What’s the main objective of the X2 training?
The X2 Sales System™ and the Initiator® training process trains to one objective; improving each participants Conversation-to-appointment competency to a 51%+ ratio.
This enables sales people to spend less time to achieve the necessary number of ‘Top-down’ business appointments to assure their monthly success.
Gaining a competency 5X better than your competition allows a sales rep to increase capacity and pursue higher-value, solutions-based selling opportunities.
And if you increase your ‘Front-end’ activity by 30%, you’ll increase your Result by 30%, all other factors remaining the same.


What results from achieving the X2 training Objective?
The X2 training process improves results in (3) main sales buckets. It allows more existing sales individuals to reach quota more often, effectively raising the ‘Roller Coaster effect’ above the quota line versus below it.
When implemented as part of your current New-hire training process, it facilitates ‘Ramp to Quota’ in a Pre-determined amount of time, typically 2-3 months depending on your sales cycle.
And if a percentage of your sales employee turnover is due to Low Activity, it will recover a large portion of those ‘Hard Dollars’ going out the door. (Turnover Cost Calculator)


What do you mean by ‘Top-down’ appointment?
Regardless of the type sales Industry, a direct sales rep has a choice of what initial level of Prospect to Contact. Traditionally, many sales contacts start with a ‘Bottom-up’ or ‘middle level’ contact to initiate the sales process.
The X2 strategy relies on the theme of the ‘Highest Appropriate Level of Contact’ for your Product/Service offering.
And if your offering provides a measurable ROI over time, either in ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ dollars the X2 initial contact (Target) is a business level that has control over their own P&L . In other words, they have some ‘skin in the game’ in line with a Business plan and objective.
Training to a ‘Top-down’ approach historically shortens sales cycles, improves closing ratios and raises the average amount of revenue per sale. It also differentiates from sales competitors as it furnishes an entry point as a solution-based consultant.


We’re currently prospecting by foot. Would this mean we have to prospect by telephone?
The X2 Initiator® training process teaches participants over the telephone how to communicate effectively to book at least 1 appointment for every 2 Target prospect conversations, because that’s the most complex skill-set.
In doing so, one only needs to spend 60-90 minutes a day to achieve all the new appointments needed per week.
Once an individual gains this skill-set over the twisted pair, it’s up to them how they choose how to prospect, foot or phone. The competency learned through the X2 training process is definitely transferable to ‘face to face’ prospecting with the same or better results.
The X2 training process emphasizes “Hourly rate”; how to most effectively and efficiently spend less time to get more results.


What about the percentage of our sales reps that are meeting their sales objectives?
That’s a good question. Because the last thing a Top rep needs is someone trying to change what’s working right for them.
Here’s the litmus test. If they currently have a legitimate 51%+ Conversation-to-appointment ratio, they don’t need the X2 training, because they’re already proficient and efficient with their ‘Front-end’ business.
But if they don’t, they do. Once achieved, this competency improvement will enable them to do 1 of 2 things; (1) Spend Less time for the same Result, or (2) Spend the same time for More results; their choice of course.

We hire ‘Appointment Generators’ as a pre-requisite position before becoming Account Executives. Does the X2 work for 1st Generation Sales people?
Yes.
The X2 training process teaches participants how to communicate the ‘Business Reason to Meet’. Interestingly, one does not have to be an expert in the Product/Service applications, benefits, etc. Of course, that knowledge is acquired over time through your current training programs and real street experience.
Historically, the X2 process has helped 1st Generation sales reps accelerate to the next promotion level by becoming a Master of Prospecting first.

What are the Phases of the X2 6-week process and how much of the participant’s time does it take?
JDH Group understands the tasks and duties at hand for professional sales people. It’s a busy day. The fact is, there is no ‘Magic Pill’ for achieving a 51%+ C/A ratio, but there is a proven process. And the process takes a little extra time over a short period of time. That is, time above and beyond your normal routine.
Phase 1 is X2 Pre-training. It consists of (2) CD Learning Courses, On-line assessments with 3-tier Management views and a 7-step Homework Assignment in line with your customized X2 Initiator® Desktop Training tool.
The entire X2 Pre-training process is provided by a ‘step-by-step’ format on the X2 Client link complete with audio tutorials and visual tools.
Time to be budgeted for this Phase is 10 hours for sales reps and 12 Hours for sales Managers over minimally a 2-week period.
Phase 2 is the X2 2-day Boot Camp. This is facilitated by Jeff Hardesty, developer of the X2 Sales System™.
The Boot Camp consists of 17 Hours of ‘Hands-on’ instruction including a Day 1 warm-up Workshop, Group sessions, ‘Working Lunches’ (That’s where you eat and Jeff Works!) individual live prospecting calls and One-on-one ‘Ping-Pong’ sessions after each prospect conversation.
The only 2-day training objective a participant has is to conduct at least 10-16 target conversations over the 2-day Boot Camp.
Statistically, the X2 Initiator® process and Jeff will do the rest.
Because the participants are actually making live calls as they work themselves through the Learning curve, the appointments set during this training phase historically pays for the entire training investment many times over.
Phase 3 is the X2 28 Day Handshake with the theme “It takes 28 Days to form a good habit or break a bad one”.
This process advises a replication of the X2 Boot Camp for 90 minutes per day. Virtual support is provided by Jeff himself through performance diagnostics and management train-the trainer meetings, 1 hour per week or as needed to achieve the benchmark results.
A 28-Day Handshake report is furnished to client management as an indicator of total training result.

