{"id":370,"date":"2022-03-25T23:27:57","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T23:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningpro.solutions\/?p=370"},"modified":"2025-11-25T15:13:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T15:13:42","slug":"why-arent-your-employees-selling-more-of-product-x-sample-analysis-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningpro.solutions\/?p=370","title":{"rendered":"Why Aren’t Your Employees Selling More of Product X? (sample Analysis process)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new training request has arrived in my inbox: Employees aren\u2019t selling enough of Product X, so they need more training on the product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a common example of the kind of request that often lands on my desk, and it\u2019s a perfect example of how I use the \u201canalysis\u201d step in the ADDIE model. I created this sample problem to show how I might \u201cAnalyze\u201d an ask for training. We\u2019re going to work through a hypothetical model using fabricated data from 100 contacts coming into a call center. In the real world, I\u2019ll likely have a lot more data that\u2019s a lot less tidy, but this is an exercise, so I kept it nice and clean. I decided to use mock examples, since it\u2019s a little difficult to scrub an entire analysis process for sensitive information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, let\u2019s say I\u2019m at a call center that focuses on some type of sales in addition to it\u2019s usual tech-troubleshooting work. As per usual with training requests, the inquiry is vague: Employees need training on Product X.<\/em> We\u2019re going to go ahead and say the kickoff meeting doesn\u2019t return much more information than that (partially to save time and partially because \u201cDiscovery Meetings\u201d could occupy several entire articles by themselves). All my stakeholders know is that employees need to sell more of Product X, so they suggest I build a training to catch them up on the subject. It is up to me to figure out if the employees actually need<\/em> training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Spreadsheet
Download the full sample file here<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First step is to see how much Product X we\u2019re actually selling \u2013 according to a sample of data I pull, 29% of all products we sell are Product X. It\u2019s nothing to sneeze at, but when we launched Product X, we expected it to skyrocket to the top of our sales. I see that Product A, though older, is still defending its spot on the leaderboard at 53% of our sales. Product B is a niche product. We\u2019re not expecting it to ever surpass the others in sales, but it\u2019s good we\u2019re offering it, so it\u2019s fine where it\u2019s at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Spreadsheet
Download the full sample file here<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next step is to pull all the calls that sold Product X. It\u2019s only 15 calls so if I have time, I\u2019ll listen to all of them. Depending on the deadline though, at least 5 calls is my target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do manage to listen to all 15 calls, and what I find is that they go rather according to plan! The salesperson pitches the features of Product X, finds ways they will benefit their customer, and gets them to agree to the purchase. They follow the company-approved sales model, which I already have training material for, so I don\u2019t really need to expand or improve on anything here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But wait- what about the calls that are marked no sale?<\/em> I realize that not only do I need to track what works for selling Product X, but I need to find out what calls had Product X pitched<\/em> to the customer, but didn\u2019t move forward into an actual sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting data for this might be a bit trickier: If my company\u2019s using an advanced tracking system, I could pull any calls that mention Product X in the notes, or look for a feature that actually tracks unsuccessful pitches. Most of the time I\u2019m not fortunate enough to be able to pull this data, so it\u2019s back to the anecdotal side of things: pulling coaches and asking what their coaching conversations look like when Product X doesn\u2019t sell, or pulling a focus group of sales agents to tell me how their conversations with customers go when they attempt to pitch Product X. Of course, the more combined methods I can get my hands on, the better. It all depends on time and resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way or another, let\u2019s say I find out that most of the time when Product X doesn\u2019t sell, it\u2019s because it doesn\u2019t have a specific feature- Let\u2019s call it Feature 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ask my agents what happens when a customer needs Feature 1- do they simply drop the sales conversation, or do they find another solution for their customer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it turns out- they do have another solution ready! Product A is the only product our company offers which has Feature 1. The developers for Product X are in the process of trying to include Feature 1 in the next update, but as of right now it doesn\u2019t exist anywhere else at our company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time to confirm that anecdotal data. I don\u2019t have time to listen to listen to