Figure 8. 2. Essba transformations in Selling strategies.

The Handbook of Blended Learning

The emphasis was on learning how to offer value propositions that went be­yond price and features to address real customer business applications and then build relationships that focused on strategic customer business issues. The intended audience for the sales presentations that the students developed in the ESSba cur­riculum was the top executive decision maker in the client organization.

The Avaya Institute leadership realized that it needed to employ a new and more innovative approach to design the transformation-focused ESSba curriculum. Therefore, they assembled a design team that consisted of individuals from the ASK Center team, high-performing CRM sales professionals, industry experts, CRM training managers, and contractors including Christensen/Roberts Solutions, Prosci Research, and Kirby-Arnold Associates. The team members were charged with designing a curriculum that provided each student with the knowledge, skills, and confidence-building experiences to achieve the ambitious sales objectives.

ESSba Curriculum Learning Techniques and Delivery Methodologies

The ESSba curriculum was built on a blended learning model that employed a mix of instructor-led training and technology-mediated learning activities. The intent of the design was to emulate the mountain climbing expedition theme and convey a sense of adventure and discovery throughout the experience. A wide va­riety of innovative learning activities and instruction purposes were designed into the curriculum, as shown in Table 8.1.

ESSba Curriculum Road Map

The ESSba curriculum consisted of five major learning activities. A graphic representation of these activities is provided in Figure 8.3.

Prior to the first teleconference, all students who registered for ESSba session received a carefully designed backpack with all of their essentials: a compass, water bottle, map, cap, and flashlight to symbolize that preparation is required to com­plete a journey to a lofty goal. The backpack contained the weekly assignments and expectations, homework books, CD-ROMs, and instructions regarding how to access and use their team Web site. They also received an information package outlining the twelve steps to complete their journey (see Figure 8.4).

Staging Camp Teleconference

After the students completed their registration and initial reading assignment and re­viewed their materials, they participated in a " staging camp" conference call to set expectations relating to their participation, program purpose, events, and outcomes. The critical topic addressed in the first teleconference was an introduction to the

116 The Handbook of Blended Learning

FIGURE 8.4. ESSba PROGRAM GUIDE.

CRM philosophy The ESSba facilitators led an exercise to draw the group into a dis­cussion of where the company had been, why change was necessary, and how the ESSba program would accelerate the transformation to the new desired state.

The first homework assignment was due two weeks after the base camp tele­conference. Students were required to complete a list of required reading and writ­ing assignments as well as access the ESSba Web site. Each person also waj required to select an account from his or her sales portfolio to be used as a " living laboratory" for the duration of the curriculum. After the students completed the homework, they e-mailed the two papers to the program leader: one describing their understanding of CRM and one describing their customer's business model as based on their reading and research assignments.

Base Camp Teleconference

The ESSba facilitators then conducted a " base camp" conference call and focused the discussions on understanding targeted customers and the nature of existing relation­ships. In addition, these discussions attempted to help understand the customer's busi­ness culture, decision-making process, and overall business strategy. The objective of

Transformation of Sales Skills Through Knowledge Management and Blended Learning 117

this teleconference was to provide the program facilitator an opportunity to assess each participant's business and social skills, as well as to determine potential matches for team assignments. By the end of this teleconference, each student would have acquired a common understanding of CRM concepts and entry-level knowledge of corpo­rate financial metrics.

On-Site Seminars

One month after the base camp conference call, the students were scheduled to arrive at a guest ranch in the Rocky Mountains, west of Denver, Colorado. The site selection was based on a carefully defined need to remove the student from a tra­ditional business environment; minimize access to telephone, Internet, radio, and television; and promote team development of projects. The class was led by an instructor who was a retired executive at the chief executive officer (CXO) level for a Fortune 500 company. During the first week, students learned how they could effectively communicate with a GXO-level client. The class learned advanced business financials and advanced converged technologies and how they affected busi­ness processes and work environments. Teams were used to accelerate learning of this content and technology. The evening assignments tied the concepts learned into the development of the students' customer account.

One month later, a second one-week seminar was held at the ranch. During this seminar, each team member made group and individual presentations to share how they could execute the steps of the sales strategy. The role-play experiences with the executive gave the students insights into executive presentation skills and reassured the students that they were able to present effectively to a CXO-level executive. After the seminar, the student needed to schedule a sales call with a GXO-level executive in the client organization and prepare a meeting plan report.

High Camp Teleconference

This teleconference prepared the students to reach the summit and was the last for­mal training intervention in the curriculum. During the teleconference, the stu­dents discussed how they had prepared for their meeting with their CXO-level clients. The students needed to describe the interactions they planned with the customers and discuss the business solution and the new consultative sales concepts they intended to use. If the students needed additional coaching, a mentor was assigned to them.

Return on Investment

Because the CRM sales cycle can take months to close, the ESSba delivery team employed follow-up interviews to determine the impact of the ESSba curriculum on sales results over time. The quantitative sales metrics and revenue results

The Handbook of Blended Learning

were tracked so that ROI metrics and customer satisfaction indexes could be re­ported. Over two hundred people, including many senior sales leaders, completed the ESSba curriculum at Avaya. The impact of ESSba was considerable. In the first six months after the curriculum experience, salespeople reported that they were able to increase the close rate on existing sales opportunities, broaden the product mix of each sale, increase the average return on sales, reduce the margin discounting, and trim the sales cycle time by up to ninety days. In the first six months of the program, the financial impact was that the ESSba blended learn­ing curriculum helped generate over $36.3 million in incremental revenue reported with a 46.1 percent program return on investment.

Conclusion

In the past two decades, technology companies have faced incredible challenges. Many technology companies have created comprehensive KM systems and blended learning programs so that sales employees can access existing knowledge and acquire new skills. Successful companies have designed innovative learning programs that en­able sales employees to leverage the new knowledge and skills in role-play sessions. Practice in authentic sales experiences with coaching from experienced mentors gives sales employees' confidence that they can perform at world-class levels during exec­utive client engagements. Blended learning models can enable sales employees to transform their sales strategies and achieve significant business results. Knowledge is necessary but not sufficient to bring about sales culture transformation. The recipe for success is: Knowledge + skills + experiences = Transformation.

CHAPTER NINE