Marketing 2.0

Rethinking ROI: Managing Risk and Rewards in KM Initiatives

Here is a good article on measuring ROI for Knowledge Management initiatives. It's always a challenge to demonstrate a financial return on training and KM programs. The author presents several alternatives and also offers some good advice on large-scale projects.
LLRX.com - Rethinking ROI: Managing Risk and Rewards in KM Initiatives

KM for the Sales Force?

Is a knowledge management system appropriate for your sales team? The short answer is a qualified yes with the qualification being that it’s consistent with your culture.

At first glance, creating a central database of product information is a great idea. Allowing sales and marketing people to collaborate in this space is even better. If you set the system up as a weblog, reps can comment on specific collaterals or training documents.

Do you remember the days when your reps kept product information in the trunks of their cars or in a spare bedroom? Maybe your reps still do. I recall losing a wealth of territory information when one of my sales people had a flood in his apartment that washed everything away. Fortunately, establishing a KM system on your corporate intranet or even using a hosted service with password protection can give you greater control over the ongoing training and direction of your sales force.

Here’s one example of how it might work. You publish a product change notice outlining new features and associated benefits for one of your products. Your reps log on and read or download the information. They post comments or questions to the document that can be answered by sales or marketing managers. The postings can also verify who has read the information.

After detailing the product to customers, sales reps can post customer feedback. This results in a living document that can help the entire sales force pitch the product more effectively. By sharing insights, customer responses and competitive reactions, the entire sales and marketing team can become more agile and effective.

So what’s the downside? Sales people are naturally competitive and may resist sharing information that will help others achieve better performance. If your organizational culture is highly competitive and focused on rewarding only the top sales performers, you might find a collaborative KM system does not fit well.

In many organizations today, selling is a team effort. Reps work in the field with sales specialists, marketing managers, sales managers and often, senior management. For these types of scenarios, a collaborative database of sales and product knowledge is ideal.