DigitalThink is a web based information technology training company that wanted to build a sales force. Since the consumer training market was not yet mature the company chose to focus on corporations, mainly Fortune 1000. The company felt that their services were superior to competitors like CD-ROMs and in person courses because they can slash company costs and inconvience while saving time. In order for the company to gain the competitive advantage they must "ramp" up their sales force in order to effectively sell the service.
A strong sales force is vital to the company because they must have the knowledge and expertise necessary to effectively demonstrate the service's benefits. Also the sales person must have the ability to develop strong long term relationships with customers in order to create annuities. A typically employee should be a younger person that is educated in information technology but lacks a large amount of sales experience. This can give the company room in order to hire more people and still be able to turn a profit. The employee must also be able to effectively multitask since they would be responsible for opening/closing accounts, focusing on growth, and practicing relationship selling.
The company must continue to ramp up their sales force and continue to keep their current employees technologically up-to-date since they are in an ever changing market. The company must first increase their direct sales force since they plan on increasing the number of courses in their catalog from 50 to 125. Also since DigitalThink is targeting business giants they must quickly and extensively train new employees so that they posses the skills necessary to efficiently provide support.
