Kerry Sales Training
Case Study: TorranceLearning implements CRM software and sales training for Kerry Ingredients & Flavours
Kerry Ingredients & Flavours: Effective Sales Training at a Glance
Kerry Ingredients & Flavours, part of the Kerry Group PLC, is an international food ingredient maker that serves the worldwide food and beverage industry.
The Business Need
Kerry’s implementation of a highly customized version of Salesforce.com began in the mid-2000s. Instructor-led training was used during the initial rollout to sales people, sales directors, R&D scientists, vice presidents, finance, customer service, and others in the organization. CRM administrators throughout the organization were responsible for new user training after the initial rollout, as well as helping users with complex tasks. In order to cement the concepts taught in live training, and to relieve CRM administrators from handling the very basic questions users may have, Kerry wanted to embed refresher training into Salesforce.com.
The Solution
Kerry’s IT deployment team used Macromedia (now Adobe) Captivate to record screen demos of key tasks. They also provided rough scripts for each screen demo. TorranceLearning edited the screen demos and the scripts to meet the instructional needs of the target learner, recorded voiceover, produced the courses, and loaded them to the Kerry learning management system where they could be accessed from Salesforce.com. Each of the more than two dozen demos is less than 7 minutes long and focuses on a discrete task in the context of the business process being performed. Since this was intended to serve as refresher training to follow on the instructor-led training, skill assessment was not considered to be necessary or appropriate. In this instance, it was felt that a quiz would deter learners who simply wanted to come in quickly to get the information they needed.
Each demo includes:
- Introduction of the task to be completed, along with its business context/purpose
- Screen demo showing successful task completion and important options along the way
- In-house voiceover
- Summary with review of key steps and tips presented in the demo
Implementation & Follow-on Training
The screen demos were made available within Salesforce.com, embedded in the links for a particular screen so they would be available when needed. They were also accessible from within Kerry’s Learning Management System, and referenced by subsequent elearning courses.
In mid-2009, as Kerry underwent a shift in how they go to market, they reviewed the training they provide to their sales people. Kerry’s Americas Sales executive team worked with TorranceLearning to assess the training needs of sales people and fill needed gaps. As part of that process, it became apparent that, while Kerry sales people can use Salesforce.com to complete tasks and record progress throughout the sales process, they weren’t effectively leveraging the tool to actually manage their business. What’s more, while individuals can complete specific tasks, they often don’t know how those tasks impact others in the very complex processes associated with new product development and commercialization. The need is in both training (only a few power users really know how to leverage Salesforce.com effectively) and motivation (involving both directors and sales people). We have developed a series of courses to address the training need, as well as to support the sales managers & directors in their role as performance coaches for their team.
Results
The initial phase of the training for sales people was released in early 2010. The first four core courses and the manager coaching guide received some of the highest evaluation scores and anecdotal praise of any course series at Kerry. Kerry will measure performance improvement through skills & application assessment during their annual performance review process.
