Sales Training is Like Viagra?

I once observed a panel of sales executives who answered the question, “What are the characteristics of a good sales training program.” As the discussion warmed up, one of the panelists, a Senior Vice President for a large financial service company, said, “Sales training is like Viagra – it is over-prescribed and only lasts about two hours!”

He got a good laugh because there is a lot of truth to his statement. We could call this the “Viagra training syndrome.” Later in the discussion he made the point that there are external factors like competition, product design, and market place changes that should influence training for sales people. Then he made a point that is often overlooked: there are internal factors which include individual morale and skill. He concluded that point by saying, “Remember that everybody doesn’t make the cut.” My interpretation of that is that there are some things that training cannot cure.

That brings me to the question, “How do we avoid the Viagra training syndrome?” Here is what I think.
1. As our panelist pointed out, you can only know if training is successful if you define what success is before you start. For example:
a. Increased sales are not necessarily such a measure. I have a client whose manufacturing plant is maxed out. He wants better customers, who want value and with whom they can align as partners, not just people looking for the lowest price. That may mean smaller gross sales, but greater margins and happier customers.
b. More repeat business could be such a measure. It is significantly easier and more profitable to sell to a satisfied customer than to find a new customer.

2. Much of what is labeled as “sales training” is a one to three day motivational speech. Everybody has a good time, but 30 days later nothing in their behavior changes.

3. Sales training should not be just an event. It is a process that includes:
a. Values-based content that seeks to uncover customer needs, not manipulate people into buying.
b. A cordial learning environment that builds trust as people learn from each other as well as from the content of the program.
c. A sales system, so sales people understand where they are in the selling process. This helps them know whether they have a genuine prospect.
d. Accountability over a period of time such as six to eight weeks for application of the principles taught. This avoids the “two hour” part of the syndrome, and leads to lasting behavior change.

If you want sales training to result in long term sales person behavior change, and achieve specific business goals, consider these ideas to avoid the “Viagra training syndrome.”

Leading and Coaching a Selling Team

Recently I met with a young sales executive for the first time. He inherited a sales organization of about 15 people in a technical industry. They are in a rebuilding mode with new corporate initiatives. As we shared breakfast and talked, I asked him about his management style. He made several excellent points:

He recognizes that everyone is not a super star, but that each one has value.

• Regardless of his opinion of the person, he gives them all the same opportunity to succeed by providing the training and the infrastructure.
• He does not micro-manage. This attracts potential super stars.
• He looks at results and the activities that he knows will lead to those results to determine how a person is progressing.
• He teaches that their first job is to find out what the prospective customer needs, and then get their products specified, if possible.

I predict that this young man will soon lead a much larger organization, making more money and enjoying higher levels of personal gratification. Here is why:

• He is a “people builder.” Rather than “beating them up,” he encourages them.
• He is customer needs focused in his philosophy, his training, and his work in the field.
• He focuses on results first, not just activity. He knows that any sales person can look busy – can learn to “play the activity game.”
• He trusts people to go out and do their jobs. If they prove untrustworthy, he can decide whether training them can solve the problem, or whether they need to be doing something else.

After more than 40 years in sales, I have concluded that the most successful sales managers don’t just “manage.” They lead and coach! Think about a person in your past who was influential in your personal and professional growth. While the personalities will almost always be different, if we could all meet and compare notes we would see some common characteristics, such as:

• He saw more in me than I saw in myself.
• She helped me understand that I was growing to become the person I want to be.
• He would not let me goof off, but forced me to think through the situation and confront the client tactfully with the truth.
• He helped me understand how to set and achieve both personal and business goals.
• She patted me on the back when I did something right.
• He traveled with me and coached me after every call. I learned what to do right by doing it right.
  

“Leading” a sales team is more like coaching little league than it is like “managing” a department. Top sales people crave “coaching!” They resist “management!”

How Not to Conduct a Sales Meeting

Many years ago I worked for a small manufacturing company. As one of four regional managers, I was invited to the home office the first week of the second month of each quarter, to meet with our Vice President of Sales for a five-day “Sales Meeting.” We really had a good time eating at our favorite restaurants in the area, but we all HATED those meetings!

