This Career Trial allows the candidate to understand the day-to-day job requirements, as well as learn some fundamental skills required of a Creative Sales professional/Manager. Through the main three phases of the trial, the candidate will learn to adapt and work well in a closely-knitted Creative Sales team, as well as the understanding of the highly technical, cross-disciplinary products that the company has to offer. Successful candidates will also be placed on a trajectory to build their own Creative Sales team, which will help them attain their targets in the long run.
Career Trial Activities Plan
Week 1
Company Orientation --- 1. Introduction of the Media and Edutech industry- Overview of the Sproud's vision, organisational structure and work culture. 2. Candidate to have the opportunity to meet and have one-on-one conversations with each primary Projects Management team member to understand current roles and the team dynamic. 3. Familiarize the candidate with Sproud's product and services from each of the distinct media disciplinary Technical Teams - AR/VR, Live-Action, Animation, Interactive&Web, Post-Production&Distribution. 4. Candidate to have a broad overview of what sets Sproud's more about product/services apart and makes it different from the competition. 5. Candidates will be required to submit a self-review where they use their newly acquired knowledge to match up with the prescribed sales angles and industries to prepare for their next phase.
Week 2
CRM and Client Relationship --- 1. Candidates will start logging in to the team's CRM and other databases and to start learning and recording who they are selling to. 2. Sproud uses testimonials and past accounts of existing customers and include detailed industry, segment, geography, and product use information that candidates can use these examples in their customer conversations and prospecting efforts. 3. Candidates will have in-depth conversations with the Sales Director about these customer stories and use cases to discuss contract values, how they purchased, why they purchased, sales cycle, etc. - 4. Candidates will be asked to review several examples of existing contracts to learn and understand about Sproud's common business terms and conditions .5. Candidates to start on customer calls and other status calls as observers to gain further understanding of customer point of view and day-to-day customer interactions.
Week 3
Sales Cycle Identification and Implementation --- 1. Candidates will learn to detail each phase of the sales cycle using rich visual depictions, where they go through exercises, team-work, discussions, and role-play through each phase of the customer journey and sales process. 2. Existing accounts are utilised where the Sales Director/Seniors will go through the motion to demonstrate to the candidate. 3. Candidates will research prospective companies and contacts and draft prospecting emails, and to prepare examples of discovery and qualification questions. 4. Candidates will prepare a customised sales presentation based on a chosen example customer and practice presenting it. 5. Feedback provided from Sales Director and candidate will be guided to create a fully customised proposal with solution details and pricing. Finished proposal/s that have been approved by the Sales Director will be sent out to existing ITQs/Briefs for actual sales acquisition.
Week 4
Setting of Sales goals and Targets --- 1. Candidates will create two lists of target prospective accounts and contacts within the researched and given accounts. (at least 25 on the first wave list and at least 50 additional on the second wave list) 2. Sales Director will feedback and provide recommendations before approving lists before candidate can be added to the CRM and outreach can begin. 3. Candidates will need to plan and share a general approach for outreach and how to build a pipeline with Sales Director, as well as discuss the plan and receive feedback any rooms for opportunity or improvement. 4. Candidates will also undergo check-ins with peers and Sales Director to test on their knowledge on the company overview information, sales stages, and the entire sales process. 5. Review session on initial opening sales pitch, first in-person meeting sales presentation and product demo, second meeting presentation, and objection handling will also be conducted. Now that the candidate have gone through the onboarding process of building a solid foundation, the next few weeks will start to put those company fundamentals in action and allows an introduction in the field.
Week 5
Acquire and Manage Sales Accounts ---- 1. Candidates will start learning to liaise with Technical Teams to familiarise with the actual workflow for specific products that prospective clients may be interested in 2. Candidates to start matching clients needs and recommend products and services to match their needs. Prepare and present sales proposals to clients - Handle clients enquiries. 3. Candidates will learn to provide pre-sales technical expertise to account teams and customers for managed services and networking opportunities, conduct negotiation of sales agreements - Follow up with clients to close sales - 4. In a team environment, the candidates will develop measures to enhance client retention and loyalty - Communicate clients feedback and market sentiments to internal stakeholders to enhance products and services. 5. With the supervision of the Sales Director, the candidate will start to maintain proper documentation as well as learn in-depth use of the CRM to assist in the management of Sales Accounts.
