Achieving Sales Excellence at SITA
SITA implemented a “Sales Excellence Program” focused on enabling the global sales team to lead business conversations based on customer priorities by industry vertical. The “Sales Excellence Program” consisted of 11 video-based playbooks by product and industry, multiple rounds of in-person experiential sales training, and comprehensive reinforcement through coaching and accreditation. The business outcomes have included higher new business contribution by sales rep, higher total contract values, and growth in new forecasted pipeline.
SITA implemented a Sales Excellence Program that focused on enabling the global sales team to lead business conversations, based on customer priorities, by industry vertical. The Sales Excellence Program consisted of 11 video-based playbooks by product and industry, multiple rounds of in-person experiential sales training, and comprehensive reinforcement through coaching and accreditation. The business outcomes were a higher new business contribution by sales rep, higher total contract values, and growth in the new forecasted pipeline.
The program was to develop the sales messaging tools for addressing the business needs of our key vertical markets, which are airlines, airports, and governments. Over the last four years, we have trained over 700 colleagues in SITA. Our sales training playbooks focus on sales messaging by vertical market, sales process, competitive differentiation, and sales coaching.
A huge benefit from the program was sales reps preparing for their client meetings and engaging early in the process. The customer realizes they have an issue in their operations that needs to be solved using IT. Sales reps should avoid getting involved once procurement has started to downselect and drive for the lowest price. Sales reps need to be there with the customer when the problem pops up. Where the next thought is on how they can solve it. Another benefit of the program was increaseding our reps confidence engaging higher by talking business with the CIO or CXO. Rather than discussing an infrastructure or application that SITA can provide, sales reps speak to how SITA can help solve a business problem for an airline, airport, or a government entity.
What made a difference in sustaining the program is DSG's help after the classroom training to focus on continous learning, reinforcement calls and coaching. Part of this sustaining phase was for reps to practice what they learned in the classroom during a live customer engagement. The practice then concluded with a certification effort for that specific module. It was a highly impactful training and change management effort that changed and transformed our sales force.
Throughout the program, there were noticeable behavioral changes. The first was that more than 50 percent of sales reps quadrupled the average new business contribution to the organization. Second, the sales reps certified on sales excellence closed a total contract value of 670 million dollars in new business. Finally, we generated a new forecasted pipeline of 475 million dollars.
I am proud to watch these training sessions live, see people use the playbook, and watch them be challenged over the two and a half to three days of the program. They are improving because they are benefiting from the training itself. Their individual growth and seeing our impact on them is the most rewarding part.