nearly 30 calls, but I do have an idea of what I\u2019m listening for<\/em>, so this could go a few ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Listen to a good sample size of the calls- something like 7 of them so I have at least 25% of the calls. See how the conversation covers Features, and look for a part where Feature 1 shows up, or listen to a transition point from Product X to Product A<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Listen to a portion of all the calls. Because I know the sales process and have an idea of where the \u201cfeatures and benefits\u201d part of the conversation is, fast-forward to about halfway through the call and listen for a part where Feature 1 shows up, or listen to a transition point from Product X to Product A<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Sure enough, I find several examples where the employee had to pivot away from Product X due to its Features, or the customer brings up Feature 1 organically and the employee\u2019s only choice is to showcase Product A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s important that I document as much of this as possible, because in this situation I really don\u2019t need a training on Product X. Any of the sales calls that successfully moved it are using our recommended process; I can\u2019t really add anything to their experience by creating more training. The reason Product X isn\u2019t moving as expected is because of Feature 1\u2019s absence. It\u2019s possible I could be directed to create \u201csomething\u201d to help move Product X along, as a show of good will to the Sales and Development departments. Office politics are a thing of course, and the Learning and Development leadership probably wants to demonstrate that we\u2019re willing to help, even though we can\u2019t really make much of an impact. In this case, there\u2019s probably an announcement board or newsletter that goes out to employees, and I can create some sort of refresher sheet or spotlight on Product X to sort of \u201ccheerlead\u201d for it and remind our employees about its great features and benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You may be asking, if you\u2019re newer to the industry and you\u2019ve gotten this far through the article, \u201cWhy is any of this the ID\u2019s problem?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s a fair question. We\u2019re paid to be knowledgeable about learner psychology, not sales data. Is it our responsibility to question leadership over a training they\u2019ve requested, when we know training isn\u2019t the problem? If that sounds unpleasant to you, you\u2019re not alone. Because let\u2019s face it, I\u2019m about to take what I\u2019ve found back to a team of developers who no doubt already understand that Feature 1 is an issue that needs to be solved ASAP, and they\u2019ll probably be a little grumpy when I present the data to leadership. That\u2019s where the \u201ccheerleading\u201d spotlight material comes in handy- I\u2019m able to show some good will on my part by creating something that praises Product X\u2019s features and promotes its sale, showing the product owners and developers behind Product X that I believe in them and their work- essentially, this is a safeguard against anyone thinking I\u2019m trying to avoid work by throwing these teams under the bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Still there are others in our field who will opt to keep their heads down and build a new training module all about Product X. After all, even if the data is on our side, is it worth sticking our collective necks out for this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I say yes, and the reason I do so can actually be quite self-serving! It\u2019s not because I think I\u2019m some great crusader for Learning & Development, or that I\u2019m so invested in our learners\u2019 time and cognitive load (although those are both important!). It\u2019s because I\u2019m passionate in showing L&D\u2019s return on investment. Learning and Development isn\u2019t an industry that always directly correlates to sales, and let\u2019s face it, it\u2019s an often understaffed department and one of the first to come under fire when the company\u2019s not performing well. So how do we, as Instructional Designers, protect ourselves from that? We constantly need to demonstrate our ROI. And the only way we can show a positive impact on the company is if we accept appropriate projects, with problems we can actually hope to solve through training and reinforcement of good habits. I wanted to set aside some time to show what a realistic level of analysis is in my experience. Like I said, this is extremely tidy data, and very simplistic. We don\u2019t have dropped calls to sort through, or a ton of outliers. We also have this data readily available, and in a perfect world we could drill down and pull out a lot more information than just what I\u2019ve shown here. However, this is a decent example of the kind of intuition I have to demonstrate, and compromises I have to make, when discovering that a request for a training initiative may not pan out the way my stakeholder(s) expect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A new training request has arrived in my inbox: Employees aren\u2019t selling enough of Product X, so they need more training on the product. Do they? This is a common example of the kind of request that often lands on my desk, and it\u2019s a perfect example of how I use the \u201canalysis\u201d step in 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