Managing the Learn
“The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.” - Brian Herbert
Sales professionals need to develop multiple competencies in many different skills during their career to be successful. Examples include how to work and cultivate a territory, qualify and cultivate a prospect, negotiate and close a deal, and create and nurture client relationships. The sales role is difficult because the situations and working environments are in continual flux. The market is constantly changing, competitors are actively working to disrupt established relationships, and every customer is making every decision differently, every time.
Selling skills are in need of constant honing to be relevant. In the CSO Insights 2015 Sales Management Optimization study, more than half of sales organizations rated their ability to adapt to change as “needs improvement” or “needs major improvement.” One skill that enables sales professionals to remain relevant is the ability to learn. As the pace of change (marketplace, competition) accelerates, it has become even more important for organizations to develop the core competency of “managing the learn.” Sales operations needs to put in place the processes that enable sales professionals to become learning professionals.
Managing the Learn
Managing the learn is a concept that leverages change management concepts and incorporates them into the normal cadence of the sales organization. The objective of managing the learn is to convert studying and the application of knowledge from a project-based activity to an ongoing business process that can be expected and anticipated, planned and executed, and adopted and embraced.
Expected and Anticipated
A key element of managing the learn is creating a routine that allows major changes to be introduced in a predictable way. Nothing is more disrupting to a sales organization than unexpected change. Springing a major change on a global sales organization often brings sales activity to a halt. Creating a change schedule as part of an overall sales organization cadence allows for sales professionals to operate with confidence. For example, organizations may choose to make large changes once a year, medium size changes once a quarter, and small changes once a month.
Planned and Executed
The second element of managing the learn is accepting that different people learn in different ways. Planning and executing a multi-modal learning program for sales professionals is essential to accommodate each type of learner on the sales team. Multi-modal learning essentially means that the learning process occurs in multiple forms (e.g., lecture, role playing, and question-and-answer) and that the learner can choose the forms that best suit their learning style.
Adopted and Embraced
Another element of managing the learn is the acknowledgment that there are, and will always be, various levels of experience and knowledge among the population of sales professionals. It is critical to provide the level of detail that challenges both the novice and the seasoned sales professional to think beyond the status quo.
Questions to Consider:
Are you managing the learn for your sales staff?
How does your organization embrace change?
Is your learning environment multi-model?
This blog post was initially published @ CSO Insights.
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About author and company:
My name is Tom Chamberlain. I serve as Research Director for CSO Insights, a division of MHI Global. I help companies to build sustainable operational performance through uncapping the full potential of sales operations.
CSO Insights is providing the research, data and expertise on sales performance and productivity in B2B sales that sales leaders respect and trust globally.
