In accordance with the Affiliation for Expertise Growth (ATD), corporations that supply complete coaching applications have 218% greater earnings per worker than corporations with out formalized coaching. It’s clear that organizations should be investing in coaching to extend productiveness inside their groups, however how can leaders do that in the best manner?
Shawnna Sumaoang: Hello and welcome to the Win Win Podcast. I’m your host, Shawnna Sumaoang. Be a part of us as we dive into altering tendencies within the office and easy methods to navigate them efficiently. Right here to debate this subject is Jim Jones, principal guide at Highspot. Thanks for becoming a member of, Jim! I’d love so that you can inform us about your self, your background, and your position right here at Highspot.
Jim Jones: Thanks, Shawnna. It’s actually nice to be with you in the present day. As you mentioned, my title is Jim Jones. I’m a principal guide on our strategic enablement companies workforce. I’ve been at Highspot since October 2021. Earlier than that, I used to be a two-time Highspot buyer and I launched Highspot at two completely different organizations earlier than becoming a member of the corporate and have been in enablement for nearly a decade and a half. Earlier than that, I used to be a very horrible salesperson, however I discovered what it meant to hold a bag and stay in a quota place.
SS: We’re excited to have you ever right here, Jim. I’ve the chance to work with you when you’re a buyer and we’re excited and glad to have you ever in-house at Highspot. Now, to dig into a few of the issues that we needed to talk about in the present day, Jim, in recent times, I feel we’ve all seen that the promoting panorama has gotten much more advanced and coaching is admittedly turning into extra vital than ever earlier than. Are you able to share why you suppose leaders must be prioritizing coaching and training, particularly in instances of financial uncertainty?
JJ: It’s fascinating to consider coaching over the spectrum of the years and the transfer to way more advanced promoting environments. As we speak, particularly in instances of financial uncertainty, our capability to essentially drive gross sales productiveness on a per-head foundation is simply so important to us. Gone are the times the place we are able to merely throw numbers at attainment numbers and hope that we now have sufficient our bodies on the pitch to cowl the unfold. As we speak we now have to be way more considerate about driving productiveness and ensuring that the workforce that we now have on the sector is delivering the sorts of outcomes which might be significant to the group. Our capability to each practice to these particular profitable promoting expertise in addition to the power for our frontline managers and management workforce to educate to these expertise is important in delivering the kind of outcomes that we have to have on this.
SS: I couldn’t agree extra. Jim, out of your perspective, how can the Highspot coaching and training platform make it simpler for leaders to create coaching collateral to assist the reps be much more profitable and productive in in the present day’s instances?
JJ: The one factor I really like concerning the Highspot coaching and training platform is, from my perspective, it’s the primary coaching platform that’s purpose-built for income groups. One of many challenges that we face is the twofold dilemma in terms of coaching, which is that there’s a large mental burden merely getting reps up the ramp to know and know the ins and outs of the options we’re providing to {the marketplace}. That piece hasn’t gone away. We nonetheless have to coach for information.
One factor that I feel that we do otherwise is to very particularly practice to what I must be doing, not simply what I ought to know. One of many issues that I feel is admittedly highly effective is inside Highspot we now have a factor referred to as the strategic enablement framework that a lot of you’ll have listened to the podcast on. One of many fascinating issues that I’ve seen is we did an inner coaching on Highspot coaching and training on strategic enablement framework, and related to that coaching was a hyperlink to the thought management piece on strategic enablement, and in the present day, that’s the third or fourth most used content material piece in our reps promoting actions.
By connecting content material inside the scope of the coaching, we discover that there’s really a direct connection between what the reps are studying and what the reps are utilizing on a day-to-day foundation of their promoting efforts. I feel that’s a very distinctive perspective in that the reps are instantly given alternatives to place their coaching and motion in a promoting exercise, and I feel that’s actually highly effective.