What is ‘Ping-pong’?
Jeff’s first career was a professional Pilot. He started this career as a Flight instructor, subsequently teaching several hundred individuals how to fly and acquire advanced pilot ratings.
In the air, there are various phobias to overcome and processes and maneuvers to do in line with flight scenarios that occur.
Jeff has taken that same hands-on learning process and transferred it into a personal instructor arrangement for each Boot Camp participant. After each conversation a participant comes back into the central training room and sits in the ‘Co-pilot chair’ next to Jeff.
Supported by the customized Initiator® Desktop Training Tool, Jeff walks the student through their live post conversation, identifies the scenarios and breakdowns, and then redirects back into appropriate components and elements of the Initiator® Desktop Training Tool.
This coaching process and teaching technique has proven to be the quickest path to achieving a 51%+ Conversation-to-Appointment ratio for all participating sales people, hence the single 2-day training Objective of at least 10-16 prospect conversations for each participant.
That affords 10-16 individual ‘Ping-pong’ sessions with Jeff, and historically that assures reaching the Overall training objective.

What do the X2 CD Learning courses consist of?
There are 2 unique courses.
The first, or pre-requisite course is the X2 Evaluator™. The theme of this course is ‘Run your Numbers, Don’t Run After Quota’.
This foundational course teaches a methodology to enable an individual sales rep to view their sales business ‘Diagnostically’. It simplifies day-to-day sales routines into 5 relevant components; 3 Competency ratios and 2 Performance metrics.
Supported by the X2 Business Manager for competency measurement and result forecasting, the X2 Evaluator™ gives a sales person all the valid indicators and metrics they need to properly evaluate their performance and discover their weaknesses and strengths.
The second course is the X2 Initiator®. It provides a learning process to understand the different components and elements within the Initiator® Desktop Training Tool and to be able to direct yourself to the appropriate ones depending on prospect conversation scenarios.
’Canned approaches don’t work’. This course teaches a participant how to customize their Initiator® system to align with their product offering, market demographics, prospect perceptions and competitive influences.
At the completion of both X2 CD Learning courses there are On-line assessments. They are a series of multiple choice questions developed to measure participants retention of the principles and strategies outlined in the courses. A 3-tier Management view is included for viewing your entire sales organization’s test compliance and results.

What implementation flexibility do we have with the X2 process?
This totally depends on you. It’s in your control. Jeff has been asked to personally go through entire sales organizations after top management witnessed the results of the Pilot Program Boot camps.
Or you can be certified to the X2 training process through the Train-the-trainer program. This typically takes participating in a handful of X2 Boot camps with Jeff personally to learn all the training techniques and nuances to let you learn all the ropes to duplicate Jeff’s success. The X2 system will support you in the rest.
Training cost-per-head drops 47% with the X2 Train-the-Trainer implementation, further adding to measurable training ROI.
The X2 Train-the-trainer module was developed so leaders in corporate Universities can demonstrate their own expertise and contribute in a personal way to the learning design and learning experience.
Ongoing JDH Group will support you in the technology without becoming a vendor-centric solution.

We currently have a Learning management System in place. Will the X2 affect that?
No.
The X2 training process plugs into the front-end of your current Learning management system or is an additional tool to your current corporate University program.
Because of its sophisticated technology around ‘street scenarios’ and the blended approach to implementation and process, it’s a turn-key tool to ‘adopt and adapt’ to your own unique selling objectives and market demographics.

What’s the purpose of us filling out and submitting the ROI Survey?
We’ve mentioned that the over-riding X2 principle is that any sales training process should have a ‘Measurable’ ROI; something that you can actually put your Finger on.

