Challenging sales program.

Creating Client Value: Diagnostic Simulation, 2003, 2.5 hrs., Imparta Ltd. (44 20 7610 8800, www.imparta.com), $495 single user license; volume discounts available. Online tutorials and assessments.

Creating Client Value starts from the position that the user has no background in consultative selling. It builds the case for creating client value through a series of animated tutorials that feature frequent interactive exercises. After establishing the need for this new approach to selling, it provides 40 tutorials that impart a theoretical and practical understanding of the value creation process.

Each tutorial offers a nifty freestanding lesson. And despite my 15 years experience in sales training, I freely admit I learned some things in this part of the program. Although some of the tutorials would be too basic for most seasoned salespersons, the program allows users to skip over lessons they find unnecessary.

After graduating from the tutorials, I was ready for the final exam: a full-scale sales simulation. I was a new account executive in an HR consultancy sent out to land my first big account. I was given a rather frightening boss with high expectations and a PDA loaded with research on my firm, our competitors, and my first prospect. Pretty scary, although my digital "mentor," roughly analogous to the MS-Word animated paper clip, introduced himself and offered his guidance.

I was on my way--cold calling managers, setting up meetings, probing for needs, offering consultative perspective, exploring solutions--basically creating value wherever I could. But that was sometimes hard to do. At the end of the simulation, my mentor had some dispassionate feedback for me, which was clear, objective, and valid. His observations about my presentation stung a bit. But he praised my grasp of the overall process of creating client value, pointed out places where I'd done that, and made suggestions for my next sales challenges. All really valuable stuff that I can translate to my real-life sales challenges.

Creating Client Value is a strong product that offers an engaging, interactive introduction to this particular brand of consultative selling. Yet there are some shortcomings that surprised me. The animations used in the tutorials are not only simple, which can work, but also simplistic. They add very little to the learning and do nothing to enhance the "look and feel" of the program.

RECOMMENDATION

I would use Creating Client Value for sales training in my organization, primarily for new hires and those veterans who need to un-learn outmoded approaches to selling. But I'm hoping the forthcoming upgrade will provide the graphical quality to match the exceptional value of its content.

Creating Client Value star rating

CATEGORY

Holds user interest  Very good
Production quality   Above average
Ease of navigation   Good
Interactivity        Very good
Value of content     Outstanding
Instructional value  Outstanding
Value for the money  Very good
Overall rating       Very good