• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Weekly Sales Tip
  • |
  • 303-741-6636
kla-logo

KLA Group

IT Sales and Marketing Agency

Menu
  • SERVICES
      • Digital Marketing
      • Custom Website Design
      • SEO Consulting
      • Email Marketing
      • Content Development
      • Marketing Coaching
      • Software Development
      • Our Process
      • Revenue Generating System
      • Digital Marketing Services
      • Sales Training & Coaching Programs
      • Sales Training Programs
      • How to Cold Call
      • Consultative Selling
      • Email Prospecting
      • How to Ask for Referrals
      • Lead Generation Training
      • Sales Coaching
      • Sales Process
      • Sales Hiring Coaching
      • Outsourced Sales Management
      • Sales Assessment
      • Contact Us
  • WHO WE SERVE
    • ConnectWise Evolve
    • IT Managed Service Providers
    • IT Solution Providers
    • Sales Consultants
    • B2B Companies
    • Phone System Providers
  • ABOUT KLA
    • Who We Are
    • About Kendra Lee
    • Hire Kendra Lee to Speak
    • Meet the Team
  • BLOG
  • RESOURCES
    • Books by Kendra Lee
      • The Sales Magnet
      • Selling Against the Goal
    • Ebooks & Guides
    • Events
    • Weekly Sales Tip
    • Thoughts About Generating Revenue
    • Coffee with Kendra
  • Contact us

6 Tips to Put Context into the SME Role

Last updated December 1, 2022 Categories: Sales Training Development
Put Context into the SME Role

Subject matter experts (SMEs) play a critical role in training that’s on point and delivers results. However, working with SMEs is one of the biggest challenges in content development. Often, trainers simply tell SMEs what they need, by when, and expect it will be sufficient. Or, they ask a lot of questions and expect SMEs to emit just the right information. But without context, what SMEs contribute frequently misses the mark. SMEs get branded as “not understanding” and “difficult to work with” and nobody is satisfied.

I speak on the topic of SME engagement strategies frequently, yet recently found this exact problem happening in my own team.

As experts in their field, SMEs can provide information in many perspectives. What they need is a context for the information that you need. With that context they can sift through their vast and deep knowledge base to present just the right information to you.

Here are the six project details I had my team share with our SMEs to put context into their role in a training project.

  1. Audience portrait. Create a portrait of who the audience is, their age, experience, education, how they like to learn, and even their attention span. If there will be a mix of Millennials and Baby Boomers, SMEs may provide different information for both, then you can choose how to use it.
  2. Trigger events. Chronicle the issues that the audience is struggling with and that the training will address. Paint a clear picture of the problems even if it’s as simple as not accurately declaring their spending on their expense reports.
  3. Participants’ desired outcomes. Describe what outcomes participants want for themselves if they are able to address the trigger events. What’s important to them personally? Why do they care about these trigger events?
  4. Company’s desired outcomes. Disclose the business outcomes and return on investment the stakeholders want from the training. What should participants be able to do differently as a result of the training? How will it help our company?
  5. Pressures experiencing. Explain the pressures participants face that will keep them from learning. Pressures may be job related, such as a company mandate of no overtime and therefore no after-hours training for hourly employees. Or they may be psychological, such as we’ve had sales prospecting training before and still couldn’t cold call.
  6. Fears. Ultimately participants make a choice to implement what they’re learning or not to even try. Describe the fears participants may have that will impede them trying the new concepts in the training. SMEs may have encountered these exact worries and have suggestions for how to present content or activities in a way that will overcome the concerns.

After a 45-minute discussion, not only did the SMEs have the context for the project, but they expressed heart-felt gratitude for the time my team took to share it. Ultimately the SMEs wanted to be successful, but they didn’t know how to do that. Context provided them the roadmap they needed for everyone to win.

 

Primary Sidebar

Join Us

6 Marketing & Sales Strategies To Fill Your Pipeline Fast Kendra Animated

Buyers are hesitant to spend money, but you can still fill your pipeline.

RSVP

Get Your Guide: Build and Protect Your Sales Funnel

KLA 45 Ways

Use these strategies to protect your current clients while generating new leads.

Download It Now

Find Us On Youtube

Get Connected


Get Connected

Categories

  • B2B Lead Generation & Marketing
  • blog
  • Christmas Parodies & Holiday Blogs
  • Email Marketing
  • General
  • Lead Generation
  • Revenue Generating Success Strategies 
  • Revenue Generating System
  • Sales Hiring
  • Sales Prospecting
  • Sales Strategy
  • Sales Tips & Tricks
  • Sales Training Development
  • Selling in Pandemic
  • SEO
  • Success Strategies
  • Videos
  • Website Design
  • Winning New Customers

Footer

Services

  • Digital Marketing Services
  • Sales Training
  • Sales Process
  • Hire Kendra to Speak
footer-logo

Resources

  • Blog
  • Coffee with Kendra
  • Events
  • Ebooks & Guides
  • Newsletter
  • Weekly Sales Tip
  • Books by KLA

About KLA

  • About Us
  • Who We Serve
  • Revenue Generating System

Contact Us

Call +1 888-305-0471Contact Us

Join Us

Subscribe OptionsCoffee With Kendra
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap

© 2023 KLA Group. All Right Reserved.

Be the first to know about our sales and marketing webinars

You could be generating more revenue.

Get proven sales and marketing strategies that help you generate more revenue, hit goals, and grow your businesses during our Coffee with Kendra webinars.

Get On the List

Let us know which invites you want to receive and we’ll add you to the list.

Name(Required)

Talk with an Expert

Name

Lead Generation Syllabus

Name

Sales Coaching

Name

How to Ask for Referrals Syllabus

Name

Email Prospecting Syllabus

Name

Consultative Selling Syllabus

Name

How to Cold Call Syllabus

Name