Sales Development Centre THE SALES LEADER COACHING AND ASSESSMENT GUIDE
This Development Centre has been designed to simulate a ‘day in the life’ experience for the Sales Leaders and Sales Reps 2
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Content Development Centres...............................................................................................4 The Competencies..............................................................................................................5 Your role as a Coach.......................................................................................................8 Your Personal Coaching Goals..........................................................13 Your role as an Assessor..................................................................................14 Logistics...............................................................................................................................................15 The Columbus Merchant Bank Brief..................................17
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DEVELOPMENT CENTRES The Sales Leader Development Assessment Centre is the first of its kind for Iron Mountain. During this 1-day session, you will achieve progress against our playbook goals by identifying the appropriate competencies, behavioural indicators and subsequent assessment exercises for Sales Leaders. This Development Centre has been designed to simulate a ‘day in the life’ experience for the Sales Leaders and Sales Reps. This provides the opportunity for the candidates to be observed, assessed and coached in a context relevant environment. Additionally, it provides the coach multiple opportunities to observe the candidates in a range of different situations and for them to be observed and coached on their interactions. The Sales Leader Development Assessment Centre will be
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considered a success when we: •
Identify the competency gaps of our existing Sales Leaders against specific role profiles
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Embed Situational Fluency into our sales process and account planning activities
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Reinforce the importance of consulatative led solution selling model with Sales Leaders
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Reinforce coaching best practices with Sales Leaders to enable them to proactively coach consultative selling skills
As part of this Development Centre, the Sales Reps are asked to participate in activities that will require you to observe, assess and coach them on their performance in relation to the Iron Mountain sales process. The activities are:
1. Account Planning and Preparation for Client Meeting 1: Prospecting 2. Client Meeting 1 Qualifying 3. Client Meeting 2 – Developing Solutions The Sales Rep’s performance in the various activities will be observed, assessed, coached and then rated under competency headings for the Sales Leader. At the end of the Development Centre, this information will be collated to form an overall performance score. During this process, you will be observed by a member of the Development Centre Team, assessed against certain competencies and then coached to help form a comprehensive development plan for you.
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THE COMPETENCIES The Development Centre and the activities themselves have been designed around a set of competencies. Not all competencies are measured in all exercises. Instead, competencies are measured in the exercises, which provide the best opportunity to display relevant behaviours. A competency can be described as the name given to “any combination of skills, knowledge and behaviour which can be applied in a way that delivers effective or superior performance on the job.” SALES LEADERS
Identify & Diagnose Strengths and Gaps Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of required competencies for success (what good looks like) and ability to diagnose required competency strengths and gaps of individual team members needed to meet objectives. Coaching Knowledge of coaching concepts and methods; ability to encourage, motivate, and guide individuals and teams in learning and improving effectiveness.
Critical Thinking The ability to innovate, think critically and generate new ways of creating value for clients and profitable growth for Iron Mountain.
SALES REPRESENTATIVES
Recognizes Opportunity The ability to explore the client’s business context, motivations, issues and opportunities to challenge their status quo and help them recognize the need for change. Develops Compelling Solutions The ability to develop solutions that deliver value to the client based on a solid understanding of the client’s business context, motivations, issues and opportunities.
Creates Meaningful Account Plans The ability to create succinct strategies and plans to drive positive and regular client engagement to ensure value and maximize future sales opportunities.
Next you will find the complete list of competencies and their key indicators for both Sales Representatives and Sales Leaders.
COMPETENCIES Intelligent Inspiration
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Sales Representative Competencies A - Recognizes Opportunity The ability to explore the client’s business context, motivations, issues and opportunities to challenge their status quo and help them recognize the need for change. A1. Uses knowledge of trends, industry, regulations and current context of the organization and stakeholders to anticipate need and shape the conversation with the client. A2. Uses questions to clarify and prioritize the client’s needs. A3. Identifies the key stakeholders involved in pursuing a solution and aligns strategy accordingly. A4. Demonstrates curiosity to genuinely understand customer business without any goal to provide an IRM specific solution. A5. Uses questions to gather evidence from the customer to identify whether a true business issue (worth solving) exists or not. A6. Uses questions to understand and calculate the impact on the customer’s business challenges. A7. Explores how far the issue reaches in the organization to understand their potential stakeholders. A8. Synthesizes data in order to communicate potentially complex solutions simply to the customer. A9. Checks for understanding during interactions to test for accuracy, completeness and alignment. A10. Recognizes potential roadblocks and addresses them to see best course of action rather than avoiding them.