SS: I couldn’t agree extra. Speak to me slightly bit extra, Jim, about how coaching can impression productiveness, and I’d adore it when you have some finest practices for coaching strategies that you simply’d suggest.
JJ: We may go for days on concepts of easy methods to finest activate your coaching applications, however I feel it goes again to that core piece inside our strategic enablement framework the place we speak concerning the name to motion. Over the course of my profession, I’ve been concerned and labored for corporations with tremendously advanced promoting options, and it looks as if for an enormous portion of my profession, simply getting reps up the ramp to know the breadth and complexity of our merchandise appeared like a monumental job in and of itself, and it’s actually not any much less in the present day than it was 10 or 15 years in the past.
What we actually have to start to deal with is the what to-dos, what we within the strategic enablement framework name the ‘name to motion’. What are these issues that our top-performing reps do constantly over the course of the promoting life cycle that set them aside from the remainder of the gang? By actually focusing our coaching on these actions, like how I catalyze behaviors and the way I catalyze actions by means of my coaching. These are the kinds of issues that we actually have to begin to deal with. We will’t abandon the coaching for information, however we actually must make a tough pivot to say, what am I getting my reps to do higher or do extra of by means of my coaching efforts? These are the issues that may in the end drive the outcomes that we want for the enterprise.
From a finest practices perspective, I feel there’s actually beginning with this concept of what it’s that I need reps to be doing. I see a lot of our coaching throughout a number of completely different organizations the place they don’t tie a particular name to motion to a coaching class. I all the time love to make use of the acronym TSWBAT, the coed will be capable to… fill within the clean. If I begin with that and I really know what I need the learner to do on the finish of the coaching, it makes it a lot simpler for me then to tie my coaching to a particular promoting exercise, which then hopefully will ship top-of-growth pipeline and gross sales income will increase. For me, that’s simply important that we get to that time in our coaching improvement.
SS: I really like a few of these suggestions. Now, Jim, on LinkedIn, you shared that you simply’re working to remodel the conversations gross sales groups are having with clients. How do you drive this conduct change by means of coaching and what position does Highspot play in your coaching methods?
JJ: Years in the past I had our VP of Product Administration come to me and say, how are you aware that your coaching efforts are being profitable? I feel lots of it facilities round this concept of what’s the worth dialog that we’re instructing our reps to ship and that’s actually the transformational gross sales dialog. I really like the truth that inside our platform, we’re instructing reps easy methods to constantly ship that worth message and it must be important. On the core of each coaching that we ship is how do I do know that you simply’re delivering that?
Inside Highspot coaching and training, issues like submitting video pitches assist me then see, or hear, most likely extra particularly that the reps are beginning to choose up that worth language and apply it to a day-to-day foundation. The factor that we find out about top-performing reps is that they’ve the agility to adapt to particular promoting conditions and ship essentially the most highly effective worth message for that persona at a given time. We will measure that with issues inside our coaching and training platform, and we are able to additionally use it to ensure that our frontline managers are reinforcing that worth language with our sellers as effectively. One thing that makes a right away impression on our capability to persuade prospects that our resolution will help them run a greater enterprise.
SS: Completely. Now, in the same vein to what that gross sales chief requested you, I really feel like lots of enablement practitioners are additionally requested the same query to this. How does conduct change correlate to productiveness?
JJ: Nice query and I feel one of many issues that we, within the enablement world have lengthy debated on is what conduct change means and the way we really activate it. I consider it type of in two other ways. After we take into consideration gross sales productiveness, there are solely actually two issues that I can ask reps to do, do one thing higher, or do one thing extra. It’s actually round this concept that I can’t actually measure conduct change at a macro-level, however what I can do is start to see whether or not or not a vendor is extra engaged with the sorts of promoting actions that I want them to be doing on a constant foundation.
