The Sales Enablement Technology Dark Ages: Sales 0.2

2 minute read

Dark AgesAs 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.

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