The sales team needed training and development in the complex task of specification selling. The company wanted to use an independent trainer to give credibility, but someone who could draw on personal experience, not just a training organisation quoting from a book.

Competitive Advantage used its standard specification training programme as the basis for the programme. Input was gathered from key sales people within the organisation to understand the issues facing the company and how their products were specified. It was then possible to develop a programme which both met the business’ specific needs and reinforced the sales management philosophy.

The training programme provided a basic grounding in the specification process, covering from how a specification works, the different decision makers and influencers, through to different types of contract. It then considered selling to architects and other specifiers, the influence of the contractor and distributor and finally suggested best practices to be effective.

Video clips of interviews with customers were included, these reinforced the theory of the course in terms that were very specific to the company’s business.

Role play was also used. Not only did this provide an opportunity to reinforce some of the points from the training, but it gave the newer team members an opportunity to experience some of the pitfalls.

To ensure adoption of the programme throughout the organisation, internal sales staff and technical advisors were included in the training. This ensured that they recognise opportunities and convert them into sales prospects.