I improved my sales performance, gained more confidence and advanced my career
ESI provided structure in my sales process and gave me the confidence to excel
ESIESIFor some time, our customer felt that they were leaving money on the table. They took the strategic decision to balance their existing new business competency with a stronger account management capability. In simple terms; they wanted to turn their commercial resources from hunters into farmers.
They recognised the need to change both skillset & mindset: our customer could get more from existing customers as well as finding new ones. There was also a recognition that there was a skills gap – sales leaders articulated the need for softer, human skills that could maximise sales opportunities with all customers.
Other related recurring issues included lower employee engagement & retention due to limited training and career development opportunities for people in or transitioning to commercial roles.
This customer had never before seen a fully asynchronous digital learning solution for sales skills. There was an acute awareness of post-pandemic screen-fatigue and that ESI’s unique solution embraced all learning preferences. This allowed for lots of off-camera learning time and provided different, dynamic ways to engage all learners – including podcasts, video, curated reading and written assignments which especially suited and engaged employees with different learning preferences.
Furthermore this was supported by the ESI Customer Success team who drove learner engagement and facilitated live engagement and interaction as and when required.
The ESI solution was especially potent because our Customer needed to facilitate support for employees in every time zone across the United States. This made a huge difference to people working remotely in so many different locations globally. The flexibility of the ESI programme allowed them to learn in their own time – wherever and whenever they wanted.
Certification is the icing on the cake: Growth+ presents people with a new & exciting educational opportunity that has cross-generational appeal: from skills-obsessed Generation Z to experienced professionals in the second season of their career. Validation of new skills through University-grade certification demonstrated an investment in professional development that moves the needle with respect to employee engagement & retention.
Our customer saw clear and measurable return on investment as a result of
the ESI solution – as well as a positive qualitative impact.
Participants in the ESI programme were proven to be 20-30% more productive than their colleagues on average with some participants reporting 2x-3x sales productivity as a direct result of ESI.
Employees started to generate more referral business and more repeat customers.
By turning advisors into account managers, our customer was able to reduce their investment on lead generation as a result of rolling out ESI.
ESI changed the type of conversations that were being undertaken with clients, the nature of peoples jobs and encouraged a cultural change within the organisation.
Our customer saw a real shift in average employee tenure because people could clearly see that they could effectively develop skills, grow as a person and get certified. Retention of those who were in ESI was 15% higher than those who were not.
ESI became part of our Customer’s ongoing employee engagement & progression strategy. Skills development and career progression are seen as a real draw for current and future employees and employee engagement increased due to participation in the ESI programme.
ESI’s Growth+ solution also generated increased engagement with sales management who participated in the programme and became a more cohesive unit as a result. The programme enabled management to establish a new company mindset and roll it out to the organisation as a whole. This helped to take a load off the L&D team.
You know a high performing sales team cannot be realised overnight, and that good quality performance takes time to develop. We want to help your salespeople reach their full potential, and that journey starts with a 30-minute chat.
ESI provided structure in my sales process and gave me the confidence to excel
ESI gave me more confidence and the ability to make better decisions