A Mequon sales consulting company leveraged its supplemental software products to redefine its business model and plans to nearly double its revenue in 2007. Tim Hagen, owner of Sales Progress LLC, reformatted his two software programs used in partnership with his face-to-face consulting sessions to create a self-directed learning package. Companies can utilize the knowledge of a sales trainer without paying an hourly fee for one. At the same time, employees are learning the Sales Progress coaching methodology instead of listening to speakers or participating in one-day workshops.
“There are more than 13,000 sales trainers in the country and more then 95 percent of them do stand-up training,” Hagen said. “We get the manager to do proven coaching techniques and track that while the manager is coaching a person by reading a book, role playing or listening in on a phone call.”
The new versions of Sales Progress Coaching System and Sales Scoreboard were recently launched into the market as Web-based and subscription-based products.
By offering these products, Sales Progress has changed its business model from project-based to residual and is now available to an unlimited amount of customers nationwide, Hagen said.
“The fundamental premise or mission is to position organizations and management specifically to learn coaching and to do it on their own,” Hagen said.
In 2006, Sales Progress experienced a 15 percent increase in revenue, with five percent due to the soft introduction of the software systems into the market, Hagen said. In 2007, the company’s projections are already showing that it is expecting a 40 percent increase in revenue conservatively, with 20 percent due to the new business model and products, he said. Hagen declined to disclose the annual revenue of Sales Progress.
The Coaching System was originally created five years ago to be used as a tool to report employee progress as it related to sales or customers. To utilize the system in the past, a company would have to have hired Sales Progress to be on-site for consulting services.
The system tracks employee progress from different methods, including direct coaching from the managers to the sales representatives and a scoring application that graphically and statistically analyzes a person’s role playing or live calls.
“Most managers will go into a room of salespeople and say, ‘you have to pound the phones.’ But there may be two people terrified of rejection and two people who have no fear but don’t know how,” Hagen said. “One is behavior-based and one is knowledge-based and we offer coaching techniques for both.”
The assessment methodology within the Coaching System software is a rating system that managers use to rate sales representatives. Based on those ratings, Sales Progress will offer a custom coaching design for individual sales representatives.
The coaching design is broken down into multiple levels. Each goal is broken down into interval tasks on three levels. Tasks can be exercises or learning opportunities that, once completed, will make a sales representative one step closer to achieving the goal.
Sales Progress has created a live learning center within the Coaching System that includes more than 40 online courses in a podcast center, online exercises and online resources for both managers and sales representatives.
The manager is required to sign off when a sales representative has completed one level before the representative can advance to the next level.
“The live learning center puts reps in the position to learn on their own and provides different content for managers to prescribe to representatives,” Hagen said.
The Coaching System monthly subscription fees range from $150 to $400 depending on the number of employees using the system. Managers are required to take an introductory e-learning course, which costs $795 per manager.
Subscriptions also include an unlimited number of support tickets that managers can fill out to point out the specific instances of an issue he or she is having with a sales representative. Hagen promises to respond within 24 hours. Subscriptions also include any new content that is added to the system automatically.
Sales Scoreboard is run on a CRM system but operates as a subscription and Web-based software program, Hagen said.
With Sales Scoreboard, managers can build assessments, get results in the form of a PowerPoint presentation and receive an e-coaching presentation from Hagen based on the results.
Managers can assess customers on what they are going through in the industry or for a customer satisfaction survey. Managers can also assess their own representatives by asking questions regarding personal challenges and job satisfaction.
Sales Progress is in the process of building a live scoreboard that is dynamic so as the results come in, the scoreboard changes and everyone involved is immediately updated.
“At any point in time, you will know what is going on in the field,” Hagen said.
With Hagen’s offering of a voice-over coaching session based on the PowerPoint results of the assessment, Hagen is able to coach a group on what they are directly impacted by and what they are dealing with at that moment, he said.
“Adults learn best when they learn independently and 91 percent prefer to learn on their own and prefer to learn as it pertains to them” Hagen said.
Sales Progress has been working on the Sales Scoreboard product and methodology for three years. The newest version of Sales Scoreboard was launched Jan. 1. However, the live scoreboard feature is still in development.
Sales Progress’ current customers utilizing the Sales Progress Coaching System or the Sales Scoreboard include Eddie Z’s Blinds and Drapery, Hodgkins, Ill., Inpro Corp., Muskego and the Milwaukee Brewers.
The set up fee for Sales Scoreboard is $500, which includes help from Sales Progress to build an assessment. The subscription fee is $250 per month per scoreboard and an additional $250 for the audio voice-over from Hagen.
Hagen is currently working to strategically partner with customer relationship management (CRM) developers and marketing firms for the Sales Scoreboard concept, he said.
Sales Progress is currently recruiting independent consultants to become partners on its Coaching System.
Both programs focus on teaching the manager how to coach his or her sales representatives in an effective way, while at the same time training sales representatives to increase a company’s sales numbers, Hagen said.
“When you go back to the idea of 13,000 sales trainers, they have the premise and the belief that they physically have to be present to provide value,” Hagen said. “Fundamentally, the manager has more control over the representatives’ career than the trainer does.”