B - Develops Compelling Solutions The ability to develop solutions that deliver value to the client based on a solid understanding of the client’s business context, motivations, issues and opportunities. B1. Uses judgment, experience, know-how and account planning to consult with a customer and create solutions that either anticipate or align specifically with expressed individual client needs. B2. Develops a solution that takes account of the client’s ability to initiate organizational change, exert the necessary influence and support the business in implementing change. B3. Demonstrates curiosity regarding customer’s business and needs; probes deeply to gather evidence for problem and the potential impact (value) of developing solution. B4. Creates solutions that align to the customer’s value proposition and articulate how our offering can impact specific customer financial or performance metrics. B5. Listens to the customer. Spends significant time “seeking” and resists the temptation to “data dump.” B6. Ensures all interactions demonstrate that the solution has been customized to meet that individual stakeholder/organisation’s needs.
C - Creates Meaningful Account Plans The ability to create succinct strategies and plans to drive positive and regular client engagement to ensure value and maximize future sales opportunities. C1. Recognizes different types of customers, motivators, buying habits, client’s organization politics and culture, and organizational strategy. Integrates this understanding into account plan and corresponding approach. C2. Develops distinct strategy for engaging critical stakeholders by assessing needs, goals, degree of interest, potential competition, and ability to commit. C3. Adapts sales messages based on the role and communication preferences of the stakeholder(s). C4. Gathers information and performs due diligence to ensure a thorough, credible and actionable business case for change.
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C5. Demonstrates clear ability to apply tools and resources to unlock potential in the account C6. Understands the client’s critical business issues. Puts one’s self in the “client’s shoes,” thinks ahead and anticipates the client’s challenges and opportunities. C7. Focuses on high-level long term goals for the account, makes decisions and prioritizes the important issues in order to advance the strategy and continuously evolve the account. C8. Keeps the account plan and individual approach current and relevant as new information is acquired or client needs evolve. C9. Demonstrates the co-creation of solution through effective conversation.
Sales Leader Competencies D - Identify & Diagnose Strengths and Gaps Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of required competencies for success (what good looks like) and ability to diagnose required competency strengths and gaps of individual team members needed to meet objectives. D1. Uses competency know-how, experience and intuition to identify an individual’s barriers to performance in order to align potential solutions to overcome them. D2. Identifies real-time opportunities and strengths as well as connects patterns of performance.
E- Coaching Knowledge of coaching concepts and methods; ability to encourage, motivate, and guide individuals and teams in learning and improving effectiveness. E1. Coaches individuals or teams on a specific competency or subject area. E2. Adapts coaching style to the individual; addresses the variation in performance of superstars to problem performers. E3. Delivers fact-based feedback that is timely and specific while maintaining the individual’s self- esteem. E4. Monitors progress through feedback sessions and manages lack of accountability when necessary. E5. Asks questions that raise awareness and cause the individual to reflect on their performance. E6. Personally demonstrates a high level of listening skills; emphasizing the importance of listening as the foundation of good consulting.
F - Critical Thinking The ability to innovate, think critically and generate new ways of creating value for clients and profitable growth for Iron Mountain. F1. Brings thought leadership into planning conversations. F2. Uses critical and innovative thinking to develop new compelling value propositions the customer hasn’t considered. F3. Raises vital questions in regard to the assumptions and implications of a plan in order to challenge the status quo and spark new thinking. F4. Identifies which factors to leverage in order to create new benefits and value for client organisations. F5. Promotes and encourages collaboration and the engagement of the full range of relevant Iron Mountain resources (sales management, experts, sales factory, sales enablement, executive sponsors, etc.). F6. Ensures the effort put into account planning corresponds to value of the potential opportunity and focus’ on impact and action, not word count.
