WHITE PAPER Skillsoft New Hire Training Program

WHITE PAPER

Skillsoft New Hire Training Program: ®

Onboarding of New Sales Talent

By Dorman Woodall Skillsoft Solution Services Consultant

White Paper | Skillsoft New Hire Training Program A Case Study of Onboarding New Sales Talent

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Skillsoft® New Hire Training Program prepares newly hired sales and consulting services professionals to be more productive, and therefore more successful, in less time than previous approaches. Our program has resulted in improved sales performance, increased revenue, expansion into new global markets, improved customer relations, cost-effective selling activities, reduced turnover of sales personnel, and, overall, a better sales force.

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T R A I N I N G F O R CO M P E T I T I V E A DVA N TAG E If done well, new hire sales training can have both a positive impact on business and be very rewarding for sales professionals. The program’s success is measured by increased revenue for both the company and sales people, while customers benefit from having company representatives who are knowledgeable and can solve their problems. Sales performance is directly related to providing clearly-defined organizational goals that are relevant to individuals, and are most often achieved through a system of competencies. By identifying, articulating, and training to support these competencies, management can help salespeople understand what is required to reach new levels of excellence.

THE SKILLSOFT SALES PROFESSIONAL Skillsoft believes that having a well-trained and motivated sales team is an essential ingredient for the overall growth of our business and the satisfaction of our global customer base. New Skillsoft sales professionals are trained to understand their customers’ unique needs, and advise them the ways in which Skillsoft’s varied learning assets can be used to advance their organizational goals. To achieve this, our sales professionals have a thorough understanding of Skillsoft’s products and services. They also understand corporate learning best practices so that these products and services are put to best use within their customer’s workplace. To achieve this, Skillsoft puts all newly-hired sales professionals through an extensive, blended program that ensures they provide consultative value to customers as soon as they begin their Skillsoft sales careers. The Skillsoft new-hire is a professional with proven selling skills and a record of sales excellence. Generally, they are chosen either from the learning industry or from the technology sector. As such, we are not focused on teaching fundamental sales skills, but rather on expanding and developing a strong set of skills associated with advanced solution selling. Typically they are a member of a regional team and work remotely, in many cases operating directly out of a home office, rather than from a centrally located Skillsoft office. This approach creates an entrepreneur-like focus, plus the geographic proximity allows for easy access to the customer.

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PROGRAM GOALS AND REQUIREMENTS Every newly hired sales or consulting employee must achieve competency in the following: WHO WE ARE To deliver Skillsoft’s message and describe how we provide value to customers in a professional and productive manner. HOW WE SELL To listen to a prospective customer and probe for their real needs regarding a workplace learning solution. To present a consultative “business fit” recommendation, along with pricing, proposal and the negotiation skills needed to establish a value-based business relationship. W H AT W E S E L L To fully explain our products and services and be able to demonstrate how the proposed solution will meet the prospect’s business needs within their learning environment. W H AT M A K E S U S D I F F E R E N T To use a range of proprietary tools to coach and assist the customer to become more effective in delivering learning. Tools include the Skillsoft Learning Growth Model®, ROI projections and implementation planning. Our sales new hires have a strong desire to deliver sales results as soon as possible. To take advantage of their enthusiasm, we provide a comprehensive program guide and an experienced sales coach, who is also a member of our Sales Enablement Team. This ensures rapid orientation from the very first day and continuous involvement along a well-defined learning path for the new hire over the next three months.

