How sales coaching software helps reps ace sales calls

In 1984, at the age of 36, Bob Schmonsees had the world in his hands. On Super Bowl Sunday, as he stood on a ski slope, an out-of-control would-be downhill racer careened into him leaving him permanently paralyzed. He spent five months in the hospital. Released in May, by June he was playing wheelchair tennis and by October had won his first national championship. In 1987 he went on to become the world's number one player in the over-40 category.

Schmonsees brings the same will to win to his professional life. After 25 years as a sales and marketing executive, in 1996 he founded WisdomWare Inc., producers of WisdomWare Sales Coaching software which, unlike other SFA tools, coaches sales reps to be more customer-focused and solution-oriented while delivering a consistent marketing message. Explains Schmonsees, "WisdomWare offers a new way to use software to deliver and capture best practices and the tacit knowledge buried within the organization and to leverage that information to the corporation's benefit."

"Acing" the sales call
WisdomWare's compact database of knowledge undergoes continual refinement based on user feedback. Customized to organization needs, the knowledge base includes information on products, industries, competition and marketing strategies and actually coaches sales reps before calls, providing an approach to positioning the product and handling objections. Afterward, reps can provide feedback to the system. The program routes the feedback to the person who maintains the information, who modifies the sales strategy in the knowledge base accordingly.
Says Schmonsees, "A knowledge base is a constantly evolving and improving entity. You need a work flow around it that captures all kinds of feedback on how people use it, and from people who point out what's right and wrong with the knowledge base. It sends feedback to the people whose job it is to keep the knowledge base current. When executives buy into this concept, WisdomWare does really well in the culture."

Keeping score
"What provides benefit is sharing best practices. We have really focused on such business issues as shortening ramp-up times for salespeople and rollout times for new products, increasing support to the channels for consistent message delivery, and reducing the amount of information overload. Those are the business

benefits to our approach." Many organizations with WisdomWare reward salespeople for using the system. But the greatest reward? Closing more sales. Says Schmonsees, "Our software is part of the puzzle - you need an environment conducive to change and a management team committed to using knowledge as a differ- entiator. WisdomWare takes the candy box approach. Knowledge is like candy. We give salespeople a box of candy and hope they eat a lot of it."

Playing to win
Although retired from competition since 1987, Bob still counsels athletes facing similar challenges. He says, "I draw upon people I've worked with to test the vision. It's easy to reject new ideas, so you have to draw on your experience and your network to tell you whether the vision is correct and you should keep plugging." He concludes, "The real issue in sports and in business is applying yourself and constantly dealing with the frustrations of learning something new, never giving up your vision or your dream."

* Karen E. Starr

For more information, write WisdomWare Inc., 803 W. Broad St., Falls Church, VA 22046, call 1-888-311-2688 or 703/534-8900, email bobs@wisdomware.com or visit www.wisdomware.com.