If you’ve been in business long enough, you’ve probably heard the term strategic alignment before. And for good reason, too. It’s an important concept, and, without it, businesses would struggle to find success. Essentially, strategic alignment is the idea that company activity should line up with company values, mission, and culture.
Many people generally think of strategic alignment as a broader, big picture concept. But did you know that it’s a tremendously vital principle for Business to Business (B2B) sales, as well? Sales, marketing, and customer support teams need to align their strategies with the needs and values of the customers. Not only do these teams need to be in alignment with each other, they also need to coordinate their strategy to incorporate their customers.
Strategic alignment is actually quite difficult to pull off in reality. It requires time, resources, and manpower that aren’t easy to pull together. Moreover, it’s more than a vague, abstract concept. Strategic alignment is about taking action, matching activity with a company’s value propositions. Clearly, this is no easy task.
Fortunately, there’s training for that. Strategic alignment is learnable and accessible to all businesses. You just have to approach it with the right information and resources.
Less than Desired Results
According to a Forbes study, “65% of organizations have an agreed-upon strategy,” but, “Less than 10% of all organizations successfully execute the strategy.” That’s a shocking disparity that should disturb everyone from the C-Suite to the bottom line. The statistical majority of businesses have a strategy, but far too few of them have aligned it with real or effective action.
Though there are many factors that contribute to this strategic inefficiency, one that is glaringly apparent is sales teams taking the wrong approach. Often, the sales team belongs to a business that is too rigidly identitarian, unwilling to be flexible with it’s strategy, or the business bends too much to the will of the customers, resulting in a loss of strategic identity. Certainly, the problem is not always that obviously binary—there will always be gray areas—but it is still a problem nonetheless.
The solution is to make sales that are mutually valuable to the sales team and the customer alike. The sale should strategically align with the wants and needs of both parties. That’s easier said than done, though.
Remedying the Problem with Sales Training Technology
So how do you ensure that your sales team makes sales that are mutually valuable to your business and the business to whom you’re selling, that strategically align with your value propositions and theirs? That’s a good question, and we have an answer. Training can remedy that problem.
Sales training technology, when used effectively, can help bridge the gap between value propositions and strategic action. Here’s how: good training will teach learners to take conceptual knowledge and use it in practical situations. It provides them with the skills and knowledge to link values and actions.
In particular, responsive AI technologies enable salespeople-in-training to test concepts like strategic alignment in simulated spaces that mimic different sales situations, all without the risks that come with real-life sales calls. Trainees will make decisions in their training modules, and the AI will respond. This technology is so impactful because it allows learners to make mistakes, learn from them, and grow as salespeople without losing any sales. Though genuine human interaction is irreplaceable, responsive AI prepares salespeople-in-training for sales calls where they will be required to come to an agreement with customers that is mutually valuable for both parties.
With that knowledge, it’s now just a matter of finding the training solution that’s right for you.
DigitalChalk Can Help
Ask us about how a DigitalChalk sales training solution can help you leverage technology for the benefit of your sales team. Contact any of our training experts today.