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3 YOUR ROLE AS A COACH A. The Coaching Mind-set As a leader, one of your most important responsibilities is to coach your people to do their best. By doing this, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll help them make better decisions, solve problems that are holding them back, learn new skills, and potentially progress their confidence, competence, performance and longer career objectives. You will benefit during this process if your mind-set is focused and driven to support the Sales Rep to move forward. Flow naturally into conversation that will help ignite and spark action in others. Through coaching, supporting and advising the Sales Rep, you can enable them to take initiative and personal responsibility for getting things done. Your coaching interactions should remain focused on fact: the behaviours that can and will make a difference. Leverage the behaviours that have been disclosed by the Sales Rep or that you have observed directly and use them positively to move forward with the commitment to achieve their goals.
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B. The Interaction Process The Interaction Process is a set of tools for conducting effective discussions, like Coaching, that meet both personal and practical needs. These tools will support you during you conversations and coaching sessions with the Sales Reps.
3. DEVELOP • Seek and discuss ideas • Explore needed resources/support
2. CLARIFY • Seek and share information about the situation/task • Identify issues and concerns
4. AGREE • Specify actions, including contingency plans if appropriate • Confirm how to measure progress
5. CLOSE • Highlight important features of plan • Confirm confidence and commitment
1. OPEN • State purpose of discussion • Identify importance (impact on/benefits to person, team, organization)
C. The Key Principle The Key Principles can be used in all conversations and are essential to successful interactions because they allow you to meet the Sales Rep’s personal needs.
Maintain or enhance self-esteem
To maintain self-esteem: • Focus on facts. • Respect and support others. • Clarify motives. To enhance self-esteem: • Acknowledge good thinking and ideas. • Recognize accomplishments. • Express and show confidence. • Be specific and sincere.
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People need to feel respected and have a sense of self-worth in order to be motivated, confident, innovative, and committed to their work.
and to know that they’re valued. •
When things haven’t gone as well as someone might have planned, you need to maintain that person’s selfesteem. To do this, you can: •
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Focus on facts. Don’t say things like, “You never follow through.” Instead, give specific facts: “I received three complaints that you didn’t follow up on requests.” Respect and support others. Even when people aren’t performing their best, they need to feel your support
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Listen and respond with empathy As a leader, you encounter people’s feelings of success, failure, pride, and frustration frequently, perhaps daily. When someone in your group expresses emotion, whether verbally or nonverbally, you can listen and respond with empathy to let that person know that you understand. Use this Key Principle to: •
Respond to both facts and feelings. It’s important
Ask for help and encourage involvement
Clarify motives. Don’t jump to conclusions. Keep others’ self-esteem in mind, and you’ll be more likely to ask, “What can you tell me about this error?” instead of, “Don’t you care about quality?” Acknowledge good thinking and ideas. Demonstrations of appreciation encourage people to think and contribute, and they support innovation and intellectual risk taking.
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Express and show confidence. Voicing your trust and then calling on people to show what they can do will boost their confidence and their feelings of self-worth.
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Be specific and sincere. When you describe in detail what people do well and why it’s effective, they know exactly what you’re recognizing.
Recognize accomplishments. People need to hear
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Defuse negative emotions. Empathize with positive feelings, too. Respond to both facts and feelings.
to reflect both the facts of the situation and the underlying feelings so people know they’ve really been heard. •
specifically what they’ve done to contribute to the team’s or organization’s success. This encourages them to sustain or exceed expectations.
Defuse negative emotions. Strong emotions, like anger, frustration, or reluctance, can get in the way of achieving the purpose of the discussion. Identify
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and address these feelings to show people you’ve heard them, yet keep the discussion moving forward. •
Empathize with positive feelings too. Empathy is about understanding how someone is feeling. You can empathize with someone’s feelings without agreeing with them.
Make involvement your first choice. Unleash everyone’s ideas with questions. Encourage responsibility through involvement.
