HP Innovation Journal Issue 09: Spring 2018 | Page 33

Partner Corner
across the board. We believe HP’s return on learning for
partners who attend will fully justify the investment.
Here are some design criteria we used to ensure that
HP University will be a groundbreaking training resource
for the industry:
Global Reach
HP University courses are continuously translated in
a number of the main European and Asian languages.
In addition to English, face-to-face training can be
delivered in eight additional languages. Online and digital
training are available in all countries where HP has
Channel partners.
Choice of Formats
Training includes traditional elements such as online video
and virtual and web-based training, and there is no cost
to partners for digital formats. Courses reflect trends in
modern education: optimized for mobile learning, self-
paced, shorter sessions. Courses can be consumed on any
device including smartphones, online or offline.
For those who want a deep dive, we offer a number of
face-to-face trainings focused on driving a solution-sell-
ing approach and engaging successfully at the Senior
Executive level. Solutions selling is about developing
the strategic skills and confidence to navigate constant
change, and helping your customers acquire that same
confidence. In this intensive training, we immerse attend-
ees in realistic business problems. We provide strategies
to uncover key customer challenges, craft proposals and
deliver the right messages to the right customers. The
program covers all of HP’s core offerings, such as device-
as-a-service (DaaS) management, security, mobility, and
managed print services.
Road-Tested by HP’s Own
In fact, HP is investing heavily in up-skilling its own sales
force through intensive role-based learning and training
courses. These new programs draw heavily on materials
we developed internally in the months following HP’s 2015
separation from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, to help our
own salespeople master unfamiliar skills like selling ser-
vices and utilizing social networks as sales tools.
We also piloted the training with more than 30
partners around the globe in Europe and the U.S., solic-
iting feedback that informed the final curriculum design.
For example, the decision to add “soft skill” resources
on topics like sales and marketing to the HP University
curriculum was based on requests from partners eager to
embrace new solution-oriented, recurring-revenue busi-
ness models but unsure of how to do it.
For those courses that come at some cost, we bench-
marked pricing across training vendors around the globe
to ensure both being competitively priced and covering our
training development/delivery costs. We believe that this,
along with a rich resource of classes available at no cost,
should encourage participation by the greatest possible
number of partners.
Covering the Basics and Beyond
HP “core competencies” are available through HP Univer-
sity, including training on security, DaaS, mobility and
managed print services.
Other areas in the curriculum include: Creating a Win
Strategy, Effective Client Communications, Meeting &
Call Planning, Fundamentals of Negotiations, Introduc-
tion to Business Case Development, Social Selling, and
Financial Acumen.
Current certifications are in Business PCs, Printing
Hardware, and Supplies. Specialization certifications
include Sales, Technical, and Advanced Categories.
Training is through both classroom and virtual class-
room covering Strategic Solution Selling, Executive-Level
Selling, Introduction to Inside Selling, Hunting and
New Business Development, Relationship Mapping,
and Storytelling.
Change and the Bigger Partner Picture
The rising importance of as-a-service products and
solution selling will ultimately impact HP’s entire part-
ner program in ways we have just begun exploring
and understanding.
Traditionally, we have rewarded our salespeople and
our partner community based on measuring volume.
Eventually, the way we operate internally and the way we
structure partner programs will have to change, evolv-
ing to reflect how we’re selling and delivering value. We
have recently opened discussions with our worldwide
partner advisory council on this topic, and look forward
to learning how we can, together, cultivate and sustain
strong growth for HP and our channel partners in the
new sales landscape.
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