Sales Enablement System

Sales enablement for edTech

CLIENT - EDGENUITY

The Challenge

edTech sales reps either focused on selling CDs and electronic content to schools or software tools to technology leads that were ancillary to curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Edgenuity broke the mold by developing a system designed for instructional improvement where the target buyer shifted from the CTO to the deputy superintendent. This required a new approach to onboarding and training of sales reps and the sales process itself.

The Outcome

To support sales, new training modules and a coaching-based performance evaluation system were developed that gave sales team members direct experiences of the new product from an educational standpoint. The sales process was revamped to include a paid workshop for districts to assess their needs that not only generated revenue but also accelerated the sales process.

Focus

Edgenuity was the first company to introduce an instructional improvement system to K-12 education. The target buyer for the system was the deputy superintendent over curriculum, instruction, and assessment for districts who were often not technology specialists. Given the complex nature of the interrelationships between these three core pillars of educational improvement, it was necessary to develop a new sales model that helped draw the connections between these pillars and illustrate how the system supported the instructional improvement process at each step.

The sales team needed new materials, training, and coaching on how to facilitate these discussions and bring deals to closure. Sales performance evaluation also needed to be redefined to reflect the new actions and expectations for this work.

Process

Strategy.This process began with developing a new instructional improvement roadmap that visually depicted the interconnections between curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The visual roadmap enabled marketing, product management, and sales to understand how the new system would support each part of the instructional improvement process and the value to the customer.

Training. Based on the roadmap, a set of sales competencies and training modules were designed to support the onboarding and ongoing development of sales reps. The first part of the training consisted of hands-on activities that focused on the roadmap and how the product supports the instructional improvement process. The second part of the training focused on the sales process, what to look for at each stage, and how best to use collateral and documentation to move the sales process forward. The sales process also defined the KPIs for reps and expected outcomes for each stage of the process.

Coaching. Once trained, sales reps were shadowed and coached with different accounts with a sales enablement team leader. This included participating in initial calls virtually as well as field observations during solution development meetings. Observations were recorded and a two-way feedback system was established that made the sales rep the center of their own learning.

Field Support. To accelerate the sales process, we turned the strategic roadmap into a board game that engaged the customer leadership teams in self-analysis to determine the needs of the client and expose the value of the Edgenuity system. By gamifying the process, customers were immediately engaged and built ownership over the process to facilitate sales. We brought in sales enablement leads or product managers to support the solution development and presentation to the executive level of potential customers. It also turned sales from a cost center to a revenue generating activity while also building credibility for the company with customer leadership.

Evaluation. to assist with sales performance evaluation, a system was set up to establish KPIs based on the sales process and the execution of each step by the rep. Augmented by coaching observations, the performance evaluation model looked at not only how reps followed and documented each stage, but also at how the rep interacted with the target buyer, customer team, and internal stakeholders within the company. This 360 degree view was built around a feedback model rather than punitive scoring model that educated reps on how to improve their practice and build on their strengths.

The Deliverable

Developed and released sales modules for the new instructional improvement system. Conducted training sessions with sales teams.

Created marketing content and sales collateral to support each stage of the sales process including scripts and presentation templates. Coordinated content with marketing campaigns.

Developed a coaching and evaluation model for sales reps based on a two-way feedback system.