WELLESLEY, Mass., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- PI Worldwide®, the premier global consulting company specializing in leadership and sales development, has been recognized as a leading solution provider for best in class performance in a new report from Aberdeen Group, the leading provider of fact-based research focused on the global technology-driven value chain. According to Aberdeen's research, best in class organizations select and deploy instructor-led training to create more meaningful sales conversations and enhance skills.

Based on a survey of over 500 companies in July and August 2009, the research findings indicate that companies are pursuing two primary strategies in reaction to the pressures that drive organizations to seek sales training: creating more meaningful sales conversations (53%); and enhancing skills in prospecting, nurturing and closing (49%). A summary of the research is available here.

PI Worldwide offers two sales tools that address these challenges, the Selling Skills Assessment Tool (SSAT)(TM) and Customer Focused Selling (CFS)(TM). Over 7,000 companies in over 146 countries already benefit from PI Worldwide's leading Predictive Index® assessment tool, and the sales performance offerings answer the ever-increasing demand for proven solutions that can effectively and efficiently assess and develop sales skills.

"As the economy recovers, strong sales skills are increasingly critical for companies of all sizes," said Nancy Martini, President and CEO of PI Worldwide. "PI Worldwide has worked with some of the largest companies in the world for over 55 years. The findings of this report reinforce our belief that companies can find tremendous value in PI Worldwide's unique and powerful combination of personalized assessments and sales training approaches to pinpoint and address a team's strengths and weaknesses."

The Yankee Candle Company, the largest premium candle manufacturer in the United States and a longtime user of PI Worldwide's solutions, is featured in Aberdeen's report as an example of a best in class organization. Yankee Candle's Wholesale Division was formally trained in Customer Focused Selling methodologies. The Predictive Index and Selling Skills Assessment Tool provided coaching skills for managers and useful insight for leveraging each individual's natural behavior to sell. These same individuals could in turn use the newly acquired skills to build optimal relationships with their customers.

As quoted in the report, Michael Thorne, Yankee Candle's senior vice president of wholesale says, "We've absolutely seen the benefit of this. After the first month, the revenue performance differential between our test group and the general staff increased by 40%."

Developed in 2001, the SSAT is a proven diagnostic instrument that has helped hundreds of companies worldwide to take an objective look at the strength of their sales force. Using a series of scenario-based questions to measure the five core sales skills required for a customer-focused and consultative sales process, the SSAT provides detailed insights into individual employee sales skills and specific areas for improvement, thus empowering managers to focus sales training initiatives for maximum impact and maximum revenue growth.

Customer Focused Selling (CFS) is a highly customized training program designed to provide all the core competencies needed for effective consultative selling -- with special emphasis on the particular areas shown by the SSAT to need improvement. The tailored, interactive format of the program ensures that participants gain the specific knowledge they need to consistently achieve better sales results.

To learn more about PI Worldwide, Predictive Index, SSAT, CFS and other leading global management programs for managing all aspects of an employee's growth and development across an organization, visit www.piworldwide.com.

About PI Worldwide

PI Worldwide® is a premier global consulting organization specializing in leadership and sales development, focused on helping organizations uncover data-driven insights to create and sustain a high performance culture. Working with global organizations on critical business challenges from succession planning and employee development to selection, retention and salesforce optimization, PI Worldwide provides unlimited access to proven tools and learning programs, allowing business leaders to continuously uncover new levels of talent and value across the organization. Since 1955, PI Worldwide has extended a passion for understanding talent into the boardroom, providing the data, expertise and global support to build world class teams in over 146 countries, 61 languages and more than 7,000 companies - including many of the world's largest corporations. Visit PI Worldwide at www.piworldwide.com.

SOURCE PI Worldwide