Mastering the Art of Sales
ELEVATING SANITATION SOLUTIONS THROUGH DQ SALES TECHNIQUE.
Author: Mekdim Hailu, Project Communication Manager, PSI Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, USAID Transform WASH has been on a mission to achieve sustainable sanitation solutions. The activity has championed market-based approaches to tackle hygiene and sanitation challenges for over six years. Now, the focus has shifted towards institutionalizing these efforts through various activities, including a transformative training program centered around Decision Intelligence (DQ Sales®) technique. DQ is an abbreviation for decision intelligence, a term coined by WRP (Whitten & Roy Partnership), a sales consulting firm in the United States. A customer can make smart decisions about purchases. Thus, strengthening their customer’s DQ is a critical skill for business operators to become successful sellers.
“Sales in social enterprises and the development sector can be challenging due to the lack of suitable tools and approaches,” said Dagim Demirew, Business Development Associate Director for Transform WASH (T/WASH). “Initially, we faced this issue and experimented with different sales techniques, but we struggled to succeed. However, implementing the DQ sales technique in T/WASH over two years revolutionized our sales performance and management system, offering a working model for achieving sanitation goals.”
Recognizing the potential of the DQ sales technique in fostering sustainable and market-driven sanitation solutions, T/WASH joined forces with WRP, experts in transforming sales, management, and leadership for socially minded organizations. Starting in 2020, T/WASH and WRP partnered to improve sales and management approaches in WASH, subsequently enhancing coaching and management capabilities. This endeavor has dramatically enhanced sanitation access, contributing to 200,000 sales of sanitation products and services. To scale up and ensure the approach’s sustainability, USAID Transform WASH is expanding the sales and sales management capacity to other parties remaining after the T-WASH project ends.
To understand and decide the proper structure to embed and cascade the DQ Sales technique, T/WASH and WRP embarked on a discovery assessment. Based on the discovery results, the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), an autonomous institute reporting to the newly established Ministry of Labor and Skills, was identified as a potential skill holder to train health professionals and TVETS that supports coaching and managing community-level sanitation sales activity.
As part of institutionalizing the DQ® sales training program, professionals and trainers from diverse organizations, including the Ministry of Health and EDI, were actively trained for two weeks as super trainers. The training was conducted in two phases. The first phase focused on Basic DQ training, providing participants with a comprehensive understanding of the DQ sales approach. They learned how to empower end-users to comprehend their challenges and the benefits of available sanitation solutions. The second phase aims to train the trainers, ensuring knowledge cascades further and broader.
Pictured from left to right: Clemency Phir, iAlemu Kejela and Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase
Alemu Kejela, a WASH and Environment Health Expert at the Ministry of Health, who participated in the training, emphasized its significance for market-based sanitation. He said, “This training marks a groundbreaking initiative; it holds significant value for market-based sanitation. ‘DQ’ may be a new term, but its importance is already clear, extending even into our personal lives. It aids in comprehending challenges and devising effective solutions. If we disseminate these principles based on the pilot, we can significantly enhance sanitation coverage throughout Ethiopia.”
Clemency Phiri, a Field Coach from WRP, highlighted the transformational aspect of the DQ approach. “Usually, NGOs give products for free, but with this approach, we can change mindsets and increase decision-making power. We guide end-users to understand the problem, its costs, and its impact on them. This enables them to take full responsibility for utilizing sanitation products effectively.”
As the trainees return to their roles as change agents in the sanitation sector, the impact of the DQ sales training program is expected to be far-reaching. We will closely monitor its effects in the selected woredas of the Amhara, Sidama, and Oromia regions. Armed with insights from the discovery works results and equipped with the tools to promote the DQ techniques, these professionals and trainers are vital to transforming sanitation practices in Ethiopia.
Addise Derese, Sanitation and Hygiene Focal Person and Health Extension Worker Coordinator at Legdiya Health Center in the Amhara region, attended the training in Bahirdar. “In this training, we learned how to support the community using DQ, which increased my communication skills,” she explains. “Now, I can coach other health extension workers and work with mason installers to go on the ground and create awareness amongst the community. I now understand it’s better to teach them about prevention rather than health insurance coverage, which was our previous approach.”
Addise Derese
The DQ sales technique enables communities by promoting responsible ownership and usage of sanitation products. With a well-informed customer base, the sanitation market is set to evolve, offering tailored and sustainable solutions to meet the population’s needs. Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase, a Senior WRP Consultant, agrees, “The sales strategy and management help customers develop intelligence about problems and buying decisions. I am passionate about empowering the customer; if they know the problem, they will do what they need to solve it. If we send salespeople to the community to empower the customer, they must learn how to sell.”
The DQ sales training program marks a pivotal moment in the journey of Transform WASH towards institutionalizing market-based sanitation solutions. Through collaboration with WRP and the insights gathered from the discovery works program, this transformative training equips professionals and trainers with the skills to drive positive change. As these change agents embark on their mission to enable communities to improve the sanitation situation in their communities with the DQ technique, we look forward to revolutionizing WASH practices and creating a lasting impact on sanitation solutions across Ethiopia.
The article was originally posted to Medium linked here.