Sales Leadership Development
We hired Accelerate Performance to professionalize our sales leadership process to help drive and support our growth. It worked. I was impressed how they helped us implement simple ideas like goal-setting in a way that actually stuck for us and impacted the way we operated for years. After they worked with our sales leaders, it was an obvious choice to have them work with our sales and service teams. And we’ve brought them into our current firm too.
Mike Croxson
CEO, CESI; formerly President CareOne
Situation
CareOne Credit is a leader in the debt relief industry and offers multiple products and services to assist consumers with debt. The team and business have grown very rapidly and face consistent pressure from a very ambitious management team to continue to exceed growth targets. CareOne operates with one unique dynamic in that about half of the sales reps work virtually from their homes. This scenario creates unique challenges and opportunities with respect to coaching and team dynamics. Prior to our arrival, CareOne had been very focused on operational efficiencies like talk time and handle time. All of the front line leaders were formerly strong performing reps and each had a different approach to coaching and sales performance development. CareOne leadership knew, that in order to continue to grow and scale, that they needed to professionalize and institutionalize a consistent way to coach and lead, the CareOne way.
Approach
Together, with the CareOne team we developed a sales coaching process and playbook to drive a more consistent sales culture to drive future growth. In developing the program, we learned the CareOne language and culture, then identified the most critical sales metrics and associated behaviors to monitor and coach toward. Then we observed and documented best practices and interviewed top sales leaders and reps. Insights were then assembled into a simple and transferrable tool kit.
We delivered the solution via a series of trainings and “coach the coach” sessions where we worked side by side with leaders on areas like:
- Goal setting with a rep (vs. for a rep)
- Running productive 1 on 1s
- Coaching to leading (vs. lagging) sales indicators
- Leading an effective group or 1:1 practice session
- Creating a spontaneous, ongoing practice culture
- Running fun and productive team meetings, that drive sales development
- Providing formal and informal recognition that drive the right behavior
- Giving feedback that drives behavior
Outcomes
- In the 2 years following the implementation of this program, the CareOne business quadrupled.
- Monthly sales per rep increased from 45 to 75 (55% increase) in the first year following this program.
- Sales of Debt Resolution Programs per rep (the company’s most profitable offering) tripled year over year.
- Sales metrics like conversion and retention are tracked and managed much more closely (in addition to the operational metrics).
- New reps and new sales leaders are becoming productive and profitable much more quickly than in past because the sales and sales leadership playbooks now exist.