Now we're really making some headway.  So far in the series we've gotten a good understanding of the sales process that our sales people use, some of the tools they use, and we know how they're measured.  And we also know if the sales process is really integrated into the culture, or not.  When you start really analyzing what's going on in most organizations, you'll find that there is usually some room for improvement.  So you may have discovered at this point that there are some organizational development issues that need to be addressed.  That's completely okay and expected.  Because a world class on-boarding and certification program is typically a contributing factor in world class sales organizations.  I would be surprised if there is a world class sales team that doesn't have a similar program.  So from that perspective, you can feel really great about the part you're playing in helping to create your company's world class sales team.  Your program is going to have a big impact.

It's likely though, that you can't just stop the development of your program in order to address the process and adoption issues.  So you may need to work parallel paths on these things and get some more help.  You'll also be working really close with the sales leadership, which will require superior consulting skills on your part.  Because, as we've discussed before, without their support and leadership, your work may be perceived as "something else" the sales people or sales managers need to do.  It can certainly be a challenge to get the sales leadership to really focus on this.  Especially if they see their role as super sales people rather than sales management.  But working with them closely is something that you must treat as a priority.  Otherwise, the lack of their support will just erode the impact you'll have on the business.

Now we're ready to get into some serious instructional design work.  We're still in the
Analyze phase of the ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate) model.  I know we've discussed a lot of detail so far, but let me offer a couple words of caution here.  Do not let this analysis drag on and on.  Your sponsors can not get the feeling that it is taking too long.  The balancing act you've got to manage is getting to all of the detail you need without letting it take too long OR seem overly complicated to your sponsors. 
There's no doubt that your skills as a consultant and communicator will be either honed or challenged during this process.

Analyzing the Sales Process

For each step of the sales process you should take a look at the following things.  This will give you an understanding of what's required to be successful in the given sales role.  If you have multiple sales roles then you'll need to also identify the differences for each role.  We'll discuss ways to define "successful" for the purposes of the on-boarding and certification program in the next article.

Activities - What activities comprise each step in the sales process?  You will also want to identify which activities that your best sales people treat as a priority for each sales process step.  This is IDEALLY identified by observation, not by asking them, or asking their managers.  And even direct observation has its issues in my opinion.  Hawthorne Effect anyone?  Do your best to get a handle on what your high performers focus on.  It will be helpful.

Sub-processes - "Submit Pricing Request" may be one step in the process.  But if there are twelve steps to get that done you may want to review that as well.

Knowledge - What knowledge is required to complete the activities in sales process step?  There are a lot of ways to get at this information but getting a focus group together and documenting this seems like a reasonable approach to me.  You will need to refine and validate everything anyway.

Skills - What skills are needed to be successful for each step in the sales process?  Communication skills, project management skills, planning, handling objections, and questioning, are a few.  Take another looking at your group of high performing sales people for this one.  And this time you should get the manager's input.  Documenting these will be especially helpful when it comes to creating the certification program that will go along with your world class sales on-boarding program.