Building customer-engagement skills for commercial and product-management teams

Client need

A global software company based in Europe wanted to engage their resellers more effectively. They would need to rally the whole organization and business partners to focus and deliver on their individual and global targets. In order to do so, the organization asked that BTS design a two-day development program to help align and upskill the organization’s commercial and product management teams.

Solution

The resulting program met participants where they were, engaged them with purpose, and had a thoughtful plan for follow-ups to reinforce the key messages and alignment created during the event.

To start, the organization partnered with BTS to conduct an initial assessment that highlighted a third-quarter sales slowdown. This meant that the fourth quarter would be critical in order to meet annual sales objectives.

BTS also identified that the company's sales mindsets and methodologies were primarily transactional, and that people needed to gain certain skills through training to engage with potential customers more effectively.

In addition, the COVID crisis limited the face-to-face interactions among the sales and product teams, making it more challenging to maintain focus and alignment.

BTS helped the organization develop a straightforward five-step sales process; a clear purpose; and an understanding of how to build the ownership, accountability, and commitment needed to improve the organization’s sales culture. In addition, BTS helped the organization sell and market more effectively by retooling their value proposition.

To enforce the idea that teams should experience the new mindsets, behaviors, and skills in a safe environment before applying them in the real world, the two-day learning event included sales simulations, role-playing exercises, teamwork challenges, and handling objections.

The simulation focused on running a reseller’s business and experiencing the overall sales process. The teamwork aspect of the simulation blended strategic messages, product information and demos, and sales experience around real-life examples. Another critical component of the simulation communicated ways that storytelling builds and conveys impactful messages along a red thread.

Results

The training program and new sales process were both resounding successes. The program turned passive participants into active builders of the software company’s future, leveraging digital solutions that allowed them to experiment with the expected mindset shifts. As a result, participants from the sales team reported feeling more confident and better equipped to engage with potential customers.

The organization saw a significant increase in the number of leads generated, as well as in the conversion rate from lead to customer. The organization successfully met their sales targets and closed out the year with a strong Q4. Based on these results, the organization decided to pursue more quarterly sprints the following year that would focus on each step of the sales cycle.