Week 6
Create Sales Strategies and Opportunities ---- 1. As the candidates start to handle some of the acquired accounts and working to manage them with the Projects and Technical Teams, he/she will need to learn how to multitask in the following tasks 2. Learn to analyse data and intel on competitor landscape and customer demand to identify sales opportunities 3. The candidate will be guided to develop sales strategies to align with market segmentation, competitor analysis and overall corporate strategies. 4. He/she will then propose and manage sales channels and network expansion plans and given opportunities to participate in industry events so that the list of target prospective accounts will be refreshed while eliminating obsolete or unsuccessful leads. 5. At the end of the week, candidates will then join a sit-in review with their peers, to discuss and evaluate the proposed strategies to improve on the recommendations before getting back to update the clients.
Week 7
Budget Management ---- 1. Candidates will learn how to monitor expenses and adhere to budget allocations by shadowing the attached senior/Sales Director 2. Candidates will administer acquisition and payment processes. 3. The candidate will also start to generate detailed sales reports 4. As part of the job requirement, candidates will be engaged in cost-saving efforts proposals. This will be submitted to the Sales Director for review and feedback. 5. Depending on the outcome of the review, candidates will then proceed to discuss with the relevant Technical Team leads and Project Managers, on the potential points of cost-savings, before reporting back to the Sales Director for further discussions and implementation.
Week 8
Automation and In-house Learning and Development ----- 1. With a firm understanding and hands-on experience with the Sales process, the candidate will them use the knowledge to enhance on the success rates by picking up more software tools as part of their training in the Creative Sales Department 2. Candidates will also be introduced to useful softwares such as canva, midjourney, ChatGPT etc to improve on their efficiency in producing simple mockups, briefs or proposals to targeted clients. 3. Other than following the prescribed templates for the different targeted industries, candidates will also start to work with the relevant Technical Heads to create custom pitch proposals with mockups/rapid prototyping for relevant projects/tenders, under the supervision of the Sales Director.
Week 9
Cross-collaborations, Building Campaigns for Mid term prospects ----- 1. Candidates will revisit the initial Sales Accounts to seek out potential targets and start working with the in-house Marketing team, Technical team, to propose and produce Sales and Marketing collaterals based on the derived needs and feedback gathered from servicing direct clients. 2. This process will last for the next 4-8 weeks, from the ideation, production to distribution according to the sales strategy and market segmentation plan that was derived earlier, which has been pitched to and approved by the Sales Director. 3. A timeline and budget will be discussed, planned, approved before the candidates start to assign and collaborate with both in-house and freelancers on the proposed assets. 4. Together with the expected returns from the targeted sales, the candidate can start to propose the budgets for production and advertising, so that he/she can start to understand and gain empirical data on the ROI of advertising for Sproud's products and services.
Week 10
Introduction to Sproud's IP Sales ---- 1. Candidates will be introduced to relevant intellectual properties (IP) based on their suited vertical knowledge inclination (ie, Sustainability, Mental Well-being, Web game titles) and the Sales Accounts that they have been making progress so far. 2. They will be inducted to the research done for the development of the IP and will need to familiarise themselves with the development trajectories for the IP. 3. Candidates will discuss and learn more from the Business Development Director on the current stages of development, and will be included in relevant IP pitches
Week 11
Career Development and Discussion ---- 1. Candidates will be assessed through the Career Trial period for potential managerial and leadership qualities. The Sales Director will be guiding the candidate to enhance his/her success rates in clinching accounts, and improvements to their administrative and communications within the team and to various internal and external stakeholders. 2. In-house Management and Advanced Sales training will be conducted by the Sales Director and candidates will start to choose their specialisation and customised sales tactics and channels to concentrate on for the next 6-12 months. 3. Candidates will then work with Sales Director to review initial Sales targets to chart an updated progression path for the next 6-12 months. The progression path will be reviewed on a bi-monthly basis and candidates will need to work out a plan to start and grow his/her team in the chosen specialisation with guidance and approval from the Sales Director.
Week 12
Recruitment of Sales Execs and Associate Sales ---- 1. Candidates will be exposed to the recruitment and training process to assist in identifying suitable candidates to work with and complement them as their team members, based on the recommendations by the Sales Director. 2. Candidates will work with Sprouds Head of Staff to seed, list down the job descriptions based on chosen specialisation and advertise at the selected platforms. Shortlisted applicants will be approved by Sales Director before candidates learn how to interview the applicants, as well as to go through the entire recruitment process so that the candidates can be more adept in growing his/her team moving forward when the need arises. 3. Further appraisals will be given to recommend the candidates for suitable networking sessions within training hours and online self-help courses (beyond training hours) in order for them to be even more effective in their field knowledge (ie, AI courses to improve their technical understanding to work closer and account service relevant clients). At this stage, the candidate will have developed a strong attachment and be a valuable asset to the Creative Sales Team.
