Parata
Customized Sales Training Initiative Increases Deal Quality, Forecast Accuracy and New Hire Performance
Industry leading pharmacy automation company fully integrates world-class selling process
Parata is a leader in pharmacy automation, offering the fastest, most accurate dispensing technology in the industry. The company provides customers with innovative products and services that help improve patient health outcomes and streamline workflow.
Situation
Parata had the industry’s most complete product line, but no unified sales team to leverage it.
Founded in 2001, Parata Systems successfully grew from an entrepreneurial start-up to an industry front-runner in less than ten years.
Like similar developing companies, Parata experienced challenges as they built an experienced professional sales team.
Individuals inconsistently followed various sales philosophies with no common methodology. Communication across functions and between leaders and team members was poor due to the lack of a consistent language used to discuss sales opportunities. Parata’s Field Salespeople were skilled at closing sales, but they struggled to qualify prospects.
Faced with these challenges, Parata leadership saw there was a clear need for a fully integrated, outsourced, customized sales training program.
The objective was to successfully introduce a proven, world-class, professional selling process to benefit Parata’s sales teams, old and new customers, and bottom line. A complicated, cumbersome initiative wouldn’t do; facing future exponential growth opportunities and a diverse sales team, the organizational demand was calling out for “simplicity.”
Parata searched for a collaborative partner that would commit to a straight-forward approach, be hands-on throughout the design, customization, roll-out, and integration of a training program, and would also truly understand the pharmacy automation industry.
Out of eight competing sales training companies, The Brooks Group was chosen as the ideal cultural match to lead Parata’s initiative.
Solution
How Did We Approach the Challenge?
Design a simple, learner-centric, and uniquely customized sales training initiative that would unify the sales team and integrate with the CRM.
A foundation for the Parata sales team’s success was already in place – industry experience, a strong customer base, an industry-leading product and service mix, and more – allowing The Brooks Group to focus on refining specific areas of the sales process in which Parata’s team needed the most development.
The Brooks Group Led Parata Through Four Phases:
Discover
Consultants from The Brooks Group spent time on-site observing day-to-day activities and talking with Parata sales team members to deeply understand the sales team’s environment and existing culture. The Brooks Group also used the Brooks Talent Index to verify that Parata had the right people in the right roles.
Design
The Brooks Group used the results of the field observations, interviews, and additional research as a base for designing the training curriculum. The customization process was highly collaborative, using feedback from Sales Operations, Sales Management and Field Salespeople to fine-tune the program content. By integrating specific marketplace realities, the training was immediately applicable to the sales team’s daily practices. Customized role-plays, practice scenarios and group exercises set the stage for hands-on skills practice.
Deploy
The IMPACT Selling® initiative was the most successful sales process introduction in Parata’s history. Participants enthusiastically embraced the concepts and strategies covered over two-days of classroom training. Parata management led the reinforcement and coaching, providing internal support to ensure enduring behavioral change for the entire sales team. The Parata marketing team also adopted the IMPACT Selling® process, supporting the change organization-wide.
Develop/CRM Integration
Following program design and customization, The Brooks Group worked closely with Parata stakeholders to integrate the IMPACT Selling® process into their CRM platform. This allowed team members to actively use the IMPACT process in their daily selling activities, and encouraged the adoption of a common sales language across the entire team. Elements of the updated CRM were included in the IMPACT Selling training as well to build employee buy-in and understanding from the start.
Bottom Line
Parata was recently awarded the NCTA 21 Industry Driven Company Award. This honor, North Carolina’s most prestigious technology award, acknowledges outstanding industry-specific products or services from local technology companies that influence the local community and beyond. Winning this award validates Parata’s exceptional market foresight and ability to deliver targeted solutions for their customers.
Results
Parata’s sales culture was transformed into an environment of consistent communication, measure accountability and an unwavering focus on the customer… and with CRM integration, the change has been made for good.
Following their training initiative, Parata’s overall sales team performance, communication between business functions, and bottom line showed measurable improvement. There was no longer a division between “rookie” and “veteran” salespeople; everyone was part of the same highly effective Parata sales team.
- Salespeople saw a significant increase in deal quality due to their ability to better qualify opportunities and develop more targeted recommendations for their customers.
- Forecast accuracy also dramatically increased.
- IMPACT provided a basis for more structured and effective onboarding, decreasing ramp up time for new sales hires.
- The IMPACT integration into Parata’s CRM platform allowed the delivery of collateral to salespeople based on the type of prospect the salesperson works with and the phase of IMPACT they are in.
- Sales managers significantly enhanced their coaching skills by leveraging tools given to them to serve more effectively as mentors throughout the process rather than managing against a number.
- Parata invited The Brooks Group back to deliver additional follow-up training over multiple engagements.
These measurable improvements, combined with the powerful capabilities of CRM integration, helped make the IMPACT training initiative a key milestone for Parata. Getting the entire organization onboard with a common sales language and methodology was critical for developing organizational consistency and building an effective, sustainable sales culture.
Testimonials
“We realized our team’s sales training had been cobbled together. It was inconsistent. And our buyer profile had changed. We realized that a consultative model was more important than ever.”
“One of the reasons we chose The Brooks Group was their attitude towards customization. We didn’t want to modify everything. The collaboration involved in the process, as well as the simplicity and ease of roll-out of the initiative, made IMPACT an immediate culture match for our organization.”
“The Parata team fully embraced IMPACT. Senior executives, members of the marketing, sales operations, and HR groups were all active participants in the design, delivery, and implementation of the project. This level of involvement has led to a complete integration of buyer-focused sales culture at Parata.”