The TAS Group recently announced that its Dealmaker Sales Performance Automation platform would be available to Huthwaite, InfoMentis, and Think! Inc. for the automation of sales methodology, process, and skills. We caught up with The TAS Group’s CEO Donal Daly recently and asked him to put the announcement into context.

Selling Power (SP): What is Dealmaker?
Donald Daly (DD): Dealmaker is a software service that embodies and enforces a selling methodology. Rather than force you to remember what to do in each situation, it tells you what to do next based upon what’s currently going on in an account or opportunity.

SP: Why is it important?
DD: Neither sales training nor CRM have delivered all that much value to sales professionals. Sales training usually has some value as an intellectual exercise, but in most cases sales professionals will simply gravitate to what they know best and ignore whatever methodology they’ve been trained to do. And CRM has all too often been implemented as a management track tool, rather than something that helps drive sales. Dealmaker overcomes the primary limitations in both sales training and CRM by creating an interactive environment to help the sales professional navigate a sales opportunity.

SP: How successful has it been?
DD: It’s well documented that CRM implementation has a 50 percent failure rate over a one-year period. People end up not using it or using it poorly. Sales training also has a pretty dismal adoption rate on average. Dealmaker, by contrast, has a 90 percent annual retention rate, which is astronomical compared to both CRM and the typical sales-training program, because it’s a practical tool that actually helps people to sell.

SP: Has the weak economy changed that?
DD: Sales managers are now in the position where they absolutely must see a quick ROI, something that’s difficult or impossible with sales training. Because it’s relatively easy to show an ROI with Dealmaker – in terms of incremental sales – we’re finding that the recession has made Dealmaker even more attractive to sales management.

SP: How is Dealmaker deployed?
DD: It’s a Software-as-a-Service application that’s deployed across the Web. We roll it out with a blended learning environment. We teach the basic concepts by distributing materials that explain how the system works. We then schedule and conduct interactive sessions that teach sales reps how to use Dealmaker to help them close deals.

SP: Why are these partnerships so important?
DD: Until recently, the only sales methodology implemented in Dealmaker was TAS’s own. While it’s a useful methodology, particularly for competitive selling situations, some companies might prefer to implement a different methology. Huthwaite, InfoMentis, and Think! Inc. have three industry-leading, sales-training solutions that are now available in Dealmaker format.

SP: How does this benefit the sales team?
DD: Sales inside traditional industries were down 40 and 60 percent last summer. Companies need something now that they can implement to help increase sales. By using technology to integrate sales training into day-to-day behavior, we’re helping sales teams become more productive while offering them additional choices in ways to make that happen.