StoryQuest Blog

Talent Management in a 2.0, 3.0 or beyond world — what works to drive performance? Trusted peer content, practical mobility, and leadership.

Salespeople armed with the right sales training and product expertise close deals. Yet equipping them with the necessary tools to succeed is a challenge faced by virtually all sales management and sales trainers. Managing sales reps’ knowledge, talents and experience demands an understanding of the new realities that all of us face in our digital, mobile, learn-it-yesterday world. This article will look at these new realities and share some ideas and strategies for turning these new realities from challenges to opportunities.

Today’s sales executives are:

1 – inundated with information. Home, office, media – all are broadcasting non-stop information into these individual’s heads. As the line between personal and professional time blurs, one thing is sure: we are all inundated with more emails, portals, messaging, and links than we could ever want or need. This never-ending deluge changes how we access, consume and leverage the information in our world.

2 – mobile. We are all more mobile. Blackberrys, Smartphones, and iPhones are replacing laptops as the principle communication device. This is even truer in emerging markets. The United Nations estimates that 41% of the world’s 6.3 billion people will have cell phones by end of 2009!

3 – skeptical. With greater career mobility, greater content coming from ever increasing sources, all of us have created more discerning filters for the information we seek, receive, and consume. There is no way around it. As data increases, and the waking hours in a day remain the same, we regulate. And beyond regulating access, the actual act of “getting through” so knowledge is consumed, understood, believed and ultimately acted upon is more challenging than ever.

So what is the solution?
While no single tool or tactic neatly tackles all of these challenges, some strategies are vetting themselves out and showing consistent value. Organizations have started to take existing tools such as podcasting and portals to the next level by creating programs to capture and share the knowledge of experienced or top service team members. The tools created from this information are used as training and ramp up tools for new and existing employees. These strategies are built upon:

- Peer based content
- Effective mobility
- Management support

Peer based content: Regardless of the tool, or delivery method, the most important thing you have is the content. And before there is content there is always an expert. Websites and podcasts are not the experts, the people and voices behind them are. And the people with the most trusted, relevant expertise are always peers. These are the people we want to hear from, who have been there, done that – in my world, market, company, even office. So regardless of the medium or tool, the most important criteria for delivering wisdom that is consumed, believed, and acted upon is to make it trusted, and peer based. Peers offer relevant knowledge and when their experiences are captured as stories, in their own voice, the learning tool becomes very authentic and allows people to really connect with the information. Because of this, organizations such as Bank One have found peer based stories to be highly effective sales training tools.

Capturing meaningful, relevant, peer-based content is only half the battle. If you really want your sales team to consume and learn from the stories of their experienced colleagues, you have to make it utterly simple to do so. And the best way to accomplish this is by addressing the mobile nature of your workforce and make content available in multiple formats accessible from mobile devices.

Effective mobility:
While we are all more mobile than ever before, “mobility” means something different to everyone. Some want content on the web, some want it on Blackberrys, others on iPods, cell phones, or PDAs. And still for many, the issue is not the device but the willingness or capability to use it. Some of us love all the new tools and others view them as necessary evils. So what does this mean to enterprise talent management? It means no one mobility solution will work for everyone and if you want to deliver talent and wisdom today, you must deliver it in as many flavors as possible. This means online, off-line, and via iPod, iPhone, Blackberry, cell phone and SmartPhone.

Management/Leadership support:
I once had a client who said, “I want something so compelling, my team will want to consume it.” This company put together a cutting edge, peer based, and partially mobile learning program. Yet it failed. Why? Because no one knew about it. No one was told it was available, valuable, and no leader compelled people to consume it. No content or delivery format is compelling enough in today’s information overload world. Even Steven Spielberg doesn’t make movies that sell themselves. That’s why the most recent Indiana Jones movie was not only a huge production, it had a huge marketing budget. This is even worse on the enterprise side of things. What content in your organization is interesting enough, cool enough or delivered with such ease that busy salespeople will seek it out and consume it regularly? In all likelihood – nothing. But what if leaders get behind your message? Request and perhaps even compel the sales team to access and consume your content? Then you have closed the loop. Great content, effectively delivered, and supported by management. One client who has done this has seen great results: 100% consumption, 98% approval and over 200 named applications of use in closing deals. The critical difference between this client and the first one? Management support. Great content and convenience alone will not drive use. Support from the top and visibility into the new learning tools are vital pieces of implementing a successful peer based, mobile learning program for your sales team.

Conclusion
In the coming years, market trends such as continued expansion in emerging global markets, 2.5 billion cell phone users, and increasingly mobile, dispersed employees, are going to require better ways to share knowledge, best practices and training for your sales reps. The best way to do this is by building compelling content based on peer knowledge. Success comes by leveraging real life stories created in formats that can be accessed multiple ways from a variety of devices that are part of your team’s daily existence. For companies who have implemented this type of program, the results have been extraordinary and provide new and innovative ways to manage talent within their organizations.