Challenge

In an increasingly competitive environment, a global medical diagnostics company was struggling to adapt to the challenges of the marketplace. The Account Managers were having a hard time being fully competent in all four of their modalities while also struggling to keep up their knowledge of competitors and how to sell competitively. 

Even with a tenured sales team, this was a rigorous training need. In addition, the training team was small and unable to address this need without additional support.

Insight

We understood that in order to sell competitively, there were layers of knowledge of which the sales team had to be fully competent in-:

• All four of the modalities
• Their competitors
• How to sell against their competitors 
• How to adapt to the various roles they would be selling to along the patient workflow journey

Furthermore, tenured sales teams typically have high expectations of training. We needed to ensure the training was engaging, fun and truly motivating for them to want to learn more about each of the modalities, their competitors, and how to sell competitively.

Solution

A robust, interactive, and themed training program was created to address the knowledge and skills objectives while infusing fun and competitive elements that fostered individual and team collaboration. A Train-the-Trainer was led by Bull City Blue to ensure the facilitators were prepared and ready to deliver the workshops. The theme was ‘Around the World’ and each of the four workshops was an island that represented a competitor. Each workshop included various activities ranging from game boards to understand the customer’s pain points to completing knowledge workmats in a short time frame to earn points. The team earned passport stamps through activities, role plays, and building out elevator pitches and proof points. With such a competitive group, it was fast paced with teams up against each other and battling for points. 

1. Image from Gordon on all deliverables together
2. Facilitator Guide
3. Passport Pics
4. Game Instructions

Results

The client provided tremendous feedback during and after the training on the approach, deliverables, and effectiveness of the training program. Meeting surveys revealed a higher level of confidence regarding selling competitively. 

Furthermore, this is now a core part of their New Hire Training and in their words, “A new bar is being set for our sales meetings!”

The post Setting a new bar for sales meetings! appeared first on Bull City Blue.

Challenge

A life science company in an emerging and highly sophisticated therapeutic space was preparing to launch its first ever commercial therapy. The company's training team needed to build a new hire training program for its Account Specialists that would prepare them to face their role's unique challenges, which included:

• Working within a dense cross-functional "matrix" of colleagues
• Interacting with prestigious customers who often serve as thought leaders 
• Managing accounts in a still-emerging therapeutic space where any two accounts can differ significantly in structure and processes

The training team also had to consider the learning needs and preferences of the Account Specialists: each Account Specialist would boast years of experience working in the new therapy’s disease state; the ideal new hire training program would thus "meet them where they were," taking into account the experience and acumen they would bring to the table.

Insight

We understood that this learner audience would be best trained in a manner that showed trust for the expertise they already had and respected their time and level of seniority. As such, we helped the training team design a new hire program that minimized seat time and classroom activities and prioritized active, scenario-based, and peer-to-peer learning to prepare the Account Specialists to meet the unique challenges of the role. 

Solution

The final program included:

• Dynamic, gamified exercises that allowed the learner to map the processes and customer roles and responsibilities involved in the therapy
• Exercises and case studies that prepared the learner to navigate complex clinical discussions while establishing individual and brand credibility
• Collaboration-focused simulations designed to “war game” responding to expected account challenges from a “matrixed” organization
• Structured discussions delivered by highly experienced peers covering different types of treatment centers and the common risks, opportunities, and challenges they represent

Results

The company was extremely pleased with the program’s design and partnered with us to build out the program's content. 

The post Building a New Hire Training Program for Experienced Account Specialists appeared first on Bull City Blue.

Capturing the Modern Learner

Our client’s sales force had complex business intelligence at their fingertips, but only experts could use it to its fullest advantage.

Situation

As in many companies, our client’s Global Business Intelligence (GBI) team supports the sales team by providing the data and tools they need to be successful. For this client, a specialty biotech company, contact management analytics are often the key to identifying practitioners who are as rare as the diseases they treat.

When used well, these tools can help the sales team work smarter and reach their goals. In our client’s case, the tools were not fully understood. As a result, the strategic potential of data analytics was not being realized, and the GBI team was experiencing the additional work of answering frequent questions about the tools. These one-at-a-time interventions made it difficult for GBI and the sales professionals to work efficiently.

Solution

We focused on the sales team’s performance gaps with a three-part, interactive training series and leaderboard designed to capture and reward the attention of modern learners. Modern learners are highly visual and respond to interactive, micro-learning segments accessible on whatever platform they have on hand at a given moment. Successful material will quickly capture their attention, then sustain it with intermittent rewards. The longer they can be enticed to participate in a training activity, the closer they’ll be to mastering the content.

Impact

Our client achieve a 100% participation rate in the program and a mastery rate of close to 80% (particularly impressive for a program that was not mandatory, and launched during a busy time of year).

The post Gaming Helps Specialty Sales Force Leverage Sophisticated Knowledge and Tools appeared first on Bull City Blue.

Global Scale Requires Global Expertise

Our client, a leading biopharmaceutical company with a global footprint, faced a significant challenge.

Situation

Acquisitions combined with strong global demand for their products had resulted in rapid growth. And on the heels of this growth, the company was preparing to launch multiple new products within a five-year window. In anticipation of these new product launches, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of international operations became a top priority. Our client’s Global Learning and Development team was focused on a significant sore spot—global launch training. A high degree of variability in country-level training capabilities made the launch of any global training initiative extremely challenging. Our client knew they needed an experienced global-learning partner, so they turned to BCB for assistance.

Solution

We created a Global Launch Training Toolkit that aligned the company’s standards for the creation of training content at the global level. We established processes and designed the tools necessary to deliver globalized standards on localized levels, a critical component of a successful international learning strategy. Ultimately, the standardized communication and process improvements our client put in place became the foundation for a lasting global-optimization initiative.

Impact

Our client’s staff members worldwide use the Global Launch Training Toolkit to streamline new product launches. Standardized communication and process improvements have dissolved the chaos and uncertainty that once surrounded global launch training. Long term, the company’s adherence to a continuous improvement plan will help them align procedures incrementally as their business evolves in the future.

The post Supporting a Top-10 Biopharmaceutical Company’s International Growth with Global Learning Strategy appeared first on Bull City Blue.

Making It Stick

Our client’s superstar analytics talent was spending too much time providing tech support, while the sales team struggled to leverage a key analytics tool.

Situation

One of the ways our client, a specialty biotech company, maintains its edge is by constantly improving contact-management analytics. When technology takes a big step forward and new tools are released, sales team training must follow.

Unfortunately, not all training sticks. When a set of smarter analytics tools were rolled out, followed by traditional training, our client’s analytics team was consumed by support queries. Our client realized that their traditional training approach hadn’t been enough. They needed training that would truly engage users, spur on specific measurable outcomes, and generate genuine enthusiasm about data.

Solution

BCB developed a 15-minute superhero-themed e-learning module with a strong element of gamification. While learners had fun earning their superhero capes and tights, they learned the fundamentals of the analytics tools. In this way, BCB’s instructional design team tapped into their audience’s internal motivation to create a learning experience that would stick.

Impact

The response was phenomenal. The sales team’s requests for tech support dropped significantly. And the sales team and leadership were so enthusiastic about the program, they presented the team with an innovation award at the company’s annual sales conference.

The post Motivating eLearning Saves Tech Support, Improves Analytics Tool Mastery appeared first on Bull City Blue.