An aggressive sales training program kept mobile-handset maker Motorola connected to its sales network.

The first thing an NFL team has to do in order to win the Super Bowl is to get their hands on the ball. For any company that uses a sales channel to sell its products, the game is a little different. It has to get its products into the hands of the sales reps—and convince them to run with it.

That's a two-pronged strategy involving training and motivation. Motorola did just that with a group of Sprint sales reps, who participated in its sales/training program with the grand prize being a trip to Super Bowl XLIII.

The "Motorola and Sprint Training Incentive" program was designed by West Chicago, IL-based Aspen Marketing Services to increase both the sale of Motorola mobile phones in Sprint Nextel stores and the number of salespeople in those stores who complete training on the latest Motorola models.

Motorola's goal was to have 20 percent of the slightly more than 5,000 eligible Sprint sales reps in three targeted regions actively participate. In fact, nearly 1,850 completed the three training modules and associated role-playing exercises, passed the tests with scores of at least 80 percent, and met their sales quotas—better than 36 percent. And Motorola sold 150 percent more handsets to Sprint customers during the three months the program ran compared with what the company did in the previous quarter—nearly 2,000 more sales in all.

First and foremost, the channel sales/training program was a winner because it was creative, says Mark Wollney, executive vice president of digital for Aspen Marketing Services. "You've got to break through the clutter," Wollney says. "There are a lot of marketing messages to these sales reps on a daily basis."

The Kickoff

Drawing on the fact that both Sprint and Motorola are partners of the NFL, that the incentive program took place during 2008-2009 football season, and that football was a good fit for the demographics of the sales reps, Aspen Marketing Services wrapped the contest in a Super Bowl XLIII theme. This climaxed in a grand prize drawing for all Sprint reps who passed the training and met their sales quotas for a trip for two to the Super Bowl. Other prizes included Super Bowl tailgate party packages for Sprint stores in which 100 percent of the sales team successfully completed the training, and $50 NFL.com gift cards.

Aspen Marketing Services created a locker-room-themed Web site as the program's online home, which was high-end and used plenty of rich media. "The training was a pep talk before they go onto the field," Wollney says. "It is telling them, 'What I need to do to win.' It was informative but lively and fun. Football speaks to the competitive nature of the sales reps—they are going up against other reps."

Aspen Marketing Services worked with both Motorola and Sprint to market the program and deliver the frequent communications. Posters were put up in break rooms to constantly remind participants of the program and the prizes they could earn. Aside from e-mails, there was a program banner and link on the Sprint intranet and on the "Sprint View" of Motorola's my.motorola.com Web site for the retail sales staff of its partners— all aimed at raising awareness, keeping the program top-of-mind, and inciting competition among sales reps. There were more than 26,000 hits on the program's Web page.

Store managers were also eligible for the program, but their goal was to have 100 percent of their reps take and pass the training. "We want the sales managers to have skin in the game," Wollney says.

Motorola also ensured that the educational material included some general sales training as well as the details of its own products. And the training was designed to be taken in short snippets, during sales lulls. Of the roughly 1,850 active participants, only six did not complete the training portion successfully.

"It is giving Sprint managers additional tools in their playbook to make their stores successful," Wollney says. The tailgate kits—containing NFL-themed cups, napkins, plates, serving dishes, an Astroturf tablecloth, an inflatable cooler, and a $200 gift card to buy food and soft drinks—awarded to the top nine eligible stores, "were designed to help managers rally their teams," he adds. "We work together, we win together, and we tailgate together."

Seeding Motorola Products

While football was the theme of this program, football-themed awards were largely secondary. The main prizes were Motorola products. Getting one of the 150 Motorola handsets or 450 Motorola Bluetooth headsets into the hands of the sales force was a separate but key goal of the program, Wollney says.

"Seeding phones in the hands of the sellers is what it's all about," he adds. Aspen Marketing Services and Motorola have found that seeding phones and accessories to the reps is a proven way to boost sales, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, employees who earn or win products during a sales incentive associate those products with the pride of their accomplishments; for another, sales reps are more likely to succeed in selling products they also use.

On top of that, he adds, modern phones—particularly rich-media-capable smart phones are complex. Therefore, even with product training, sales reps are most familiar with the handsets they themselves use every day—better able to educate consumers on their features and what they can do, Wollney points out.

"A lot of times, a buyer will ask sales reps, 'What phone did you buy?'" Wollney says. "The reps take out a Motorola, and the customer is reassured."

"Once you are set with how to use a phone, once you know it, it is hard to switch," he adds. "You may upgrade to the next model, but you'll ask yourself, 'Why change?'"

Utility Player

The Motorola and Sprint Training Incentive program is one that is extremely versatile. Similar versions of the program have been used to solve a number of marketing challenges in the past. "Last year we did about 32," Wollney says, for all mobile-service carriers. "They are going pretty much constantly, and we run different programs at different times."

That can be around a Motorola product launch, when the company thinks a handset has not gotten enough attention in the marketplace, or when a product that was exclusive to one carrier for a time becomes more widely available.

As for Aspen Marketing Services' role in the program, Wollney says his company has been working with Motorola since 2002. "We are a one-stop shop," he explains. "We do the creative, the marketing, build the Web site, and run the program. We also bring the ROI element. We track each program in real time, watch it day to day—we may even change the creative. That is part of our regular client communications."

Originally published May 1, 2010

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