Prior to our briefing last week by The TAS Group executives in advance of today’s announcement, we were somewhat skeptical.  We thought claims they made in their YouTube videos were more than a bit outrageous, like this one from their press release: “Dealmaker Genius uses over 20,000 core knowledge elements and more than one million possible combinations to help companies create the ideal sales process for a given product, service, and industry, in less than 15 minutes – for free.“   C’mon, now guys…

I asked tough questions during the briefing, but I got answers that made sense.  Every one of them.

They suggested that I log onto the new Dealmaker Genius customized opportunity management process application.  A few days later I did.

Over and over I’ve read and heard sales experts say that, “It doesn’t matter which sales approach or methodology you use, as long as every salesperson in the company uses it.”  This myth has been around for decades.  Don’t believe it.  It just isn’t true.

When ESR does postmortems on failed sales training initiatives, we often find a significant mismatch between the client’s sales performance improvement requirements and the vendor’s capabilities.  That’s not the only reason that these initiatives fail, but it’s a common one.  If you have a whole sales team following the same process, but that process doesn’t match customer buying patterns and preferences, for example, you’re not going to get very far at all.

Here are some of the reasons companies wind up with the wrong training company for their needs:

I really enjoy someone telling me I’ve asked a great question.  Even with all these years of selling and consulting, it doesn’t happen that much when I’ve not prepared questions in advance.  But when I do, I’m able to build some real credibility just by the nature, content, and delivery of my questions.  I’m proud of that skill.

A few years ago, I tried to organize a webinar on questioning skills.  My guests were going to be a New York City detective and an investigative reporter from the Wall Street Journal who had interviewed me (and gotten me to share some things I wasn’t particularly interested in appearing on the front page of Section 2 of the Journal).  She wasn’t able to get permission from the paper to participate in the webinar.  It never came to pass.  Too bad.  It would have been fun and a great learning experience for all of us in sales.

Yes.

That sole trainer (or two- to three-person firm) won’t be rolling out simultaneous live instructor-led training classes in 20 countries.  Nor will they be getting in front of every one of 3,000 reps in the North American operation of a large client during a rapid 6-month deployment.

But we have seen one- to three-person sales consulting and training firms be very effective in:

When I tell them that’s not a question I can easily answer, many offer to pay me just for providing them with “just one name.”

If they press me for an answer I take a deep breath and say…

I first need you to tell me just a bit about the company seeking the best sales training firm:”

I just received a copy of Improving Corporate Negotiation Performance, a new study published by UK-based Huthwaite International and Connecticut-based IACCM—International Association for Contract and Commercial Management.  Huthwaite, along with other leaders in the area of negotiation like Think Inc! and The Bay Group,  vigilantly drive the critical point that negotiation shouldn’t begin when a company has been selected in a customer buying process.  Unfortunately few companies on the sell-side see things the same way.

I’m on the road all this week.  (In fact, I’m writing this on a plane from Minneapolis to Kansas City.)  There’s not enough time to for me to write a long, thoughtful blog post.  But I don’t have to.  I’ve written enough of them here on this subject already—two year’s worth—just in case you’re interested.

I’ve been saying again and again that sales performance is continuing to decline.  CSO Insights just published their 2009 Sales Performance Optimization report and the results validate my position. I’m not happy I was right.  Not at all.

It’s not that I’m so smart.  Anyone who thought about it could see it coming.  You take what in many companies is an organization short of strategy, discipline, process, measurement, leadership and productivity, give them insufficient and ineffective marketing and other support, layer in a significant recession, and there you have it.