TRAINING
of sales and service organizations by creating and delivering competency and skill development programs and processes. Our experience and pro- cess of serving others first has proven to create the greatest positive behav- ior change in both the professional and personal lives of our participants. The principle: Private victory pre- cedes public victory.
www.aslantraining.com
BTS is a global strategy execution firm headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with 650 professionals in 34 offices located on six continents. We focus on the people side of strategy and sales – working with leaders and sellers at all levels to help them make better decisions, convert those decisions to actions, and deliver results for their customers. For 30 years, we’ve been designing fun, powerful experiences that have a profound and lasting im- pact on people and their careers.
www.bts.com/sales/index
Ask trainers about follow-up meth- ods. These are essential to effective training, and you need to know and budget for what reinforcement train- ing the trainer will do – or what it will expect your company to do. Give extra points for an experiential component in training – for the ability to blend live and online instruction, for attention to coaching, and ability to integrate with your sales tools (for example, your CRM system). Find out how thoroughly the trainer addresses training sales managers. Try to find out also not just what each qualified trainer can do, but what kind of assignments it does best and has the most experience at. You want to benefit from the trainer’s own lessons learned – not help the trainer learn new lessons.
WHAT DO YOU PROPOSE? You should now have a workable list of candidates from which you can request proposals. Keep your RFP focused on your training needs, what outcomes or benefits you expect, plus any hard restraints on the solicitation, such as budget or timing. You want to give the trainer, which has extensive experience in applying a variety of techniques, the maximum freedom to come up with the best solution to your specific goals.
When you send out RFPs, let pro- viders have reasonable contacts with your reps and managers. The better each provider understands your spe- cific company and its sales process, the smarter it can be in proposing a solution.
For over 40 years, Carew Interna- tional has been a leading provider of sales training, with a complete suite of professional development programs for sales, leadership, and customer service. Carew built its reputation for delivering dramatic bottom-line results with training programs that provide a dynamic, interactive, and unique learning experience proven to change behav-
26 | JANUARY 2019 SELLING POWER © 2019 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.
Next comes evaluating proposals. If you have screened candidates well, all will be qualified. But some proposals will indicate by detail and creativity that the trainer really wants your busi-
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ness. Eagerness is always a good sign. Price may be an issue, but don’t dismiss higher-cost proposals too fast. You may be able to negotiate bet- ter terms. And your goal should be return on total costs – not minimizing provider payments. Read all proposals carefully – even the costly or less enthusiastic. This is an opportunity to learn what smart trainers think, and that may teach you something that shapes the ultimate training program.
Based on what you have learned,
revise goals or requirements and invite three or four of the top candi- dates to do in-person presentations on how they will meet your revised goals. Decision makers should keep sales leaders informed of changes and reasons for them. Now you are ready for final presen- tations. All key stakeholders from your firm should participate – even if they are not decision makers – to make sure they understand and buy into results. The finalist candidates should get about 90 minutes each, with at least 30 minutes available for drill- down questioning. Allow for breaks between presentations so everyone can relax during a tense day. Pay at- tention to answers to questions, how confident and ready these answers are, and who makes them. Candi- dates that bring CEOs or very senior managers indicate strong interest in the business. Let procurement staff, not decision makers, negotiate any adjusted price or scope terms with the selected can- didate. To give procurement leverage, pick a number-two choice as well. But the goal is to get the top candidate working in a friendly manner with sales leadership and training decision makers as soon as possible.
Price may be an issue, but don’t dismiss higher-cost proposals too fast. You may be able to negotiate better terms. And your goal should be return on total costs – not minimizing provider payments.
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