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PROGRAM DESIGN AND CONTENT The overall theme is ‘Learn as you Earn’ which emphasizes the new hire’s involvement with sales activities while participating in the training program. As a provider of technology-enabled learning solutions, Skillsoft is aware that a single formal event without proper support and follow-up activities will endanger the long-term retention of knowledge and skills. For this reason, the sales training program includes a broad array of activities designed to address a variety of learning needs. These practices include: BLENDED LEARNING The program consists of six distinct modules, made up of a number of learning activities designed to accomplish knowledge transfer with a heavy emphasis on skills development. ASSESSMENTS Learners are kept on track and motivated to work toward a new hire certification requirement, which is completed at a final workshop conducted at our corporate office. USE OF LEARNING TECHNOLOGY Skillsoft products and websites are employed often throughout the program. This content includes our LMS (Skillport®) for deployment and training, courses and simulations covering business and desktop topics, online books (Skillsoft Books), videos (Leadership Channel®), various job aids and assessments. COACHING BY EXPERTS As each new hire either begins or completes an assignment, we provide both virtual sales training experts and senior sales professionals from the field to coach them through the entire assignment and evaluate the quality of the outcome. The regular contact greatly assists the new hire to quickly adapt to our organization and learn our processes.

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MAPPING TO FORMAL AND INFORMAL LEARNING The program is structured into separate learning phases as described in Skillsoft’s white paper, Designing Blended Programs using the Eight Phases of Workplace Learning. This white paper can be found here.

DESCRIPTION 1

Prepare Me

2

Tell Me

3

Show Me

4

Let Me

Readying the new hire for the demands of the new hire training program

6

Support Me

7

Coach Me

8

Connect Me

Team coach Informational Web sites, elevator pitches, checklists, live and recorded

and concepts

sessions, readiness sessions, interviews with subject matter experts (SMEs)

Demonstrating products, methods, techniques, concepts and processes

Demonstration checklists and scripts, product Web pages, live and recorded

giving a good understanding of how to apply skills in a customer setting

product demonstrations, readiness sessions

job, working with their team, manager or coach or with a prospective customer

Check Me

New Hire Program Guide, orientation session, assignment of Talent

Presenting various products, services, selling methods, research methods,

Practicing their newly-learned skills in a realistic setting, on the

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EXAMPLES

Realistic practice examples, live coaching sessions, simulations, assigned exercises and role-play presentations

Assessing the progress and skills of the new hire as he/she progresses

Course tests, sessions with coach and manager, online polls and quizzes,

through the blended learning program

review of work results by SMEs and feedback from peers

Assisting the new hire to apply their skills in customer-facing situations

Working continually with their coach, manager, experts and peers throughout the entire program

Collaborating with their peers, classmates, corporate support groups, consulting team, and other Skillsoft contacts

Providing performance support, just-in-time training, coaching and real time support, on-site evaluations Coaching assignments, tracking reports, coaching checklists and progress reports, regular reviews of progress and how the transfer of skills is taking place into their job Working within a community of peers and colleagues to solve problems and share ideas through the virtual and face-to-face meetings, as well as using Skillsoft Client Community 6


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SKILLSOFT PROGRAM SCHEDULE The Skillsoft program is conducted over a 13-week period with regularly scheduled weekly events. During this period, each participant will complete 12 or more individual skills exercises.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE Each Monday

Regional sales team meetings are conducted by the sales manager and include the new salesperson.

Each Tuesday

The new salesperson attends coaching session with his or her Talent Team coach. Each session is normally one hour in duration. The new salesperson focuses on study assignments as per the program guide. These assignments can include the completion of a

Each Wednesday

course from the LMS, completing an exercise or doing some research on a website. Study requirements account for about two full work days per work week.

Every Other Thursday Every Other Friday Final 3 Days On-site During Week 13

The new salesperson attends coaching sessions with his or her Talent Team coach. Each session is normally one hour in duration. Bi-weekly virtual sessions mark the beginning of each training module and require the new salesperson to actively participate in a two- hour ‘virtual workshop’ event where current best practices are shared. In order to wrap up the program, the new salesperson attends a three-day workshop event at our corporate headquarters in Nashua, NH, where each salesperson works to achieve certification.

