Innovative Ways To Track Sales Enablement Training And Disclose Gaps
This guide helps you take the guesswork out of tracking sales enablement training and keep a close eye on your KPIs. We offer creative tips and performance evaluation methods to help your company identify areas for improvement cost-effectively.
The Importance Of Ongoing Evaluation
Most companies set a benchmark when onboarding new hires. They know exactly which skills these new partners or employees possess. In fact, that's probably one of the reasons why they chose the candidate from the talent pool. However, many lose sight of expertise, experience, and competencies as these individuals venture further into the employee cycle. Maybe they've been with the company for 5 years and have always met their quotas, so the business simply stops monitoring their growth. But this is a great disservice to sales reps, as it hinders them from achieving their full potential. Frequent assessments, on-the-job evaluations, and informal knowledge checks ensure that every member of the team rises to new challenges.
7 Inspired Tips To Track Sales Enablement Training
1. Gamification
Badges and leaderboards keep your sales team on their toes. Gamifying your sales and partner training also improves performance behaviors and encourages friendly competition. It also motivates coworkers to seize new training opportunities based on peer progress. For instance, their coworker just earned the coveted "product expert" badge, which prompts them to give it their all and fill existing gaps. Badges, in particular, are ideal for tracking employee and partner milestones. They're able to see how far they've come and maintain the momentum thanks to positive reinforcement.
2. Certifications
You always need to be prepared for an audit. Certifications help you prove that employees and external partners are up to code and compliant. However, certifications aren't only suitable for mandatory compliance training. You can also use them to track skill development and offer targeted support. As an example, sales teams must complete their customer service certification course that covers interpersonal skills and company policies. Just be sure to look for an LMS with recurring certifications that allows you to automatically assign courses based on certain events and reassign certification paths when they expire.
3. Skills Dashboard
A skills dashboard offers leaders a high-level summary of their teams’ status regarding skill development. They're also able to evaluate and forecast future gaps and skill-building trajectories based on progress and performance stats. Managers have the opportunity to follow up with sales reps who may be struggling or need more one-on-one support to seal deals. Another thing to consider is personalized dashboards where employees and external partners can track their own performance discreetly and seek out JIT resources and courses on their own.
4. Peer Feedback
Coworker feedback may come in the form of workplace advice or peer reviews. For example, sales reps record their techniques or innovative approaches and coworkers assess their performance. Maybe they need to work on their presentation or time management skills because they've kept the customer waiting for too long. The main advantage of peer-based feedback is that it usually comes from like-minded professionals who are at the same level, such as fellow remote sales reps with similar work-related challenges or concerns.
5. Automated Learning Plans
Top sales and partner training LMS platforms give you the power to auto-assign learning activities and set branched learning paths based on the outcome of the previous online training activity. Thus, employees and external partners are not only able to track their personal performance and progress, but immediately adjust course to bridge crucial gaps. For instance, develop relevant skills or core competencies that they lacked during the task simulation or self-assessment.
6. AI-Powered Social Learning
Ultimately, you need a learning management system that gives partners the power to share their expertise via web-based or user-generated content that they can post on topic-based discussion boards. Sales reps who are interested in related skills or niche subject matter can access these boards to expand their know-how and even contribute to the conversation if it falls under their area of expertise. But how does this tie into sales enablement tracking? In short, all of these social interactions help you hone in on common gaps. For instance, you can monitor boards to identify shared assumptions or training sticking points, as well as limiting beliefs or behaviors.
7. Coaching And Mentoring
If you're looking for a way to take peer feedback one step further, you might consider launching a coaching and/or mentoring program for your sales reps. This could be pairs or teams of external partners with similar objectives and training requirements. They use collaboration tools and video conferencing software to keep in touch and share progress updates. For instance, they meet once a week to swap stories and learn about new sales enablement training resources. Ask managers to sit in from time to time to monitor their teams and offer guidance when necessary. However, this shouldn't be a place for formal evaluation, but collaborative brainstorming and open-ended discussions. In other words, a safe and supportive virtual space where coworkers come together without the fear of being judged.
How Adobe Captivate Prime Helps You Pinpoint Gaps
Organizations need deep-dive insights to disclose gaps and continually develop their sales talent. Adobe Captivate Prime features user group reporting, xAPI support, and next-generation data visualization tools to make the most of your metrics. You can even access specific learning data to track performance and compare it against other peer groups, as well as individual learning objectives.
Download the eBook Ensure Organizational Growth With Impactful Sales & Partner Training to learn the ins and out of sales online training and discover industry secrets. It's a must-read for organizations of all sizes, especially those looking for cost-effective ways to improve on-the-job performance.