We were never sure just why we were called in for a full week, four times a year. These meetings consisted of hours of random discussions without meaningful decisions, bull sessions about sports teams or favorite cars and where we would have lunch. These hours were punctuated by moments of interesting discussions with engineering, marketing and manufacturing, which helped us feel a part of something larger than ourselves. Here is what I observed about how not to conduct a sales meeting:

No advanced agenda. We were often unable to contribute effectively to a particular discussion because we did not know the subjects in advance. Lack of preparation resulted in frustration and poor decision-making.
Failure to adhere to the established agenda. The first morning of each event we were presented with the week’s agenda. We rarely stuck to those topics, and often got behind. We all felt like two of the five days were wasted.
Avoiding the “elephant in the room.” Sales were flat for four of the five years I was part of this group. While we discussed ways to increase sales (of course!), the “elephant” of our antiquated technology and poor market positioning was ignored.
Lack of a marketing and sales plan. I do not remember any cohesive marketing programs or plans of action which would increase our market share or customer awareness. It was difficult to generate excitement in the field.
No business fun. We had four talented, capable managers, who wanted to succeed and make money. There was no “motivational speaker” or trainer or consultant brought in to help us grow personally, to get outside our habits and look for innovative ways to grow our business.
No follow up from the top. The CEO and the VP of Sales were great people. We became friends. But they had no action plans to work with us in the field to identify markets, build distribution or increase OEM sales. We may or may not see them in the field between quarterly meetings.

From these experiences I have three recommendations for effective sales meetings:
1. Identify and promote a specific and definite objective for each meeting.
2. Keep it short and stick to business. Generate excitement to make the meeting personally rewarding and business profitable.
3. Follow up with executive presence in the field to reinforce the initiatives or the plans decided in the meetings. Field managers need to be accountable and feel supported.

If you want to have fun, build the business meeting around a fun location, but make sure that the business is the focus of the meetings part.

Going to see the Wizard!

Even if you are not a big Wizard of Oz fan, you have to hand it to Dorothy. She had a clear goal: “We’re going to see the Wizard…” Her goal was so powerful, that she was able to effectively share it with three unlikely characters, and take them to greater heights with her. And they worked together to overcome a host of obstacles.

The Problem: One of the most common “areas for growth” identified by sales people before they experience our Integrity Selling® course is Goal Clarity. We define Goal Clarity as “having clear, specific, written goals of things or events you want to happen in your future.” Sometimes the goals are personal like Dorthy’s, which is just fine. Often they are business or sales goals, which are dear to a manager’s heart.

Helping Sales People Gain Goal Clarity: There are two major things that a sales executive can do to help people gain Goal Clarity; coach them and train them.

Coaching: Schedule regular coaching times with you and each sales person.
1. Ask them, “What specific goal(s) are you working on? How are you progressing on (it) them?”
2. Ask, “What is keeping you, if anything, from reaching these goals?”
3. Ask, “What actions, behaviors or skills will help you remove those constraints?”

Based on what the sales person says, suggest one action that will help them remove a constraint and make a note for future reference in your next coaching session. People can see themselves working on one step toward a goal. Ask for their commitment.

Praise specific strengths, behaviors, skills, attitudes or abilities the person has that you believe will help him/her reach the goals discussed. (Important: Do not critique or criticize the person during this conversation. Bite your tongue!) Every time you observe the person doing something you know is helping them reach their goal, or you see them doing what you have recommended as the action item, praise them. Be specific and timely. Example: “Jane, I noticed in our meeting with the people at Biffel Corporation this morning, you really did a great job with your new objective of maintaining eye contact. Did you notice how much more engaged they were?”

Training: Budget for training. Be willing to invest in specific training that a person needs, and be sure to ask about the learning that resulted. Any training provided should be specific to individual goals a person has set, or skills needed to achieve a goal. If you elect to conduct a course for your entire sales organization, be sure you participate with them. Lead your people through the training, don’t just “send” them to the course.

With effective coaching and quality training, you and your sales team can overcome obstacles and achieve your goals, too.

Customer Service: Making Money by Giving Stuff Away

I had an interesting experience with an automobile repair facility. My car would soon need new tires, so I stopped into a place I had never been before because I was driving by late in the day. I talked to Bobby. I said, “I’m going to soon need new tires, and I need some advice on whether I should replace the shocks, too. The car has 55,000 miles on it.”

Bobby and one of his associates said, “We’d love to sell you new shocks, but, unless you have a specific problem, you really don’t need to replace them till 100,000 miles. The quality of shock absorbers has improved so much, that they last longer now than they did ten years ago.” Well, that was an unexpected surprise, and good news.

Then we talked about tires and Bobby said, “Let me take a look at them.” We walked out to my car and he bent down, looking at each tire and feeling the tread depth. He said, “You don’t need tires yet, but you are close. This is as front wheel drive car, so you should have your best tires on the front. While you are here, why don’t you let me do a free tire rotation for you?” Another pleasant surprise!

It was the end of the day, so I could take 15 minutes for a free tire rotation. While sitting in the lobby, I thought, “While the car is on the lift, I wonder if he’d change the oil. It’s due now.” So Bobby’s technician changed the oil. The free tire rotation generated a little $24.00 sale, paying for itself. While I waited, Bobby printed out a quote for new tires based on the kind of driving that I do.