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KEY TRAINING RESOURCES It is critical to provide easy-to-use and easy-to-access training resources to the new learner. Skillsoft provide the following:

PROGRAM TRAINING RESOURCES Primary navigation document for the new salesperson to follow. The guide consists mostly of checklists, which are organized into six

New Hire Training Program Guide

separate modules. The checklists are sequenced based on “need-to-know-now” and include hyperlinked text that will quickly direct the new salesperson to a referenced resource. This guide keeps the new salesperson on track throughout the program, but also allows them to jump to a topic that may be of greater importance to them when dealing with their prospects and customers. All of the informational resources referenced in the new hire guide. The site mirrors the same six module organization as in the new

Skillsoft Sales University Website

hire guide. As virtual team sessions and interviews are conducted, new recordings and related materials are posted to specific pages. This material is also available to our entire global sales force and business partners. A customized version of our Skillport platform used exclusively by members of our sales and consulting teams. It contains learning

Salesport LMS

programs that are assigned to the new salesperson which map to the six modules in the new hire guide and Skillsoft University Web pages.

Content Virtual Meetings CDs, Books, Materials and Recordings

Our content consists of courses and simulations taken directly from our libraries together with courses that are custom-developed using our authoring tools, allowing us to have a comprehensive set of learning content in our training arsenal. Our regular coaching and team sessions are conducted using our virtual meeting tool (Dialogue™ Live). These sessions are interactive and engaging. All are recorded and posted to the Skillsoft University website.

We ship some physical resources to the newly hired salesperson within the first couple of days of their arrival.

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PROGRAM RESULTS The program has resulted in improved sales performance, increased revenue, expansion into new global markets, improved customer relations, more cost-effective selling activities, reduced turnover of sales personnel, reduced training costs and, overall, a better prepared and professional sales force. Our results are measured in a number of ways:

MEASURED PROGRAM RESULTS Increased Sales Competencies and Performance Increased Sales

By shortening the time to certify a new hire’s knowledge and skills, we reduced the number of errors and increased sales satisfaction Having a better understanding of a solution-selling method has substantially increased the sales results of our newest sales people. Exceptional performance by an individual within the new hire program has proven to be a very

Identification of High Performers

good indicator of future achievement. Knowing who the star performers are, we can chart a faster course for these sales professionals.

Reduced Overall Training Costs Reduced Turnover of Sales Personnel

Use of technology-enabled learning and virtual training has dramatically reduced the need for travel and related expenses, as well as time away from the job, a big factor for sales people. Getting our new hires up-to-speed faster and helping experienced salespeople become more successful has retained staff. The program has increased the prospecting, research, proposal creation and closing skills of our

Improved the Cost Effectiveness of Selling Activities

entire global sales teams. Concise training on key processes has made the entire sales process faster and more efficient.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dorman Woodall is a well-known and engaging consultant who contributes his wide range of learning and development expertise to every audience he engages. He has authored several magazine articles on training and contributed a chapter to the “ASTD Training and Development Handbook”. His material has also been featured in an ATD Info-line issue. Woodall has held key leadership positions in three of the top eLearning companies (Skillsoft, SmartForce and NETg) for over two decades. Currently, Woodall is a member of Skillsoft’s Solution Services team and is focused on providing world-class services, including learning strategies blueprints, continuous leadership programs, and customized marketing programs to Skillsoft’s wide range of customers.

Dorman Woodall Skillsoft Solution Services Consultant linkedin.com/in/dorman-woodall-658a533

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ABOUT SKILLSOFT Skillsoft is the global leader in eLearning with a long history of innovation. We train more professionals than linkedin.com/company/skillsoft facebook.com/skillsoft twitter.com/skillsoft skillsoft.com 866-757-3177

any other company in the world and are trusted by the world’s leading organizations, including over 50% of the Fortune 500. We currently serve over 6,700 customers and more than 45,000,000 learners worldwide and provide continuing, hands-on support to assist them in maximizing their ongoing success. Skillsoft has grown rapidly, with 2,500 employees across multiple locations in North America, EMEA and APAC. For more information, visit www.skillsoft.com.

WHITE PAPER Skillsoft New Hire Training Program

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