How to improve sales performance without training

Many sales leaders look to outside trainers to give their salespeople a jump start, an energy boost, a shot of motivation and sometimes, some new skills and tools to help them succeed.  As one of those trainers myself, I can tell you that training is not always the answer.

Before looking outside for training, why not make use of the wisdom already at work in your firm?  It is waiting to be discovered among your positive deviants.  Every firm has them.  They are the people who make their numbers no matter what, even in tough times.    They are the people the sales team goes to when they need a new idea, when they need that special PowerPoint deck that no one else has, or when they are stuck on strategy and want to talk about it with someone they trust.

These people already have the answer to many issues you are trying to solve.  The key is tapping into this rich resource of insight and know-how.  Here is how:

1. Choose an important problem or objective.   What result is worth working on right now?  It may be as simple as making your numbers, maintaining or increasing customer share or creating referrals.  The key is to focus on something that matters and is urgent to your firm.
2. Identify the high performers.  Who are the people whose performance is exceptional, who perform well beyond what is expected?  The water cooler talk may be that times are tough.  Yet as you look around, you notice that there are some who simply defy the odds.  Who are they?
3. Discover their wisdom.   My colleagues and I have found that in three days, we can tap the knowledge, perspective and processes of high performers and make it available to the rest of the organization in a way that they can use immediately.  One of the keys here is to capture the essence in everyday language - not in "corporate speak."  The vocabulary of many training programs is an obstacle because the learner has to learn the meaning intended by the trainer - and then relate it to their own experience.
4. Put the wisdom into action.  You want the non-expert motivated enough to absorb, adopt and take action on what was learned from the high performers.  Structure the information in a way that captures the essence of the experts' insight and know-how,  while shaping it for adoption by the non-expert.  Credibility also comes from the energy, passion and realism of the content.
5. Reinforce follow-through.  Most training is wasted because it never makes it into the learner's day to day actions.  Create a way to positively incorporate the expert approach into the non-expert's behavior, personalized for the learner's understanding and paced for the learner's schedule.

You will find that the non-experts begin putting the ideas to work immediately.  Part of the reason is that it was created by the people they go to anyway when they need an expert - the high performers themselves.  Even the high performers benefit.  One of the surprises is that many high performers never take the time to understand why they are so exceptional.  Knowing what makes them great gives them a platform to get even better - and they do!

In many organizations, the person your sales and marketing people seek for guidance is not you, the sales or marketing leader or the trainer.  You are no longer the decider or "chief discoverer."  Get comfortable with your new role as facilitator and change agent.

Greg Krauska is President and Founder of The Change Agent Group.

Comments

[Canada Goose UK]

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[Greg Krauska]

Michael, yes, of course, if there are no high performers whose behaviors you would want others to adopt, then you would in new methods or new people. My experience is that there are nearly always positive models in a successful business, even if it is not currently blowing away the competition.

Increase your Sales - the curve is conceptual. My experience is that you can indeed move the curve. There are many companies who set higher quotas every year - and whose salespeople continue to achieve the new quotas.

We find that when we get the positive deviants together to tap their wisdom, the high performers often learn new ideas from each other. Most of the time, even the high performers take their results to even higher levels.

And even if you only raise the average, the question is where to look for answers. Do you disrupt the entire organization by mandating an entirely new sales method? Or do you fully leverage what works, while allowing each person to apply it in a way that makes sense for him or her?

[Increase Your Sales]

Very good graph, but the Gauss curve applies to any given population, the best you can hope is to raise the average performance.

[Michael Lovas]

Good thought - in theory, but not very workable - in reality. Especially in a traditional industry.

There's a firm named Knowledge Harvesting Inc. that is the world's leading expert on extracting that wisdom - the unconscious competence - that makes an expert such a vital link in a firm's value chain.

Their methodology includes knowing which questions to ask and (surprise to many firms) which person to interview.

Our own experience is that most sales people in traditional industries have little value to share and even the best don't want to take the time to mentor anyone.

--Michael Lovas

[insurance leads]

One of the best peices of advice I can give any new sales person is to pair up with a mentor. This speeds up their ability and enables them to beat the learning curve when it comes to being successful at sales.

[Marcos Watanabe]

You´re right. Many companies simply doesn´t potentialize their internal (good) intelectual resources.

[campbell]

as a sales personal i some times find it difficult making decisions on how to go about my sales.as a sales ref i fill it will do me good if you help me expand my health ideas.