Sales managers are a critical link in the technology usage chain. Sales managers who are comfortable using technology as a tool to increase sales will drive the usage of technology in their regions. These managers tend to have regions that leverage deployed technology to a higher degree, and consequently have higher levels of efficiency and productivity.
Creating sales manager buy-in and competency as it relates to your specific sales technology is the first and most critical step in increasing overall usage of your technology. The problem is that most sales mangers in the financial services industry have not been properly coached and supported in the usage of the deployed technology. To a large degree, they are left to learn it themselves. Because of this, sales managers who actually use the available technology to their (and the company's) advantage are in the minority.
Our "Personal Trainer" program for sales managers offers one-on-one personalized attention, and is usually integrated with our certification program, but it can be executed separately. Here are the basic steps in the program.
- Define desired sales manager competency level by:
- Identifying mission-critical sales applications
- Identifying core functionality of each mission-critical application
- This functionality becomes the minimum acceptable competency level for every manager
- Gap analysis is done with each sales manager by:
- Comparing their current technology competencies to functionality listing
- Creating a gap listing for each manager for targeted training
- Have sales managers commit to a training regimen that includes:
- One-on-one in person coaching sessions
- Phone coaching sessions
- Web-based learning (if appropriate)