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To get the most from your Sales Rep, you need to access their ideas and opinions. When you ask for help and encourage involvement, you show people that you value their input and abilities. Remember to: •
Make involvement your first choice. Instead of offering
Share thoughts, feelings and rationale (to build trust)
your suggestions first, be a catalyst— turn telling into seeking. •
Unleash everyone’s ideas with questions. Ask openended questions, which usually begin with what, how, which, why, or who.
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Encourage responsibility through involvement. Catalysts involve other people in thinking through issues and solutions and to execute the plan.
Disclose feelings and insights appropriately. Offer the “whys” behind a decision, idea, or change. Make sure your ideas, opinions, and experiences supplement—not replace— those of others. Be honest—disclosing true feelings builds trusting relationships and can help others see issues in a new light.
People work best for leaders they trust. A proven way to build trust is to disclose thoughts, feelings, and rationale that people would otherwise be unaware of. When sharing, remember to: •
Disclose feelings and insights appropriately. Sharing doesn’t mean disclosing everything in every situation. Be sure what you’re sharing is relevant to the situation.
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Offer the “whys” behind a decision, idea, or change. The rationale behind a move can provide insights to those who are affected by it. When people know why, they operate on more than just assumptions.
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Make sure your ideas, opinions, and experiences supplement those of others. Provide insights, but don’t dominate the discussion.
Provide support without removing responsibility (to build ownership)
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Help others think and do. Be realistic about what you can do and keep your commitments. Resist the temptation to take over—keep responsibility where it belongs.
Nothing can deflate people’s confidence faster than telling them they’re responsible for something, and then doing it yourself. Conversely, when you provide support without removing responsibility, you build people’s sense of ownership of the task or assignment as well as the confidence that they can accomplish it. When you use this Key Principle, remember to: •
Help others think and do. Provide your support in two ways: Help others think of ideas, alternatives, and solutions, and then support them so that they can execute the plan.
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Be realistic about what you can do and keep your commitments. Remember that you don’t have to do it all, but be sure to do whatever you agree to.
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Resist the temptation to take over—keep responsibility where it belongs. Leaders tend to be action oriented and task driven, so keeping responsibility where it belongs can take resolve, even courage. You might have to overcome the protests of a team member who is reluctant to stretch into new areas or perhaps brave objections from a key manager about your decision to support others rather than take over.
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D. Feedback using the STAR Model
of behaviour, focusing on ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’. In addition to this, it should always be delivered in a timely manner and have balance that supports and reinforces when there have been examples of positive actions or results. Suggestions should also be provided for how adjustments or improvements can be made to meet their performance goals.
The STAR Model provides an easy acronym to follow when giving positive and developmental feedback. Feedback is an essential leader tool that can either build people up, or completely break them down if performed without the correct care and attention.
Your effectiveness in delivering feedback is amplified when trust and mutual respect also exist. There is a much greater likelihood of the feedback sticking if these
Effective feedback should be delivered with the correct intent and be based on specific examples
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conditions are in place. To help with this, feedback should always be a two-way street: leaders must be as willing to seek feedback as they are to give it. By demonstrating this intent and commitment to asking for and acting upon feedback, you will be modeling the behaviours that you expect from the Sales Rep. This demonstrates your commitment to self-improvement, creates a climate in which people are more open to receiving feedback and provides the guidance you need to do your job and lead your groups more effectively.
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ALTERNATIVE RESULT
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YOUR PERSONAL COACHING GOALS You will be participating in a Coaching Development Workshop prior to the commencement of the Development Centre. Using the framework below, capture the key aspects of coaching that are most important to you to master and identify a plan to ensure you can sustain this long after the Development Centre takes place.