As an example, one of many issues that I like to do is that if a rep goes by means of a coaching course inside our coaching and training module, is that rep is now going and viewing issues on our content material facet? Are they extra engaged with issues like gross sales performs and gross sales kits? Can I really start to see them pitching extra content material to prospects of their top-of-funnel improvement? What that does then permits me to attract a direct connection from my coaching to promoting actions that claims this coaching catalyzed conduct change in the best way that I can really observe by means of using additional engagement within the platform, sending out extra pitches, and extra prospect engagement. It’s not type of the black field of coaching the place I simply run folks by means of a bunch of programs and hope for the most effective. That technique simply has by no means labored and by no means will.
SS: I agree. Smile sheets not depend fairly as a lot in terms of correlating your outcomes to impression. In that very same vein, what are a few of the key outcomes that you’d encourage leaders to be searching for and monitoring in terms of conduct change to see how coaching is touchdown with their reps? How has Highspot helped to assemble a few of these insights?
JJ: It’s a terrific query and I feel that actually specializing in promoting actions is important. So usually I see enablement groups battle with this concept of how do I really assess whether or not or not my coaching is making a distinction. I’m within the midst of writing a paper on easy methods to do assessments, and it’s an age-old drawback the place what we take a look at for is retention or recall, and what we actually have to then start to do is how we assess for improved exercise ranges or how will we search for the suitable proof that the coaching that I’ve delivered has given me an uplift in productiveness.
As I mentioned earlier than, really having the ability to draw a direct connection to some kind of promoting exercise. In Highspot it’s very easy. One of many issues that I really like is to go in and if I’ve completed coaching on a particular resolution or a launch or a product or a perspective that we now have as an organization, I can then start to see reps participating their prospects with that worth language by means of issues like pitches or shared content material. Highspot permits us to attract these correlations in a manner that we’ve taken out the thriller.
If I’ve a rep undergo a coaching and I see no uplift in exercise, I see zero pitches despatched out to their prospects, then I do know considered one of two issues. A, both that rep is underperforming, or B, fairly actually, perhaps my coaching missed the mark and I want to return and take a look at the coaching that I’ve delivered. Now not are we simply throwing issues in opposition to the wall and hoping for higher outcomes. We’re really connecting these issues in a manner that’s extra concrete and significant and actionable. I feel that’s an enormous a part of what we convey to the market.
SS: I couldn’t agree extra. Final query for you, Jim. To shut, are you able to share your predictions for the way forward for coaching and the way gross sales enablement will proceed to play a key position in guaranteeing that we’re actually making ready our reps for the longer term?
JJ: I feel if I have been gonna be a contrarian, I would say that we’d probably be in the identical place we now have been within the final 20 years the place coaching continues to muddle alongside in the identical manner, however I really suppose that this downturn has acted as a possibility for us to essentially take into consideration coaching in a way more targeted method. I feel what we’ll start to see is coaching shifting round away from solely the what to know piece to the what to know and what to do half. If we are able to’t tie these two collectively in very concrete methods, we’re merely going to be doing the identical factor we’ve been doing for the previous 20 years.
We’ve usually talked concerning the Pareto distribution or the 80/20 rule the place 80% of our reps are mid performers and 10% are prime performers, and 10% are backside performers. We will not relaxation on that formulation. We’ve to have the ability to transfer the frozen center in order that they’re really shifting in direction of prime performers and the one manner we are able to do that’s to ensure our coaching has clear desired targets which might be tied to rep actions that result in rep productiveness. I feel that on the planet of gross sales coaching, we’ve obtained to get to a spot the place we’re actually extra targeted on what to do’s, and hopefully, these would be the issues that we are able to tie to particular promoting outcomes. Hopefully, that’s what the longer term seems like. I’m anxious to see how that performs out within the coming months.
SS: Thanks a lot for becoming a member of us, Jim. I appreciated your insights on coaching and training. To our viewers, thanks for listening to this episode of the Win Win podcast. Remember to tune in subsequent time for extra insights on how one can maximize enablement success with Highspot.
