Customizing sales competency development program to changing Business Environment
BACKGROUND
build capabilities to manage channel sales
Customizing sales competency development program to changing Business Environment
Agri businesses operate in a very dynamic environment where businesses have to continuously adapt to external challenges such as cropping pattern, climatic conditions and weather, market fluctuations, competition from generics and stretched credit cycles.
The product development cycles are long and require sustained long-term investments. The success is not only dependent on developing better products but also on better application of farming practices, adoption of new technologies & grass root level engagements with farmers.
The sales channels are fragmented, highly unstructured and distributed through various layers to reach the 100 million plus farmers across the rural geographies.
Our client one of the leading global player in crop protection business had anticipated a major challenge to their leadership status in many of their product/business categories and wanted to build capabilities of their sales to manage and overcome them.
CHALLENGE
adapting to new business environments
Monopolistic to competitive market
- The client had patented technologies over many of the product / crop protection solutions that gave them a monopolistic position in that market. This had not only ensured high market share but also contributed to improving profitability.
- A number of such patents had expired or were nearing expiry in the coming couple of years. This would mean that the competition from other players and generics would increase significantly.
- New technologies / patents were anticipated to come in gradually. Leaving a gap in the interim 3-5 years.
Channel engagement a gap area
- Over the last decade the sales team was focused on direct engagement with the farmers to generate demand. There was little focus in engaging with the channels as they enjoyed a monopolistic position where the channel was forced to sell their products due to high consumer demand
- Channel margins were low and channel perceived that dealing with the organization was not a profitable proposition
- The touch points to channel and the amount of time invested with them by the sales team was very less (approximately 15-20% of their overall time was spent with channel)
Competitive channel environment
- Bulk of the sales team was experienced having spent considerable tenure with the organization. While this was an advantage while dealing with farmers with good product application knowledge, understanding the process for demand generation through farmer engagements like trials, education, relationships etc. It also had its shortfall as they had seen little competition.
- They were distinctly uncomfortable discussing commercial aspects of the business such as placement, margins, schemes, credit & value adds with the channel partners in competitive scenario.
- They were also not exposed to structured processes for sales engagement nor were they equipped with tools to aid them during the call.
One solution does not suit all
- Agri businesses are highly localized. Right from land holding sizes, cropping patterns, climate, irrigation facilities, competitive landscape, credit availability, channel structures, business culture, availability of resources & markets – everything changes as one moves from one geography to another.
- From a training perspective as well this poses some unique challenges. Starting with language localization, customization of content to bring alive local issues, choice of illustrations, ways of working of the sales team can have big variations and need to be incorporated in the program design.
SOLUTION
structured approach to manage channels
Contextual Inquiry
- The first step of the engagement was to conduct a contextual enquiry. With the very nature of business and the diverse range of challenges that needed to be tackled it was imperative that a first hand understanding of the issues through a 360° research involving all stakeholders was the critical starting point.
- The enquiry was conducted in two parts; in office on internal stakeholders such as sales executives, sales managers, BU heads, leadership, product & marketing functions & on field in the natural work environment of the sales executive covering Sales executives, farmers, retailers, distributors, wholesalers, competition & their consumers/channel partners
- Techniques used were in depth interviews as well as shadowing the sales person in the market.
- This was also done over three different locations such that strong & weak markets for the organization were covered.
Program Design
- The findings of contextual inquiry were analyzed to design a comprehensive program framework spanning over a period of a year. The sessions were designed to deliver higher-level inputs progressively as the sales team undertakes the learning journey.
- The first intervention was aimed at building the fundamentals of understanding of channel management – channel structures & segmentation, roles & responsibilities, building relationships, communicating proposition & maneuvering competition.
- The second intervention was designed to equip the sales team to drive the channels to deliver business growth – building successful channel partnerships, driving channel performance, channel commercials & profitability. This session also covered professional skills such as interpersonal engagement & negotiations.
- The program looked at how the learning in the classroom could be sustained and inculcated into everyday practices using these methods; An implementation process & template to measure execution for next 45 days, Telephonic follow up sessions to share best practices conducted post 45 days, and Online quizzes conducted every 15 days to sustain the learnings.
Content Development & Delivery
- The content design was peppered with interactive resources like role plays, case studies, business situations, discussion forums. The overall idea was to make the sessions close to the learner’s daily experiences on the field.
- There were 7 geographic regions to be covered. Each region had different local dynamics and as a result the content had to be localized to each one of these regions. This helped the sales teams buy-in of the program and at the same time provided them with specific inputs relevant to their geography.
- During the entire journey from content development to delivery & post delivery on field activities we created internal champions for each of the regions. Their role was to help localize content, co-facilitate the training delivery & drive the adoption on the field. This helped build internal trainers for the organization to sustain training without depending on external interventions.
- For each of the topics covered in the training program sales teams were provided with tools to help implement on field in a structured way. This not only brought standardization of approach but also made the life of sales team easier as they dealt with tough situations with their customers. Some of the tools used were territory planning template, channel segmentation tool, steps of structured sales call, capturing customer needs, value proposition template and credibility assessment.
IMPACT
creating sustainable business impact
There was a significant change in the way the sales team functioned post the training program. This was monitored and analyzed using the post program activities. The analysis captured below:
Balancing the effort between managing channels and generating end customer demand. From 15:85 earlier to 50:50 now.
Significant improvement in tackling issues on channel commercials with focus on margins by demonstrating the channel value proposition.
Retention of their share of business with channels even with loss of monopoly and increased competition.
Prioritize and develop specific plans with channels based on segmentation. Thus help improve channel engagements and build sustainable relationships.
CONTACT
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We would love to hear from you and understand the problems you aim to address or transformation that you would like to bring about in your sales processes. Our experts will work closely with you to get the best solution for your unique requirements.
