ComputAbility, a mail-order company, began in 1982. An authorized reseller of computer software and hardware, ComputAbility offers their clients over 50,000 products. The company has built their reputation on a foundation of competitive prices and quality service. In August of 1997, Creative Computers, also a mail-order company, acquired ComputAbility. The acquisition provided a number of benefits to the company, primarily a larger product selection to offer to customers. Currently, ComputAbility employs 60 + people with plans of adding on 20 to 30 more sales representatives and upport staff during the next year.
Prior to February of 1998, all of the sales representatives were in the inbound division. This division handles all incoming sales calls. Majorities of these calls are from individual consumers. Creative Computers had started their company the same way, but found the growth potential was in the business sector. In February of 1998, ComputAbility started their corporate sales division, an area already underway at Creative. This division of the company was created to develop relationships with business clients, and become the primary way of increasing company profit.
Computability added a dedicated trainer to the staff at the same time the corporate division was started. This individuals primary responsibilities were to train new hires in the areas of sales, product knowledge, company policies and procedures and computer systems. Although there was a solid training program in place, including ongoing new product training from manufacturers, the company was not profiting at an acceptable rate. ComputAbility experienced a decrease in sales and profits during the first year after the acquisition. The expectation was that the acquisition should have provided the tools ecessary to increase sales.
So what could be the problem? Although ComputAbility sales representatives now had more tools available to them, something was still missing. Creative Computers decided to test a sales training program for the corporate sales division. There are a number of sales training tools available. Tools range from books and seminars to dedicated sales training company programs. Management decided to work with a company who had developed a sales training program. The initial step was for top management to go through the training to see if it was worth the time and money investment.
After extensive research, the sales training program, from this point forward called “Discovery”, was adopted. Creative Computers hired the company who developed “Discovery,” to train the companys internal trainers and select corporate sales representatives. After the initial training, the company trainers conduct Discovery for all remaining and new employees. The training program consists of five courses, each containing one to three modules. The modules focus on techniques for cold calling, probing the company needs, developing client relationships, and account and time management.
Representatives are given metrics (daily goals) in the following areas; number of calls, talk time (amount of time the representative spends on the telephone), and dollar. The following goals show the expectations given to the employees during the first 6 months the training was in place: Calls: 80-120 calls per day Talk Time: 3. 5-4 hours per day Dollars: $3000 – $28000 gross profit (determined by months of employment) The company who created Discovery developed the metrics of calls and talk time. The dollar goals were determined by ComputAbility. Discovery has been in place for approximately 9 months.
ComputAbility has experienced a few issues regarding the metrics. The first issue deals with the number of calls the sales representatives are required to make. Representatives have expressed to management that the goals are not realistic and do not allow for development of client relationships. As a result of the first issue, the company is finding that not all representatives are following the program. This typically occurs after a few weeks on the job. At this point, the company needs to analyze if the Discovery program is effective; are the metrics given realistic? In addition, the determination needs to be made if
Discovery is followed, it leads to the representatives success. This is very difficult to analyze because as mentioned earlier, not every corporate sales representative is thoroughly following the program. It is also important to measure other factors that may be hindering their performance or assisting in their success, such as length of employment. The best way to determine the effectiveness of the Discovery program is to research proven sales training programs and techniques, analyze existing sales numbers in relation to the metrics and weigh additional factors that may influence the end result.