forte: noun. a person's strong suit, or most highly developed characteristic, talent or skill; something that one excels in
Forte's strong suit is serving as a catalyst for drawing out existing greatness to transform potential into performance. Forte's consultants engage with clients through sales coaching and training to win more business and expand relationships.
Ask yourself:
How are my salespeople performing?
The “status quo” is the biggest competitor and barrier to success out there for salespeople and sales teams, period. According to the latest findings from Sirius Decisions, Sales Benchmark Index and many other respected researchers, an increasingly common outcome for even seemingly well-qualified sales opportunities is not a win, or a competitive loss, but a decision to “do nothing”.
When you look at a typical sales team, about 20% are achieving at a high level and potentially breaking the status quo. Another 20-30% are in the bottom range of either new to the organization or are not a good fit for that company. The remaining 50-60% are a group that we consider the "movable middle" who have the opportunity to transform potential into performance.
What if all of your salespeople, regardless of level or tenure, could manage the status quo and perform at a higher level?
How am I developing my salespeople?
As human beings, we seek continuous improvement of our current situation whether at work or in our personal lives. Though as schedules get busy and budgets cut, few salespeople are getting an opportunity to continue to develop their skills. This compromises business expansion and client retention in an ever increasing competitive landscape.
The most logical answer to this question is managers. Isn't it their responsibility to coach? Unfortunately, according to CSO Insights, a majority of managers spend about 2% of their time devoted to coaching salespeople. The most common reasons why? Not enough time and they don't know how to do it.
Salespeople seek guidance from those around them-peers, co-workers, practice management specialists; and maybe even friends. Often these trusted advocates are ill-equipped to provide objective guidance and/or coaching yet salespeople act based on these conversations.
What if all of your salespeople and managers developed their skills through coaching?”
What are the expectations my organization puts on training?
Massive budgets are spent at the corporate level every year on great sales training yet results are often lackluster and not easily demonstrated. This phenomenon gets labeled a “training issue”. Studies have shown that it is not the sales training that improves results, but rather, it is the widespread adoption and continuous reinforcement of the concepts through “coaching”.
Great sales training has a short shelf life. The concepts must be put into action immediately to have positive impact on performance and “coaching” provides that venue.
What if your organization realized such positive results from training that training was viewed as an investment vs. an expense?