Sales Academy

What is a Sales Academy?
'Academy' in training and development terms usually means different things to different people. The key aim of an academy is to maximise the impact of all development activities and to align them to business goals by using a high profile and branded vehicle, the academy, throughout the organisation.

A well planned and executed academy can establish a platform for excellence by identifying and promoting ‘best demonstrated practice’. What’s more it can contribute to consistency of approach across the entire organisation and will help to highlight success wherever it exists. This can in turn increase the profile of salespeople and sales managers who achieve levels of excellence through their teams.

In our experience Academy falls into three key areas:

1. Branding
Here the Academy can be used as a brand or logo to give impact to the training and development initiative. It can be used simply or in a more complex way.  For example, some organisations create various levels of award within the Academy and link these to certain performance criteria, activities and targets and may include foundation, intermediate or advanced levels.

2. Endorsement
Organisations wishing to formalise their Sales Academy, but not wishing to spend significant amounts of time investing in formal qualifications may apply for an endorsement for its existing training programmes through the Institute of Sales & Marketing Management (ISMM).  This means that the ISMM will examine the course content and the delivery and if they meet the required standards then ISMM will endorse the course.  Endorsement confirms that the training offered is of a high quality, whilst not necessarily fitting into the ISMM’s QCA approved qualification structure.

3. Accreditation
This is a totally different level of commitment from the participating company. Qualifications are recognised nationally through the Government's National Qualification Framework. All training whether it is run by the company or by an external provider has to be accredited in line with national standards. The work involved at this level often requires formal training courses and demonstration of application and written work. In our experience it requires strong commitment throughout the organisation. TACK can work alongside ISMM in moving a company through the process.