IT Staffing Sales Training, Build or Buy (Outsource it)

Developing, delivering and maintaining an IT staffing sales enablement program requires strategic planning and capital in the form of sales methodology expertise, instructional design knowledge and technology.  Because your sales enablement programs play such a key role in the growth of your organization, knowing if and when to outsource the development and/or management of your sales enablement  to a strategic partner or develop it in house is not an easy decision and shouldn't be take lightly. If you and your staffing staffing firm are debating "build vs. buy," consider these ten questions.

IT Staffing Sales Training, Build or Buy (Outsource it), 10 Questions to Consider 

1. What is your sales training strategy, instructor-led classroom training or online sales training?
2. If you decide you want to incorporate online sales training than the next question is, do you have a cloud based learning management system? If not, you can learn how to identify and select a learning management system that is right for you.
3. Do you have a full time sales enablement manager or the ability to hire a full time sales enablement manager? Regardless of who is responsible for sales training in your organization, you will need to consider the following questions.
4. Is there someone in your organization who possess the skill, knowledge and expertise to script word-by-word your IT sales training material? This includes scripting objection rebuttals, messaging for how to open a sales meeting, messaging for executing a cold call, messaging for pitching a candidate and creating sales training exercises such as role play scenarios?
5. Assuming the answer to the previous question is yes, does this person also have the time to create the training materials?
6. Is the person responsible for sales training in your organization able and willing to model the desired sales behaviors for all to follow by recording themselves in front a video camera demonstrating how they handle objections? Demonstrating their cold call message?  Demonstrating their voice mail message?  Demonstrating how they pitch a candidate?  If not, is there another person who is?
7. Does the person creating your sales training material truly understand who your ideal buyer personas are and what is important to them? Do they understand them well enough to teach your sales team?
8. Does the person creating your sales training material understand how to design content that aligns with each stage of your sales and recruiting process including the buyers journey?
9. Does someone in your organization understand change management and user adoption and do they possess real world experience with sustaining change to ensure your training sticks long-term?
10. Do you understand how to create sales training effectiveness metrics  and do you have a mechanism for tracking and measuring sales training effectiveness?

By answering these questions and taking these key points into consideration the answer to whether or not you should build or outsource your sales training to a strategic partner vs. build internally should become clear.  And if you know you want or need to build it internally, your answers to these questions should help you pave the way for steps you need to take to build it. 

To learn more about sales enablement and optimize the performance of your sales organization download our eBook, The Staffing Leaders Guide to Sales Enablement.