By filling in the requested performance numbers of your sales team, Jeff will be able to diagnose your current world and give you (4) important prescriptions.

(1) Categorize if the X2 has a ‘Right to Win’ for you, parallel to your Revenue objectives. In other words, we both need to understand if our performance improvement system will give you the Result you expect and the Return on Investment you need; because nobody likes Surprises.

(2) Identify the training goal in ‘Hard’ numbers, both in Competency improvement and Return on Training Investment.

(3) Provide a starting point for the X2 training process, because if you don’t Measure it, you can’t improve it.

(4) Forecast your 2-Day X2 Boot Camp ROI based on your own performance metrics and sales cycle. Actual results and training ROI are submitted to you via the JDH Group Executive Summary following the Boot Camp and after the X2 28-Day Handshake process. 100% of the JDH Group conducted 2-Day Boot Camps have more than paid for the overall training Investment.

One of the reasons traditional sales training fails is a failure to define a single useful objective. This exercise will assure that we do just that.

What’s the catch with the X2 Pilot Program and its money back Guarantee?
Simply, there is none.
Jeff states the X2’s only competition is ‘Traditional Sales Training’. He says it’s like buying jewelry. How do you really know what you’re getting? How do you measure success?
So to get a foot in the door, to prove the X2 training process is different and gets ‘Measurable’ results, he’s willing to unconditionally guarantee a client’s satisfaction. Bottom line, you shouldn’t hold the risk, the X2 should.
On the flip slide, JDH Group does diagnostic work to understand a prospect client’s current selling performance numbers, culture, and revenue goals versus the historical X2 results. And that’s done ‘before’ the handshake.
Let’s just say Jeff is an expert in ‘Picking his Partners’. Because the last thing both parties need is to roll out a training initiative that fails. That would waste valuable time and assets.

Most sales training ‘Goes away’ after the Event. Why should we believe that the X2 won’t do the same?
We hear this often.
In fact, Jeff Hardesty, developer of the X2 Sales System™ and the Initiator® training process has experienced traditional sales training “Events’ in his past Corporate sales leadership life.
And that’s why his theme is ‘Successful sales training is a Process, not an Event’.
Jeff designed the X2 around (4) distinct Learning Formats and (3) separate phases over a 6-week period to facilitate only one thing; ‘locking in’ a competency of effective business communication to a Target prospect, i.e. 51%+.
But with any training initiative, even the X2’s ‘Blended Learning’ process, the key is how well the program is administered from the Top down.
The art is in the Implementation and how well you commit to following the ‘Process’; the more organizational commitment, the better the results.
The key is how well you tie it back to your daily routine and measure its success.

How do I decide where (What competency) to allocate my training budget?
We’re a little partial here, but let’s take off the ‘sales cap’ for one method.
You have a revenue goal. And most likely it’s ‘More versus less’.
Boil down your entire sales performance into a few simple competency numbers; New appointments generated per rep, 1st appointment to Proposal ratio, closing ratio and average revenue per sale.
On paper, it should be evident where you are strong, where you are adequate and certainly where you are coming up short.
Now consider where you need to be. What Number at the end of the day are you accountable to. Adding 10%, 30%, 60%? Increasing $100,000, $1,000,000, $10,000,000?
And what competency training (to a measurable improvement) will get you there in the quickest way with the least effort.
Or, to save your time re-inventing the wheel, take 10 minutes and fill out the X2 ROI Survey, and Jeff will do all the work for you.
With this diagnostic report, the numbers will speak for themselves and your strategic training focus will become apparent.

You said there is ‘Software’ involved. Our IT department has stringent protocols.
Well understood.
The X2 Sales System™ was developed with a non-intrusive and user-friendly methodology. That being said, part of JDH Group’s pre-Handshake process is to brief potential clients IT management and get an official OK.
This link will provide the specifics prior to that exchange.
http://www.convertmoresales.com/client/itdept.htm

If we decide to try the X2 Pilot Program, how long does it take to start implementation?
Depending on schedules and P.O. timing, it could be in as little as one week.
Once IT confirmation is received, JDH Group co-ordinates an implementation schedule for client approval, followed by the process launch. Minimum time allocated for the X2 Pre-training Process is 2 weeks in order to pass all the gateways prior to the X2 Boot Camp.

Do you supply Client references to speak with personally?
Absolutely.
If a potential X2 client and JDH Group both agree that the X2 training process has a ‘Right to Win’ in line with the client’s sales objectives and current performance metrics, we want you to talk with other Sales executives that experienced the X2. As an immediate reference tool, the X2 Wall of Fame speaks to the difference between this training versus traditional sales training.