4 Ways Sales & Marketing Should Use Training to Drive Revenue

by Steve Bonadio⁽⁴⁾
SumTotal

Reduced budgets, increased pressure to meet sales targets, staff turnover and understaffed departments, and the ever-present need to fill the pipeline while not losing customers out the bottom end are all typical challenges for a day in the life of Sales and Marketing professionals. And while branding, prospecting, channel relationships, and lead generation are worthwhile pursuits to meeting those challenges head-on, many organizations are missing another opportunity that can impact success and further drive revenues -- training internal and external resources. Yes, training, but not in the traditional sense. Successful organizations are delivering training in new ways to the most important audiences of sales teams, channel partners, and customers.

* Target training and information delivery based on skill level, partner type, customer purchase history, or other relevant information, to get the most impact.

* Engage prospective customers with needs-based learning, quizzes, and multi-media.

* Reinforce learning with short, online refreshers.

* Gain faster speed-to-market using a 24/7/365 environment.

* Keep external audiences in-the-know with learning solutions for their mobile devices.

This executive report presents findings from SumTotal's Training and Information Sharing survey of Sales and Marketing professionals. Additional information about the sample and survey methodology is contained in the Methodology section at the end of this report.

Training to Drive Success

Consider 4 ways Sales and Marketing Professionals should be using training to achieve success:

1. Streamline Consolidate training into consistent, "always on" training that's easy to deliver and consume.

2. Measure Know who's accessing training and information and how it's impacting results.

3. Target Be relevant. Provide training and information to those who would benefit.

4. Simplify Reduce the amount of time you put into creating training and managing logistics. A training and information sharing strategy supported by robust and integrated underlying technology provides the means for achieving these goals. Several key findings in this study validate the need for a definitive training and information sharing strategy: * Sales professionals who don't provide sales training were more likely to report challenges with meeting sales targets (68 percent vs. 58 percent) * Marketers who don't provide customer training were more likely to report challenges with customer retention (44 percent vs. 12 percent) and cross- sell (40 percent vs. 35 percent)

Yet 61 percent of the Sales and Marketing professionals surveyed don't provide ongoing training to their key constituents -- sales teams, channel partners, and customers. And 41 percent indicate that training and information sharing was not an initial priority for their organization.

1. Streamline

Training and information sharing is most often provided in-person. There are obvious benefits to in-person training; however the cost and coordination of such efforts can be prohibitive. This may be why 40.5 percent of Sales executives indicated their current training practices are too time consuming and 27 percent indicated they are too costly while 26.3 percent of Marketing leaders indicate current practices are too time consuming and 28.9 percent say they are too costly.

Technology is successfully leveraged by businesses and consumers alike because of the efficiencies and conveniences it provides. Consider redirecting funds from costlier in-person or paper-based training and information sharing methods to a more efficient online system that not only saves time and money, but also has staying power. * Online training is available 24/7/365, so users can access and re-access training and information anytime and anywhere * Set up automatic reminders for users to take follow-up courses to refresh or extend skills and knowledge * Users can download and view training from their mobile devices to be consumed off-site, on-the-job, or even on a plane * Information is delivered in a consistent manner with the ability to test users for comprehension

With the right technology in place, these efficient and cost-effective tools can improve speed-to-market, whether with new product knowledge, refined sales skills, or the latest value added information for customers.

2. Measure

Many professionals are being asked to provide returns on investments (ROI) into new technology deployments. With an online training delivery system, organizations not only see who has accessed training and information, you can correlate that back to sales performance. Understand who's engaged with the organization and who is not, in order to boost sales skills, determine partner commitment, or gauge the interest level of customers and prospects.

3. Target

Key to success is understanding target audiences, what they need to make an impact, and delivering content specific to their needs. Provide training and information based on specific audiences. For example: * Distribute advanced materials to those individuals who are already certified * Refresh basic skills with those who are struggling * Provide different information to VARs vs. Referral partners

* Present cross-sell and up-sell opportunities based on products that have been purchased * Get the attention and buy-in of prospective customers with need-based information and training delivery

Easy to use for

* Delivering targeted training and information (based on role or product/service purchased) is an important feature for 23.7 percent of the audience. * 20 percent require ease of use * 17.2 percent want the ability

4. Simplify

And finally, simplify information delivery by leveraging existing and ready- made content. Organizations can reduce the amount of time it takes to create and manage training, for example, by turning PowerPoint presentations into training courses. Many successful organizations purchase proven, off-the- shelf training to develop sales skills or offer customer value-added information. Set up automatic course assignments and reminders, and eliminate the need for logistics planning and scheduling of on-site training. Again, by leveraging technology organizations can improve speed to market and enable greater focus on other tasks that impact the bottom line.

Conclusion

Implementing a training and information sharing strategy, supported by robust and integrated underlying technology, provides the means for achieving these objectives. Whether those goals involve enabling and engaging sales and partner teams or customers and prospects, online training and information sharing allows organizations to distribute targeted value to important audiences and measure the impact of that value on the bottom line.

Regardless of who is involved in the decision-making process, tools like SumTotal's Extended Enterprise solution can help organizations provide valuable and impactful information to key constituents.

SumTotal's solution has many key advantages, including:

* Information can be targeted to specific groups (based on role, product purchased, or other attributes) * Use of training and information can be tracked to determine who is completing training or viewing documents Methodology

In 2011, SumTotal Systems conducted a global survey of senior professionals in Sales, Marketing, and Channels to gather details about training practices and needs for their key constituents including sales teams, channel partners, and customers. Survey respondents were primarily Sales and Marketing professionals in organizations with 2,500 employees or less across a multitude of industries.

More Information

For more information on the Extended Enterprise solution: www.sumtotalsystems.com/solutions/extended-enterprise-solutions.html

Article submitted Thursday, July 07, 2011 & read 7 times.

Experienced marketing professional in the talent management software industry, with more than nine years’ experience working for leading human capital management software companies. As product marketing director at SumTotal, responsible for global messaging, market research, determining future product direction, and sales support for SumTotal. Prior to joining SumTotal, led product marketing and product management for several leading talent management software companies.

For more information, please email him at connect@sumtotalsystems.com

For more information about SumTotal, or to request a demonstration, please call +1-866-766-6825 (US / Canada), +1 352 264 2800 (international) or visit our website: http://www.sumtotalsystems.com/

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