How Assessment Data Fuels Sales Success and Organizational Growth
Discover how assessment-driven insights are being used to transform Volvo Group’s sales teams, drive business outcomes, and engage stakeholders, setting a new standard for sales enablement in a rapidly changing market.
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Rethinking sales for a new era
Sales organizations today face unprecedented change. Whether it’s evolving customer expectations, digital disruption, or the need for new capabilities, traditional sales approaches are no longer enough.
In a recent webinar, I spoke with Volvo Group Australia who are undergoing significant sales transformation, moving from traditional product sales to a solutions-based, customer-centric approach, particularly as they embrace sustainability and recent technologies in transport. Key to this was implementing a comprehensive sales enablement program centered around assessments to future-proof sales strategies and drive tangible business results.
Why assessment-driven insights are the new standard for sales transformation
Volvo Group recognized that to accelerate growth and enhance customer centricity, they needed a clear, science-based understanding of their current sales capabilities.
Using SHL’s sales transformation model as a foundation to better understand the strengths, behaviors, and gaps within their workforce, Volvo developed their own internal academy model. This enabled them to then use assessments to objectively measure critical sales competencies, strengths, development needs, and motivational drivers across their teams.
With these assessment insights, Volvo were able to align sales capabilities with future business needs, and create a common, consistent language for discussing performance and potential.
Lessons in stakeholder engagement and business impact
Stakeholder engagement was identified as a critical success factor from the start, meaning time was invested in early conversations with leaders and managers to clearly communicate the value of assessment data. By demonstrating what these insights could bring across all levels of the organization, it not only secured the financial and time investment required, but also helped to build a culture of knowledge sharing, skills development, and talent mobility.
For those driving overall strategy in the business, a data-driven view of talent showed how well-positioned the organization was to handle transformation, helping to drive commercial decisions and better align talent strategy with business goals. Development initiatives could then target those areas that were both critical to future success, and where skills gaps existed among the existing sales teams.
“We were very comfortable in understanding the technical competence of our people, but the missing piece was understanding their natural strengths and preferred behaviors. Using SHL’s sales transformation model as a foundation, we could understand where we are today, where we needed to get to in the future, and ultimately uplift the capability of our sales teams.”
Rod Edge, Capability & Development – Manager, Volvo Group Australia
Managers could use team insights to improve sales performance and have more meaningful coaching conversations with individuals about their strengths, behaviors, and areas to improve. Individuals taking assessments received personalized development reports to empower them to help drive their own professional growth and develop themselves for long-term success within Volvo Group.
With a data-driven approach and continuous optimization, Volvo Group have embedded a learning culture, that can foster growth and build a stronger workforce to deliver measurable business value.
Check out the full webinar replay here to learn more about how Volvo Group are leading the drive to better sales teams.
Ready to transform your sales team with science-based insights? Explore how SHL’s Sales Transformation solution can help you measure, develop, and promote top-performing sales talent to drive revenue and engagement.
