning. So, for example, if you have a rep who is very much needs things spelled out, by the book, needs a road map, that person's going to be reinforced with sales training very literally. Ask these three questions. Have this kind of call. Report back to me once a day. Another sales rep would feel like that's micromanaging. How dare you do that to me? I'm a senior person. What do you, you're in my face. That person may do a little bit better with a challenge that says, you know what, run with these skills for two weeks. Let me know how it goes.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: So in one case, you may give them the GPS so they know exactly step-by-step driving directions, and the other person you give them a compass and say find your way.

>> Nancy Martini: Exactly.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: Yeah.

>> Nancy Martini: Exactly, and here's the destination you're getting to.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: Exactly.

>> Nancy Martini: Just give them an end point and support them.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: So I assume that PR Worldwide has training programs for managers to help them motivate and coach and their sales people so they can achieve their full potential.

>> Nancy Martini: Exactly, and that's the beauty. All of this data is data that can be put into action, and anyone can learn it. A sales manager can demystify sales performance by using data available today with insights that tell them what this person needs.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: And I think one final observation is that you are actually injecting a lot more science into sales management, and you take the hunches away from the sales manager. Makes it easier and less stressful.

>> Nancy Martini: That science gives them the precision so it takes a lot of the mystery away from performance and helps them not only meet their own goals, but help those sales reps succeed.

>> Gail Hetchwanta: Well, I want to thank you, Nancy, and if you want more information, go to piworldwide.com. So you can grow your sales talent. Thank you.

>> Nancy Martini: Thank you very much.

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==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Techologies ====