A successful company in the printing industry was having a trend of sales reps that after making it to the one year period were not where they should be. Replacing personnel was expensive and the company had already invested in these individuals for a year and wanted to turn them around.
I had these individuals do a mock presentation to me as if I were a prospect. Since I did not have experience with them I could more easily see what they were doing (or not doing) that was keeping them from making the transition. Although managers and other reps had done “ride along” sales calls they were too close to the individual. They were using their paradigm to view the rep. They were actually jumping in to fill gaps or correcting mistakes being made by the rep without knowing it. By meeting the individuals cold and playing the role of a typical prospect I could see what was holding them back.
So what was holding them back? It was a variety of issues from trying to have a one style fits all approach, not taking the time to uncover the needs of the customer and dumping as a result to not being able to handle resistance. Weekly coaching for several months help make the necessary changes and the reps gained confidence and improved their results!
Example 2
Goal was to have their sales representatives better at their ongoing front of the room training sessions with brokers. Team meetings by region were held where training was provided on effective front of the room/training techniques. Each representative was then provided a template to present the next day where they had to add the components learned in the session; an effective opening, key components presented, effectively handle questions, an effective close all while staying within the timeframe provided. The following day presentations were made in front of a group of their peers and management. We benchmarked where individuals were (upper third, middle third, bottom third). I then went into the field to work with the middle and bottom third attending their actual training events and continuing to work on improvements.
Example 3
The goal was to double the size of the sales force which necessitated improving the new hire training program for effectiveness. Reps needed to hit the ground running and become successful in a short period of time. Step 1 was to talk to stakeholders and identify what the key learnings needed to be, identify sources of information (SME’s). Once topics/key areas were identified it was important to identify the right order of all training. Having someone meet a SME too soon turns the training session into a meet and greet. They may not understand what the relationship will be once in the field and ask meaningful questions. I also worked with SME’s to help them understand what their session should look like including the 5 things the new hire should take away after their session.
From there an agenda started to take shape including testing and confirmation that knowledge has passed. If not, that was a topic that could be circled back on at a future date. The initial program was a two week/back-to-back session with new hires staying over the weekend. This proved to be a very successful program but was challenged to bring the on-site time to one week while still covering all material.
This was done by identifying some categories; what could the new hire read on their own prior to coming to corporate (and making sure we had signed confidentiality agreements), what still needed to be face-to-face (key relationships, product knowledge) and what could be a self-learning session on technology. The agenda was reworked with the addition of a hard copy of a training guide, materials on a jump drive that could be sent early (and secured with a password) and other resources. This program too proved to be successful and was given credit for the success of sales in the coming years.
Example 4
A group of very experienced sales representatives had gotten lazy in their profession. They showed up late at appointments, forgot to bring samples or details requested by the client and sometimes messed up names (and thought it was funny). They felt they were beyond coaching and were too important to have anyone press the situation. The sales team was brought into the home office for an annual meeting where I had been hired to do some time management training. The manager asked me to fake being bad and to incorporate many of the mistakes they were making in the field, on purpose. I agreed to their plan.
On the day of the training I made sure to show up late. I thanked the management team for having me in to train and called one of them by the wrong name (Dave instead of Don). I then indicated that I had forgotten the training materials in the car and asked for a rep to help me go down and carry them up (making me even later). I then announced “who is excited to learn about effective writing….oh, that was this morning, sorry!” By then it was close to mutiny in the room so I asked “who is annoyed, frustrated or questioning my ability?” When every hand went up I then said “Good, then you understand how your customers feel when you forget their name, show up late, forget what you were supposed to bring.” It was more successful than I wanted it to be when 1 year later one of the reps shared that even though he knew it was staged, that my first (negative) impression was still there and he had to remind himself that it wasn’t the real me. You truly never get a chance to make that 1st impression again!