My coaching goals are:
The Barriers to my goals are…
The Enablers to my goal are…
My actions to address the barriers and to nurture the enablers are:
“Commitment is doing the thing you said you would do, long after the mood you said it in has left you”
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YOUR ROLE AS AN ASSESSOR As an assessor, your crucial role is to be an objective observer of the Sales Rep’s behaviour from the viewpoint of the competencies. Here are some simple principles to help you in this assessment:
During the activity: a) Observe means sit, watch, and listen unobtrusively. b) Record means producing an accurate record by writing down what you observe in the form of their behaviour. Refrain from opinions, judgments, or interpretations. Make note of the behaviour you observe in the most factual way as possible. Avoid making interpretations or evaluations about the observed behaviour in your notes. e.g.
Observation = “Jo delivered his presentation clearly and concisely” Evaluation = “Jo gave an excellent presentation”
By detailing the observation and not making an interpretation, we learn more about the behaviour and “how” Jo made her presentation.
After the activity: c) Classify means taking the recorded behaviours and grouping them together against a list of specific competencies. You are provided with rating forms which are useful tools to help you in classifying behaviours against the competencies. In addition to these indicators, you may observe additional
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positive or less-than-positive behaviours. You should record these in the summary space provided. d) Evaluate means weighing the related behaviours to form an opinion about an individual. You decide how effectively an individual performed in each competency you are looking for. You should balance the opportunity the candidate had to display key behaviours with the quality of the behaviour displayed. If you apply the ORCE principles in each case, you will have sufficient evidence to support your evaluation of the candidate. This evidence will be called upon later in discussing and calibrating Sales Rep’s performance, and will also be used for feedback purposes, so you should take as many relevant notes as possible. Having applied the ORCE process, it is important to ensure that the rating scale is used consistently across all who are assessing. This will make comparisons between candidates easier as all will be based on the same scale and with a consistent approach being adopted by the Sales Leaders. Below you will find the rating scale with definitions. Please make sure that you are familiar with these before you attend the centre, and that you refer to these continually throughout the day to ensure you are applying it consistently. You should use the full spectrum of the rating scale. PLEASE DO NOT GIVE HALF RATINGS (e.g. 1.5).
3 - Advanced
Fluent and skilful, behaviour exceeds the expected standards
2 - Proficient
Demonstrated the behaviour appropriately and at the expected standard. Does the job
1 - Needs Development
Demonstrated the behaviour but aspects were missing, incomplete or not at the expected standard
0 – Not Demonstrated
Behaviour was not demonstrated in the activity
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LOGISTICS A. Attendees There will be approximately 6 Sales Reps attending the Development Centre and 12 Sales Leaders assessing and coaching. There will also be a selection of people supporting from the Centre Team. The role of the Centre Team Member will be to observe and assess and the coach the performance of the Sales Leaders, who will be assessing and coaching the performance of the Sales Reps. Here’s an illustration to support this process:
An example of an activity Sales Representative works through a client scenario and roleplays a Qualification call
Sales Sales (B) observes Sales Representative behavior, evaluates competency and provides feedback and coaching.
Centre Staff observes and coaches the Sales Leaders who are diagnosing the Sales Representative.
Sales Leader (A) plays the role of the client for the Sales Representative to hold a sales conversation. They also evaluate but do not provide feedback and coaching.
B. Administrator & Centre Coordinator The Administrator for the Centre will be a member of the Centre Staff. They will make sure activities are running smoothly. If you have any questions about any aspect of the centre, be that logistics, assessing, candidates etc. please ask the Administrator. They will be assisted by a Centre Coordinator. This person will be making sure candidates are in the right place and that you have the right materials etc. Please give your rating forms to them once you have completed. This is very important and will ensure that the observations and recordings are collated centrally, ready for calibration.
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C. Pods Before the Centre begins, you will receive detail on the pods you will be in and will be shown to your location in good time. In general, there are 3 areas that you will need to know about.
- Main room:
For the general session, you will be in one of the large group rooms. This room will also be used for candidates to quietly prepare for the various stages of the client meetings.
- Your assessor base:
Your pod will use this room for the majority of the day. This will be clearly marked with your corresponding pod name. In this room you will conduct the activities and will be laid out appropriately for these activities.
- Break-out space:
This is an open plan area, where candidates will have their break times and wait between activities. Candidates are told to return here if in doubt about what to do next.
