 a little bit of magic |
mercedes-benz are driving forward their salesThe full press reales is below: Press Release – For Immediate Release 7th March 2007 Mercedes-Benz Are Driving Forward Their Sales Training programmes for sales execs and their managers are widely available for every industry, at every level of sophistication and through a variety of media; yet it took Mercedes-Benz UK Truck Sales Manager Gary Brown over three years to find just what he was looking for.
Gary specified that the programme for his Mercedes Truck Sales Execs needed to be different to that of any other UK truck operator - and must meet four main criteria:
He was also keenly aware from his own personal experience that poorly prepared and presented training was a sure-fire way of turning off a group of extrovert sales people who resented their loss of freedom by being in an enclosed training room for several days. His programme would not be allowed to do that. As Gary will tell you, most sales people in the UK truck market have lorries in their blood; they have spent most of their working lives in either the mechanical, operational or the commercial aspects of truck sales. They can identify a competitor's product by glancing at a wing mirror or from a glimpse of a cab layout. And when it comes to sales training most of them have been on more courses than they can care to remember (although they can't remember a lot of them). Therefore, when invited to attend a sales course the majority will usually come up with a good reason why they can't attend. This added weight to his decision to source a bespoke programme that would be the best currently available in the UK and one that every Sales Exec and Sales Manager would be delighted to be involved with. The search for the provider took some time and Specialist Truck Product Trainer Nick Smith worked on a brief to find the sales training company that could meet Gary 's requirements; he started his search in January 2006. From those companies that responded to his enquiry, Nick arranged for three companies to present from which Gary had no hesitation in selecting Righttrack Consultancy, a leading learning and development organisation, which stood out from the others by a mile. The project kicked off in July 2006 with a series of three two-day workshops attended by sales managers from dealerships in Northern Ireland , Scotland and England . Righttrack's International Sales and Marketing Consultant Rennie Gould facilitated the Secrets of Sales Success workshops and the outcomes informed the design of the development programme for the sales execs and managers. Rennie formulated an 8-day programme following a series of visits to dealerships and days out with sales execs meeting customers.
Once the research, design, development and accreditation processes were completed in the autumn of 2006, the programme rollout started in early 2007. The delivery is cascaded by starting with Mercedes-Benz Regional Sales Managers, followed by the Dealership Sales Managers and then to the Sales Execs. The programme is open to all Mercedes-Benz Regional Sales Managers, up to 30 Dealership Managers and has capacity for over 100 Sales Execs in the first year. Each of the four, two-day sales exec modules is reviewed and feedback from managers and execs provides input for the following module. Every participant has post course backup and is awarded Righttrack Membership, which gives them access to a secure e-zone that provides them with access to programme notes, assignments, downloads, programme logistics details and a message board. The programme will be completed during December 2007. Following the initial launch, Gary Brown is delighted with the response from the first delegates - he has had calls and emails indicating a real buy-in to the original approach. Mike Cooney, Righttrack's Director who manages this project, says "The success of this formula is attracting clients from other industry sectors who are seeking to optimise the effectiveness of their sales operations. The impact this programme is having with such a prestigious client as Mercedes-Benz, particularly with ILM accreditation, is creating an even bigger demand for Righttrack's bespoke and custom sales solutions." -End- |
Gary has spent his life in truck sales, and started as Mercedes-Benz UK Truck Sales Manager in December 2003. His experience in truck sales had convinced him that effective development for sales teams and their managers was a critical factor in gaining the edge over the competition. When he took up his new role it had been almost 10 years since a structured sales training programme had been available for the division's sales execs.
The programme design focuses on professional development of the sales execs with the sales managers taking a key role in facilitating the sales exec's transfer of the course content into sales territory and client relationship management. The course was presented for approval by key stakeholders and then submitted to The Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) for approval as a Development Award. A sales management programme was developed in parallel so that it reflected the content of the sales exec's course and which was also accredited by the ILM. 