What’s the lesson?
1. Bobby established trust with me immediately by telling me the truth: I did not have to buy new shocks.
2. He made a goodwill gesture, almost like saying, “Thanks for stopping to get a quote for new tires,” rotating my tires for free.
3. I was going to get the oil changed anyway, so he took care of that with very little extra time consumed for me.
4. It was the end of both our days, so he spent a few minutes chatting with me, and further developing a friendly, trust relationship, something hard to find in the auto repair world.

Bobby would probably not have volunteered the free service if it had been the middle of the day, and his waiting area was full of people getting their cars serviced or repaired. But he had an idle technician, who was getting paid anyway. He had a genuine prospect for tires, and he wanted me to come back in a few weeks. So he did a smart thing: he showed that he valued my potential business, and he treated me with courtesy and friendliness.

Guess where I bought a new set of tires about six weeks later? From Bobby.

"Out-Behaving" the Competition

In his 2007 book, How; Why How We Do Anything Matters in Everything in Business and in Life author Dov Seidman makes the points that:
· We live in a commoditized world and our business will suffer,
· Unless we capitalize on the fact that human behavior cannot be commoditized, and
· We teach our people to “out behave” the competition.

How can you get employees to “out behave” the competition?

The work culture must:
· Be based on a clearly defined and constantly communicated set of values and mission.
· Place high value on the employees and the skills and abilities they bring to the job and the organization mission.
· Include a service mindset that enables and encourages a values-based approach to helping external and internal customers, and solving problems.
· Take advantage of the fact the people are created with a desire to help others.
· Encourage truly “engaged” employees who are friendly with coworkers and have “best friends” at work.
· Understand that people tend to thrive and produce profit-building results in trusting work environments.

Well, how do these culture attributes happen, especially if you did not start out with that environment in the first place?

At the risk of oversimplifying, there are four major ideas my research and experience show are necessary:
1. Identifying the ethics-based values on which the company or enterprise is based.
2. Having the right people on your team, doing the jobs that match their gifts and talents, so they help identify the direction of the enterprise – the business you are in.
3. Training that places high emphasis on “catching people doing something right,” builds on individual employee strengths, and is based on integrity and corporate values.
4. Leadership committed to “walking the talk,” and building up a values-based culture, not a rules-based culture.

Recommended reading:
How; Why How We Do Anything Matters in Everything in Business and in Life by Dov Seidman, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.
Good to Great by Jim Collins, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., New York
The Greatest Management Principle in the World by Michael LeBoeuf, Ph.D., G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York. (Out of print)
First, Break all the Rules by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman, Simon & Schuster, New York
Vital Friends by Tom Rath, Gallup Press, New York
The One Minute Manager, Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson, Berkeley Books, New York
The People Principle, by Ron Willingham, St. Martin’s Press, New York

Who else???

Several years ago I was the regional sales manager for a small manufacturing company that was owned by a German company. One product line we sold was made by this German parent, and was often used in OEM applications.

We had a prospect in my Region who bought $500,000 per year worth of a product like one of ours, and we wanted their business. I worked through their Purchasing Department and Engineering Group to insure that we met or exceeded all their design specifications, and that our price was right. After more than a year, we still did not have the order.

I called the Purchasing Agent and asked, “We have the best product at the best price. Why don’t we have the order?” His answer floored me. “Our Vice President of Sales and Marketing does not want to change suppliers?” I asked, “That seems a little out of the ordinary. Why is that?” He responded with a story about a big problem with their present supplier which caused a major public relations disaster in one of their markets. They eventually got the problem resolved, but the VP of Sales and Marketing did not want to risk going through that kind of issue with a new supplier.

After verifying that he wanted to order our product, I asked the purchasing agent to set up a meeting. My Vice President of Sales, Director of Engineering, and Product Manager met me at their plant and we sat at the table with their Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Director of Engineering, Quality Control Manager, and Purchasing Agent. We got all the concerns out on the table and demonstrated how the problem they experienced in the past could not occur with our product. We then agreed upon a plan for a site visit to our facility by their people to verify that we could serve them.

From then on it was just a matter of working the plan, and we got the order.

What was the question that I had failed to ask one year earlier? After we became an approved vendor, I should have asked the Purchasing Agent something like this: “Who else needs to agree to this before you can place the order with us?” I could have saved a year of time and earned an extra $500,000 in revenue had I uncovered the issue with “changing suppliers.” Often there are factors in a purchase decision which don’t make sense to us, but which relate to a cultural issue or a historical problem like my customer had. You will only learn this when you ask questions to pull out the information.