Client Problem/Need: This organization needed to transform its sales culture in order to address competitive pressures on sales revenue and margins.

Our Approach: Christensen/Roberts Solutions first identified the biggest obstacle to higher margins and more enterprise sales as the level at which the sales force was selling into their customers' organizations. The blended learning solution we developed was designed both to transform the sales culture and provide the tools to support selling to higher levels within their customers’ organization, establishing “solutions selling” as the norm and not the exception.

Our Delivered Solution: We implemented a transformational program, now in its fifth year, based on two fundamental selling principles: 1) solution and enterprise selling is key to sales success; and 2) speaking to executives in their language about their concerns is essential to closing the enterprise-level sale. This course begins with a focus on financial fundamentals, business acumen, and the “language” of the “C-club.” With this foundation, the program teaches participants how to uncover and identify issues and opportunities that they can address and translate into business results using hard financial metrics. The blended learning program combines elearning, conference calls, and onsite classes led by retired C-club executives. Real case examples are used, as are real account data. Opportunity for follow-up is provided to participants to transfer the classroom experience to sales results.

Benefits Achieved: Documented results obtained by following graduates of the program for the first two years showed an average increase in sales margin of over 9% and an increase of over $100 million in revenue from net new sales in a 24-month period. The program was acknowledged by the firm's Global Vice President of Sales as mission critical to the company's sales and marketing strategy.

SELLING BUSINESS VALUE TOOLKIT (Click on the graphic below to run a Flash demo (with audio) of the Selling Business Value Toolkit, a sales skills support tool. For more information on a customized version of this tool for your organization, please contact us.)

 

Client Problem/Need: The firm's Strategic Marketing Group was charged with improving the business case statements associated with their enterprise-level solutions in such a way that they addressed true business needs, could be quantified in financial terms, and could be differentiated from those of their competitors

Our Approach: C/R Solutions applied the selling principles from its ground-breaking sales program, “Executive & Solutions Selling – Business Acumen” (ESSba), to this problem. Using the tenets of executive selling, C/R Solutions created the “Value Proposition Creation Process,” which was designed to lead the firm's marketing managers through a rigorous process of defining the solutions they brought to market in terms of real dollar benefits. This included a formalized process of defining the benefits of the solution at two management levels (executive and middle manager) and culminated with a role-play with the ESSba executive facilitators in which marketing managers “sold” their solutions to the ESSba executives using financially supported justifications. This approach was possible because of the company-wide acknowledgment of the power of the ESSba selling process due to its documented results over the five years since its introduction.

Our Delivered Solution: We developed six complete "Value Propositions" at the executive and middle manager levels. Each value propositions included an elevator statement, statement of strategic or operational Intent (issues/opportunities addressed by the solution, how these would be addressed, and the emerging benefits), and financial justification.

Benefits Achieved: This approach provided a consistent framework for thinking about and articulating value statements, which led to faster articulation of those statements and more comprehensive value statements. The focus on articulating real dollar benefits helped uncover other areas that could be addressed by the solutions. Finished value propositions were used both in training the sales force and in marketing collateral, and lead to alignment between the marketing and sales staff on how to articulate the benefits of its solutions to its customers.

 

Client Problem/Need: The Technology Group was creating a new process for managing employee performance. Managers and staff needed to understand the process in order to carry out their responsibilities.

Our Approach: C/R Solutions, along with its Learning Cooperative associates, integrated facilitated workshops and Placeware online asynchronous sessions with web-based knowledge and tools for both training and ongoing performance.

Our Delivered Solution: One central website (one URL) coordinated all of the synchronous and asynchronous, instructor-led and web-based components, including pre- and post-workshop activities. A knowledge-base of task-specific checklists, how-to’s, tips, tools, and FAQs provides on-the-job support to both management and staff as they go through the Performance Management process.

Benefits Achieved: Managers and staff quickly learned their responsibilities regarding effective performance management, and they had instant access to set of tools and resources to help them every time they needed to perform their appropriate tasks.

 

Client Problem/Need: Our client needed to prepare a selected group of Financial Advisors to assume the duties of Branch Office Managers to replace the ineffective, previous alternative—an extensive, one-time classroom training event. This required that they acquire new skills, knowledge, and attitudes.

Our Approach: C/R Solutions, along with its associates, created a nine-month blended learning experience in which the future managers were continuously immersed.

Our Delivered Solution: The final program integrated three classroom training sessions with extensive web-based knowledge acquisition, performance support (tools, templates, examples, worksheets, checklists), action learning, decision-making simulations, and collaborative learning experiences. The participants used the web-based materials before, between, and after the classroom sessions. Those sessions then served as a vehicle to debrief that learning and provide additional opportunities to interact with peers and internal experts. C/R Solutions provided the web portal that served as the "Command Central" for the entire learning process.

Benefits Achieved: New Branch Office Managers assumed their new duties much better prepared than they had been previously. The nine-month blended learning experience continually reinforced the transformation they needed to make from being independent producers to being responsible for the success of an entire office. After the initial pilot, the program was successfully transitioned to the client's staff, and it is still running four years later.

 

Client Problem/Need: Our client was faced with meeting a Federal requirement to provide basic training in compliance to staff ranging from world-class physicians to cafeteria workers, and to deliver training at different levels for different employees, some of whom needed only to know general concepts, while others had to integrate their knowledge of Federal regulations into daily routines. Additionally, the client needed a “self-serve” solution that would reduce the cost of face-to-face annual training for over 10,000 employees

Our Approach: C/RS created a series of interrelated elearning programs that built on one another to target appropriate levels of knowledge and learning at appropriate audiences.

Our Delivered Solution: The final package included two online courses – an introductory course for all employees and an advanced course for staff with immediate responsibilities for compliance—as well as a PowerPoint template and Instructor’s Guide designed to enable individual departments to develop their own department-specific training. Online courses included pre- and post-testing to facilitate guided learning and reduce the amount of time that employees who already knew the material had to spend taking the courses; review questions and Action Mazes to reinforce general concepts and allow learners to “test themselves,” and institution-specific scenarios designed to help employees understand the implications of complex Federal regulations for the daily performance of their jobs.

Benefits Achieved: The introductory course enables this client to meet their requirement to train all employees annually at a greatly reduced cost. Of the 27% of employees who failed the pre-test on their first try, 96% passed the test after taking the course. The intermediate course was administered successfully to all staff required to take it within nine months of delivery, and the department-specific PowerPoint solution has successfully enabled individual departments to design their own training programs with minimal assistance from the Compliance Office and no intervention from the training department.