Thomson Gale, a division of The Thomson Corp., is an educational information provider—an established, valued brand that enjoys high name recognition within its primary markets. Gale offers a comprehensive repository of high quality, editorially vetted reference content, along with a deep and broad catalogue of reference products.

However, product and market changes have altered the landscape for Gale’s sales professionals. Within the past five years, the company has shifted from publishing primarily print reference materials to deriving more than half its revenue from digital products. Meanwhile, increased competition has made it necessary for the sales force to develop a new approach to its customers—an approach focused on selling solutions based on value.

Getting Started

With market and product changes as a backdrop, Gale identified several issues within its K-12 sales division, a group that calls on schools ranging from kindergarten through 12th grade. The first was the need to transition from transaction-dominated sales to a solution-selling model.“Our ‘Front-End Customer Strategy’ calls for sales professionals to remain close to customer needs.”says Ron Stefanski, Director of sales effectiveness and talent management. “In turn, that dictates that we enhance the skills and professionalism of our sales force.” To that end, Gale chose to institute a comprehensive learning curriculum for the K-12 division and selected AchieveGlobal as a training and consulting partner based on reputation and strength of content. Gale set its focus on the fundamentals of sales training, starting with the development of a consistent sales process that would encourage pre-call planning. “We were instituting a baseline,” says the AchieveGlobal account executive executive who worked with Gale. “Prior to our two organizations working together, the K-12 division had yet to establish their ideal call approach, and we wanted to set the bar high.” Specifically, Gale wanted to shift the role of its sales force away from that of a “product presenter” to the more customer-centric role of trusted business advisor and to encourage the maximization of every sales opportunity, not just the “low-hanging fruit.” At the sales territory level, they wanted to better prioritize their prospecting efforts and identify key contacts who had the need, resources, and authority to purchase Gale’s products. To build momentum and check progress, Gale worked with AchieveGlobal to institute a coaching component as a way to support the sales training and monitor results. The holistic approach involved the entire sales staff of the K-12 division, including nearly 100 field staff and managers. The sales team started with Professional Selling Skills® (PSS) Multimedia, which includes a self-paced CD-ROM and a two-day skills practice, and then Professional Sales CoachingTM for managers.

One year later, the K-12 division followed up with PSS Applications in an effort to customize the training to the company’s specific situations and customer base, including probable client concerns and role playing. At that time, most team members also attended Selling Against the Competition®, while those who worked on larger deals attended Winning Account StrategiesTM. Meanwhile, AchieveGlobal facilitated coaching clinics for sales managers to review the skills taught in Professional Sales CoachingTM, such as recognizing opportunities for improvement and providing constructive feedback, and to practice in realistic situations. “Managers reviewed sales calls together so that they would be assured of picking up on the same things,” says the account executive. “That gave them the consistency they sought.”

Measuring Outcomes

Ultimately, Gale expected the training initiative to deliver results that would positively impact its bottom line. Results from a post-training survey show that the average percent of goal achieved for K-12 field sales professionals increased from approximately 80 percent to 107 percent in the year following the completion of training, while the average for the inside sales group increased from approximately 80 percent to 94 percent during the same period. This post-training performance improvement represents more than $12 million in additional revenue.

In the survey, both field and inside sales professionals were overwhelmingly positive when asked to indicate the extent to which they believed that their new sales skills would help them succeed in their current work. Further, inside and field sales reported substantial support for using the skills and, conversely, a lack of any significant barriers.

Based partly on the strong initial success of the K-12 program, Gale then elected to take the training initiative enterprise-wide. Corporate leadership consulted with the vice presidents of each of the four sales divisions, identified training needs, and aligned them with strategic goals. Objectives for this overarching learning and development strategy included:

Institutional and executive buy-in
Organizational use of a common sales language
An engaged learning and training experience for all salespeople
A foundation for ongoing training and skill building

After reviewing the options, Gale again selected the PSS system, including the core product, as well as PSS Telesales for phone representatives and PSS Online for field sale strength among newly minted training staff, effectively guide and oversee implementation to maintain a high degree of quality, and ensure adequate and well-implemented skills practice sessions. To make classroom time most valuable, the program incorporated PSSOnline.

As an example of the success of the company-wide training initiative, Stefanski tells the story of a salesperson who emerged from Thanksgiving break sessions and, while at the airport on her way home, encountered a chance to apply the new competencies.

When a customer called to inquire about an advertised deal, the salesperson discovered that the product he mentioned didn’t qualify for the discount he had read about. However, by effectively probing to uncover needs and describing the benefits of another product, she helped select a mutually satisfying solution, obtained a quote, followed up, and worked with the inside sales team to close the deal. "It’s gratifying to see our salespeople asking the right questions, and how pursuing a clear, complete and mutual understanding of needs can lead directly to a sale," says Stefanski. "It’s also important to note other key aspects of success in this situation, including the salesperson’s collaboration and teamwork with her inside partner."

Why it Worked

Management support was a key part of the process, due to the critical role managers play in motivation for training and in subsequent performance evaluations. Prior to the launch of the initial K-12 training program, AchieveGlobal spent an afternoon with sales managers to engage them. The meeting brought the group together conceptually, and sales managers left with detailed action plans.

"Everyone understood why they were there, and how the training connected with the organization," says Stefanski. Managers preceded the training with e-mails introducing the initiative, and then held one-on-one meetings to address concerns. After the training, managers personally embraced the process, followed up with their teams, and encouraged the sales force to practice and use their new skills.

According to Stefanski, their resounding support ultimately helped the new approach become part of Gale’s sales culture. Stefanski also credits the in-house certified PSS trainers who assisted in building the training program, along with a strong instructional design using a model that allows new trainers to see how the training is delivered and ensures that participants are following along, highly engaged, and maximizing the benefits.

According to the AchieveGlobal account representative, Stefanski played an integral role in the positive outcome. “Ron helped bring the process into a unified initiative,” the AchieveGlobal account representative says. “His consistency and hard work demonstrate his—and Gale’s— commitment to the organizational approach to improving sales performance."

Moving Forward

In the future, Gale is considering customizing PSS for employees in a customer support role to allow them to better communicate product information to prospective customers. "We want our product managers and marketing people to think in terms of our specific selling environment, from probing skills to the exclusive benefits of our products," says Stefanski.

Gale also incorporated the language of PSS into its yearly national sales meeting and plans to build out the next platform of skills training on "strategic account manage-ment." "We believe that our partnership with AchieveGlobal will continue to yield positive results for our sales force,” Stefanski says. “We’re looking forward to taking this initiative to the next level."