Advancing knowledge, becoming a technology evangelist
The instructor-led Advanced Sales Workshop aims to help experienced sales professionals enhance their skills and overcome real-world challenges they encounter in the field. Attendees begin learning even before they attend the virtual training. “Around eight hours of self-paced learning before the workshop explained the fundamentals of Red Hat, where Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform was in the market, and how IT automation is changing the landscape,” said Estes. “It was really valuable.”
The workshop itself also lasted around eight hours, divided over two days. Competitive role play, teach-back, and other methods helped participants review and improve sales discovery, objection handling, value pitch, and more. “The workshop was at the level I needed to understand the value proposition and the technology at a very high level,” said Estes. “The content was great, and the instructor delivered it well.” With the workshop focused on overcoming real-world challenges, attendees are encouraged to address their challenges throughout the course. During the self-paced learning, they are asked to identify a real customer to build out their unique customer plan. After the workshop, they complete a customer call with the goal being to identify new pipeline opportunities. “I was able to deliver the messaging from the training to one of my accounts at Presidio to open new routes and develop new opportunities,” said Estes.
As a sales professional, Estes found the workshop sufficiently but not overly technical, enabling him to talk about the vital role of digital transformation in enabling innovation. “Businesses can get disrupted at any time,” he said. “If they don’t innovate, they’re going to be left behind. Being able to have that discussion with my customers is important, and the workshop has helped me to do that.”