“We’re covering a lot today and all of it is crucially important,” Bryant University Professor of Marketing Stefanie Boyer, Ph.D. told Acclaro Medical’s newest sales team members. “This is where you make the deal or you lose it to your biggest competitor.”
As the salespeople from around the company listened and took notes, Boyer outlined her philosophy of sales, which ultimately boils down to a simple premise: A good salesperson does more than close the deal; they help their customers solve problems.
“Your customers need to be able to trust you first, and then they’ll trust your company, and then they’ll trust your product,” notes Boyer.
Over the course of a two-day training session, Bryant’s Executive Education and Career Accelerator helped the new sales employees hone the skills and mindset to become better salespeople — and to use those skills to provide medical solutions to those in need.
“We’re proud to partner with Bryant University to equip our team with the tools, strategies, and confidence to lead,” noted Acclaro Medical Co-Founder and CEO Helen Fang.
Since its founding, Acclaro Medical, headquartered in Smithfield, RI, has grown by leaps and bounds, and expanded into 60 countries across six continents. The company’s goal is to address today’s most challenging unmet needs in the global medical aesthetic and surgical markets — and their work is in demand.
“We’re growing at triple digits every year,” says Shlomo Assa, Acclaro Medical’s chairman, co-founder, president, and chief technology officer.
“We have a world-class institution right down the street. It was a no-brainer to reach out to Bryant.”
The company’s lofty goals are shared by their sales team. “We’re right there,” notes Area Sales Manager Kendall Jacobsen, who attended the Bryant training. “We have a product that can make a difference, and we want to make that difference.”
But having a revolutionary project means helping the world to understand its benefits. “We're a relatively new company and have only technically been on the market for about three and a half years,” notes Senior Global Product Manager Jeffrey Dziura ’12. “We have to be able to prove why our product is superior.”
As the company continues to expand, they want to make sure that the sales team — the frontline for rapid growth — has the tools to excel. “With business-to-business sales, a good salesman can make you a million dollars. But a bad salesman will cost you,” Assa notes.
So, Acclaro hit upon the idea of bringing their entire group of new sales hires — the “Sales Class of 2025,” as Assa calls — them to Bryant for an intensive training that would not only verse them in the company’s technology, policies, and culture, but also give them an edge through a world-class sales bootcamp.
“This is about taking our sales team to the next level,” says Fang. “We want to make sure they have the training they need to excel.”
It was then that Dziura seemed to have the perfect answer. As a Bryant University Marketing alum, his coursework, including classes taught by Boyer, laid the groundwork for his own successful career.
“We have a world-class institution right down the street,” he says. “It was a no-brainer to reach out to Bryant.”
Returning to Bryant would also be a homecoming of sorts for Assa himself, who had done much of the initial planning and groundwork for Acclaro Medical in Bryant’s Douglas and Judith Krupp Library. “I lived in that library,” he laughs.
When they reached out to the Executive Education and Career Accelerator — which offers a wide range of training and other programs — they connected with Boyer, the director of the Bryant University Sales Institute. Recently named one of Poets & Quants Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors, she is a sought-after expert who has been recognized for her ability to combine theory with practice and has helped to design and teach sales trainings for companies through Bryant.
“When you have the right tools, you're faster, you’re more efficient, and you're more successful."
Boyer worked with the Acclaro Medical team to create a custom program that fit their needs and, over the course of the two-day training, she walked them through the sales process, covering topics ranging from building rapport to asking the right questions to make sure you’re best serving your potential client’s needs.
She also introduced the team to a secret weapon. Boyer, the Co-Founder, Chief Science Officer, and Head of Education for RNMKRS — which uses AI-powered digital tools to help students improve their sales performance — showed the group how to utilize structured AI techniques to identify new prospects, define ideal customer profiles, and qualify leads.
“When you have the right tools, you're faster, you’re more efficient, and you're more successful,” Boyer pointed out.
The training was infused with interactive exercises, brainstorming sessions, and robust discussions of how to directly apply the techniques and theories the team was learning to their future sales calls — discussions that also helped the team bond with one another.
“She's very engaging in her teaching, which was exactly what we wanted,” says Fang. “We wanted our team to really think about what they would be doing.”
Boyer was aided in her lessons by the university’s Frank ’81 and Marion ’81 Hauck Sales Performance Lab. The epicenter of sales initiatives at Bryant University, the 5,000-square-foot lab boasts state-of-the-art technology, including gamified leaderboards and sophisticated video and audio recording systems.
“It was really impressive to return to campus and see how everything has changed and grown,” Dziura said.
At the end of the training, the Acclaro Medical sales team took part in a competition where they role-played through different sales scenarios using the Sales Labs’ breakout rooms.
“This is where it all comes together,” Boyer reminded the group. “This is the culmination of the whole week.”
"They left with more confidence than I have seen with any other training program, not only in our products but within themselves."
As the sales team practiced what they had learned, Acclaro’s managers watched the video feed of the run-throughs from another room and took notes. Afterwards, the entire team watched the footage of Executive Sales Manager Danielle Caprino’s practice with Director of Sales Ryan Keith.
“You nailed it,” Assa praised her.
As the training concluded, the group was presented with a certificate in Foundations of Sales and AI. Just as importantly, they left with new skills and confidence. “I can’t say enough about everything I’ve learned. This is the best sales training I’ve ever been to,” noted Executive Sales Manager Deana Doyle. “I’m ready to hit it out of the park.”
The experience has led to immediate results. "They left with more confidence than I have seen with any other training program, not only in our products but within themselves," says John Nippler, Acclaro Medical's Executive Vice President - Americas, who notes that three attendees were able to close sales soon after the training.
"It was not only a great experience but the investment we made in our team shows our very small Aesthetic device Industry that we truly put our people first," Nippler states. "We want them to have the foundation not only to just do their jobs but truly to help build their careers."