THE CHALLENGE
The world of salesmanship has been flattened by Carvana, Zillow, PoshMark and other platforms. For better or worse, we can buy almost anything without meeting a single salesperson.
However, B2B sales are booming. Kellanova, the former snack and frozen foods arm of the Kellogg’s powerhouse, knew that virtual sales training had to become a part of their enterprise selling strategy. But face-to-face, old-fashioned, on-site store walks were not going away. That’s especially the case for grocery stores. In the sharp-elbowed, per-unit, thin-margin world of consumer foods and snacks, grocery stores are the blue “chips,” and Kellanova wanted to empower sales staff to be just as industrious, observant, clever and creative as any Wall Street investor.
Virtual sales provides a one-on-one training approach designed to help sales professionals hone their skills and strategies in a virtual environment. Additionally, Roundtable’s flagship software, Mercury XRS, allowed trainers to focus on individual needs. Included in this training were numerous modules testing communication and interpersonal skills.
Kellanova's Concerns & Pain Points
- Need for Complex, Hybrid Training
- Costly and Inconvenient Training Locations
- Replication Challenges
- Unambiguous Evaluation Metrics
- High Travel and Training Overhead
- Scalability Issues
Roundtable’s Solution
a Virtual Sales Training Program
In square footage, a WalMart supercenter is three NFL football fields. The time spent walking a few dozen aisles–nevermind stopping to reset tipped over boxes or remove displays dangling in front of a delicious tableau–is more than the time spent, start-to-finish, in Roundtable and Kellanova’s VR Sales Training. When it came to efficiency, the training program delivered.
By way of full-on, multi-sensory immersion, the virtual sales training program whisked the trainee through 15 different locations in the sales process, giving sales reps ladder-drill-type exercises. From the sales call to identifying safety hazards in the front of the store and back stock area, to collaborating in-person with the store manager, Kellanova and Roundtable seamlessly integrated essential content and testing to help trainees: 1) master critical skills and concepts, and 2) strengthen that mastery through continuous learning.
Key Learning Objectives
- Master Multi-Sensory, Multi-Task, and Multi-Skill Training
- Develop Location-Based Sales Proficiency
- Improve Observational Skills
- Strengthen Interpersonal Selling Skills
- Enhance Retention and Task Execution
- Foster Continuous Learning and Growth
Best Advance in Emerging Sales Enablement Technology: Kellanova Store Walk
The program is designed to be completed in just 30 minutes, efficiently covering critical sales scenarios without compromising depth or quality.
Trainees engage with over 15 room-specific, location-based modules, addressing diverse tasks such as store walks, safety checks, and sales calls.
The training prioritizes the development of key sales skills, including interpersonal selling techniques, persuasion agility, and the ability to observe and respond to critical in-store details.
By replicating real-world scenarios in a virtual environment, the program provides a fully immersive, hands-on learning experience.
We hear [from trainees] that this training is way more than what anybody expected. It’s innovative. It’s an amazing way to train. I think it is leaps and bounds above our competition. And based on everything that I hear, the competition can’t even touch what we’re doing.
- Brad Prentice | Manager, Sales L&D at Kellanova
The Results
Before this virtual sales training program, Kellanova’s commitment to unrivaled salesmanship was still hands-on. Effective sales management is crucial for continuous improvement in sales performance and efficiency. But that had a cost.
They had previously maintained and staged a year-round six-aisle, brick-and-mortar grocery store mock-up for sales training and related purposes. It had real, perishable food stock on the shelves that was routinely rotated out. This was in addition to over a quarter-million USD per year in rent, not to mention other costs. Kept in a warehouse across from their company’s historic hometown HQ in Battlecreek, MI, the overall cost was $1 million annually. With this VR training, they closed the location, adding back seven figures immediately.
In their rollout, Kellanova used the virtual sales training and VR training as a diagnostic and as an exam for their three-day training. Over the span of three days, there was a net increase in performance for 50% of the metrics tracked. Within those criteria, learners improved by 50%.
That concrete, quantitative result is one reason that Roundtable’s project won an award. Roundtable Learning has medaled numerous times with awards given by Brandon Hall, a job skills and training consortium. The Kellanova virtual sales program won Emerging Sales Enablement silver medal for 2024.
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