Stop Drinking From the Fire Hose! Continuous Learning Offers a Better Way of Sales Trainings

Speaker: Doug Ferreira

Director of Sales Training and Development Blackboard

Moderator: Mike Prokopeak

Vice President, Editorial Director Chief Learning Officer magazine

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Stop Drinking From the Fire Hose! Continuous Learning Offers a Better Way of Sales Training

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Mike Prokopeak Vice President, Editorial Director Chief Learning Officer magazine

Stop Drinking From the Fire Hose! Continuous Learning Offers a Better Way of Sales Training

#CLOwebinar

Doug Ferreira Director of Sales Training and Development Blackboard

Stop Drinking From the Fire Hose! Continuous Learning Offers a Better Way of Sales Training

Stop Drinking From The Fire Hose – Continuous Learning Offers a Better Way of Sales Training Doug Ferreira Director, Sales Training & Development Blackboard, Inc.

Objectives

What IS Continuous Learning?

Course/Program Level Organization Level

What do they have in common?

Borders

Blockbuster

Target

Wall Street Journal

Key Trends

Current Initiatives at Blackboard

New Hire Training Program

Messaging vs.

Training

Mind Share

Reinforcement and adoption

Classroom to Online

Leveraging Collaborative

Tools

Sales Training/SFDC Integration Initiative

Tools We Are Using SalesForce Chatter Wikis Blogs Discussion Board Journals Savo Bi-Weekly Brainstorming

Sessions Brainshark YouTube

Continuous Learning at Blackboard Months 4-12

(Sophomore Yr.) Years 2 & 3 (Junior Yr.)

Year 4 & Up (Senior Yr.)

Months 1-3 (Freshman Yr.)

§  Solution Selling Methodology

§  Expand Product Knowledge

§  Expand Situational Fluency

§  6- and 9-month check-ins: •  Role Playing •  Video of actual sales

call •  Feedback provided

§  12-month formal assessment

§  Graduation ceremony .

§  Individual Dev. Plan Tied to: •  Competencies •  Perf. Mgmt. Proc. •  Career Dev. Plan

§  LAMP §  Become a Mentor §  Electives

•  Motivational Trng •  Adv. Skill Dev. •  Selling to C-Level

§  Certification Program

§  Individual Dev. Plan Tied to: •  Competencies •  Perf. Mgmt. Proc. •  Career Dev. Plan

§  Become a Teacher by selection (1 yr) •  Solution Selling •  LAMP •  Teach Sit. Fluency

Teach Product

§  On-boarding §  Bb 101 §  New Hire Training

•  Product •  Tools/Processes •  Sit. Fluency •  Sales Process

§  Create Territory Plan §  Mentor Assigned §  Practice via Role-

Playing §  All Segments/

Channels §  Graduation Ceremony

New Product/Solution Training, Product/Solution Update Training, Corporate & Segment Initiatives

Poll Question

The length of our new hire training is…

A.  Less than 2 weeks B.  Between 2 and 4 weeks C.  Between 1 to 3 months D.  Over the period of a year

A CONTINUAL LEARNING APPROACH TO NEW HIRE TRAINING

Sales New Hire Training Program Previously

•  Week 1 on-boarding guide •  5 day Boot Camp •  Some “pre-work” •  Start of learning delayed

Today

•  Program starts on Day 2 •  Program Overview •  Individual Learning Plan •  Tour of course in Blackboard

•  4 cohorts/year •  Mentor assigned •  Phase 1 - 5 Units, delivered over 4

months •  Phase 2 – Remainder of 1st year •  Learning activities include

•  Online, synchronous & asynchronous

•  Journal activities •  Blogs, wikis and discussion boards •  3 day training camp

Sales New Hire Training – Welcome Page

Sales New Hire Training - Units

Sales New Hire Training – Unit Activities

Sales New Hire Training - Blog

Sales New Hire Training - Brainshark

Sales New Hire Training – Discussion Board

How Does Learning Continue for New Hires? •  Cohort and Mentor Relationships

•  SalesForce Chatter

•  6-, 9- and 12-month check-ins –  Assessment from mentor, manager and participant –  Identify areas of need

•  “Why Bb” Pitch on insite (SAVO)

•  Performance Management

RESULTS TO DATE

New Hire Dashboard Metrics

•  Starting Point –  Quota, # of Opps, Pipeline

•  Firsts –  Days to first close, Avg size of first deal, Days to first deal

•  60-Day and 180-Day Snapshot –  Pipeline build, revenue won, pipeline by stage

•  First Complete Quarter –  Forecast accuracy, slippage

•  Close of Hiring year –  Quota attainment, sales cycle time, pipeline

Survey Results

Qualitative Feedback

“I think that the welcome call, course organization and the detailed expectations are fantastic!”

“I am amazed at how organized and efficient the on-boarding process is here. By far the best I've ever experienced.”

“I was able to learn a lot more from my cohorts as the interaction helped to form my own ideas and learn more about our solutions.”

Continual Improvement

Early Successes

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Time to First Sale (Close) in days Time to First Deal (Open to Close) in days

1st Complete Quarter - Average Cycle Time

2010

2011

49% decrease

41% decrease

33% decrease

Predicted Impact on Business

What is Next…

•  Core Sales Methodology – Conversion to Online

•  Expansion of Sales Training Team

•  Measuring Impact of Informal Learning

Contact Information

Doug Ferreira Director, Sales Training & Development

Blackboard, Inc. 15301 Ventura Blvd. Building B, Suite 300

Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 doug.ferreira@blackboard.com

(c) 847-624-5746 (0) 818-808-1414

For more information on Blackboard, please contact us at:

Phone: 888-719-6123

Email: ProEdInfo@blackboard.com www.blackboard.com/corp

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