Please note you must go to the break-out space to collect your Sales Rep before each activity. It is your responsibility to ensure you keep to time and this will be supported by the Centre Team to help keep you on track.
D. Timings It is very important that you manage your time strictly throughout the day. Slight delays can significantly impact other areas and your timekeeping will be closely monitored and supported to ensure we meet our goal.
E. Re-Grouping (Four-Corners) To support you with keeping to time and to fully understand what you need to do, we will congregate in the main room at regular intervals. This will be clearly explained to you and is essential to the organisation and flow of the event. Everyone will meet together in their respective groups and receive a briefing on what will be happening next and any documentation you will require. This is also an opportunity for you to ask any questions that you may have.
F. Assessment Materials When you arrive for your assessor briefing, all materials you require will be provided in individual folders. You should make sure you are familiar with these before you arrive. They will be detailed further in the next section. Completed rating forms should be returned to the Centre Coordinator as soon as possible. Scores need to be inputted for the final integration, and delays in doing so will directly impact the calibration and review session. Please also ensure that ALL MATERIALS ARE COLLECTED FROM CANDIDATES before they leave. We need to keep these materials as confidential as possible, and we do not want candidates arriving to other centres getting an opportunity to see these materials in advance.
G. Recording Notes and Rating Forms: Rating forms contain the competencies associated with the activity. Please remember this is NOT a definitive list, and there may well be other behaviours that the candidate displays which are relevant to that competency area. While we want you to take as many notes as possible, please write NO MORE THAN 1 A4 PAGE. If you wish to use the reverse side of the rating forms, feel free to do so. Please make sure you RETURN ALL NOTES to the Centre Coordinator along with your rating forms. The Sales Rep has the right to receive feedback and/or request access to the information recorded in this session, so please be mindful of this when making notes.
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THE COLUMBUS MERCHANT BANK BRIEF The activities incorporated into the Development Centres will begin with a Pre-Brief that will provide a fictitious scenario that the Sales Rep must read and use to help them prepare for the Development Centre. Your Sales Reps may have some questions surrounding this or require clarity on the ‘Columbus Merchant Bank Account Plan’ that will support this, so it would it is recommended that you to review these documents.
Overview This Case Study “Columbus Merchant Bank” is hypothetical and has been developed solely for the Sales Development Centres. The intent is to, as realistically as possible; reflect the environment and demands that Sales Representatives operate within. The purpose of this Case Study is to provide you with a scenario in which to practice and demonstrate some key Sales Representatives skills and competences so that in turn Sales Leaders get the opportunity to practice coaching and feedback in a developmental environment. Both parties benefit from the Centre – Sales Representatives and Sales Leaders get focused feedback, coaching and a development plan.
The Situation You have just acquired the account Columbus Merchant Bank as part of the Account Planning Prioritisation Process. You have scheduled a meeting with your new client, Jo Burger (Executive Leader, Global) tomorrow at their head office. This will be your first meeting with the
client since taking over the account and will this meeting will provide you with the chance to re-qualify opportunities, build the relationship with the client and understand the decision-making structure within Columbus Merchant Bank. Attached is an Account Plan that has been passed to you. Unfortunately, it’s not a great example of Account Planning but it is all that is available for you to work with. At the Sales Development Centre, you will prepare for and conduct two client meetings as follows: • Client Meeting #1 - Qualifying Stage - begin to build the relationship and understand the organizational context. • Client Meeting #2 - Developing Solutions - continuing your sales process.
The Task
Planning format. Look for the gaps and for what’s missing that will help drive future sales activities going forward. c) Put together a meeting plan that would help you to: - Create a strategic intention of where greater revenue opportunities exist - Capitalize on any outstanding/pending sales opportunities. d) Bring the Account Plan, Meeting Plan and your laptop with you to the Sales Development Centre. e) Run the meetings as a regular call – in the way you normally would. It’s important for you to approach the activities as near to your “real world” as possible. PS: Be yourself and enjoy the process!
You need to: a) Set aside some quality time to review the information contained in the old Account Plan. b) Create a plan in the new Account
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