The next perspective of the Technical Sales Balanced Scorecard is a view of progress on organizational learning and growth. This view not only encompasses the organization’s efforts to maintain a highly skilled workforce that can add maximum value to its customers and its business, but also the manner in which a culture of innovation is being fostered to bring new solutions to customers and position the organization for the future.

Some aspects that might be worthy of following for this perspective might be:

• Technical certifications that demonstrate various degrees of competence with the organization’s own products
• Technical industry certifications, such as those administered by the Open Group, IEEE or other associations specific to the organization’s industry
• Industry certifications and credentials that demonstrate competence in customers’ businesses, such as LOMA, the Mortgage Banker’s Association, or ASQ
• Internal programs tied to diversity, career movement, the support of high potential employees, education, etc.

Many proponents of the use of balanced scorecards as measures of organizational health include the term “innovation” in this measure and I want to acknowledge this as quite valid for technical sales as well. Some might question how the sales organization can play a role in driving innovation for the company. After all, the primary purpose of technical sales focuses on driving revenue by representing existing products and solutions to customers. Therefore, one might assume that any innovation regarding new features or products would happen in the company’s engineering labs rather than from its customer-facing sales organization. This is true to a certain extent. However, focusing on innovation from the customer’s perspective is where the most effective technical sales professionals can really shine, because a great deal of innovation happens when a new business problem is solved via a unique application of an existing product or combination of products. The technical seller who fully understands their company’s offerings, their customer’s environment, and their customer’s industry is best positioned to bring this sort of innovation to the marketplace. And it is every bit as important as any new offerings or the evolution of features that come from a company’s engineering labs. As a matter of categorization, I do not mention it in the bullets above because it is ultimately the customer who determines when the organization has delivered innovation, and therefore this notion lies in the Customer Perspective of the BSC.