As we continue to dig deeper into the capabilities of the leading sales performance improvement companies, we’re not encouraged by some of what we’re seeing in the area of sales enablement technology.
Through recent engagements where our clients evaluated sales training companies, we listened to double-talk, vendor sales reps ducking questions, and a complete lack of understanding of the issues. (No, these people were not running for President.)
Just to give you an idea:
- When asked how he recommends modeling the client’s sales process in Salesforce.com, a vendor replied, “Well, you can use the comment fields…”
- Two vendors had absolutely no response, written or verbal, when asked whether they provide a electronic version of their opportunity management form that somehow connects with the client’s CRM system. Another of the exchanges went like this:
Client: “How do we roll up the projected contract values and dates into a forecast?”
Vendor: “You can use Excel, like our other customers do.”
Client: “How do we get the data into Excel?”
Vendor: “I’ll have to check with the folks back in the office.”
The message here is what all of us have been saying on this blog. Properly deployed sales enablement technology of all types—not just opportunity management—will come increased efficiencies and effectiveness and competitive advantage. If you’re evaluating a sales training company, make sure they not only understand the issues, but have made measurable progress in the right direction.
Having a few e-Learning modules isn’t Sales 2.0. It’s not even close.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I like the 0.2 thing, very clever. They say sales is the second oldest profession in the world and personally I think that the sales industry itself is well behind the cutting edge, so I guess sales application vendors can afford to be lazy and give them just enough, rather than pushing the envelope and setting the agenda.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Thanks for your comment, Peter.
When you think about it, for someone to be successful in the world’s oldest profession, they had to have some sales skills. So maybe sales came first after all.
July 1st, 2008 at 9:12 pm
[...] Commander Blog – Scott Hendison How Are You Going To Get A Link If They Don’t Know You Exist? The Sales 2.0 Network | The Sales Enablement Technology Dark Ages: Sales 0.2 Tags > No Tags < This product is also listed in Business to Business Education New [...]
February 24th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
[...] Getting sales to leverage social media is probably not going to be as much of an issue as it is adopting the mechanisms to do so. Social networking is ultimately what sales does. Simplicity is really the key. I’ve worked with and know some extremely savvy and business oriented sales people that are the best because they are a consultant first, sales person second. A good number of these friends and colleagues sell some of the most complex technology solutions out there. Yet, when it comes to using anything more difficult than their Blackberry for a phone call or email, forget it. If they can’t figure it out without using a manual, using it is never going to happen – unless under threat of docked commission. It is no wonder The Sales 2.0 Network says that sales is still in the technological dark ages. [...]
February 24th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Thought Leaders on Sales Enablement with a Twitter account…
This is a list of thought leaders on Sales Enablement with a Twitter account. From February 23, 2009 by Paul Krajewski. Follow these experts on sales enablement
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