How to Measure Training Results: A Practical Guide to Tracking the Six Key Indicators by Jack Phillips and Ron Stone ISBN-10: 0071387927 or ISBN-13: 978-0071387927 is the book that you want for this subject. For me the guarantee that I give my customer is that they are the sole judge and jury on the results of the training.
I will place a student that does not measure up back into our training class without charge if they do not improve in the skill that I am teaching. I give the client up to one year to determine this. I also tell the client that if the student "washes out" for whatever reason - I will retrain the new employee for up to one year providing the student returns with all of the material from the previous student. If they do not have the material I collect for a new set of material.
Any graduate is free to re-attend a program for refresher as long as the same version of the class is being taught without charge.
As for managers that want to measure ROI my impression is that the accounting community has the whole concept backwards. Why the heck is it that you can purchase a new computer or a major piece of equipment and it considered an investment yet you train a person that will provide the company multiples of financial return and the cost is considered and expense?
None the less, the "bean counter" that you are generally working with has not got a clue on the valid methods of calculating an ROI and when they do it will take them more time than it is worth to figure it out. I refer the accountant type to the above book or I refer then to George Murphy at www.ejustifyit.com for real tool! Even then I have the ROI requesters head spinning when they realize they do not have a clue on how to do Value Justification. The real answer for me is - Have your bottom line profits improved? Did you implement and effective follow up program and some pig headed discipline to put the training into place? Knowledge is a great thing - The real issue is however are your people implementing the ideas? Did top management participate in the training with their people so that a real discussion of systemic issues related to the training can be addressed? In most cases the managers have less than one hour per month to guide the actions of the new graduates of any training and that is in the 3% of the companies where the manager even gives one hour of face time per month to their people. 97% do not give as much as the hour. These are the statistics according to Harris Interactive study done for the Franklin Covey organization.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Everyone talks about wanting a measurable ROI from a training initiative...but how do you, personally, measure your ROI?
If business is so bad, why aren’t you doing something about it?
I am sharing an excerpt of a BLOG that Melody Burns wrote on her Linked-In page and my reply.
By melodyburns
At least once a day someone will say how terrible business is, no one is calling them, stopping in, or ordering anything. I wait until they are done crying and ask, “What are you doing to bring business to you?” More often than not, I am told, “nothing.” Nothing? Really, no wonder your business is not growing. Now is the time to get out there, do something different, find a new market, become involved, And DO SOMETHING!! If you sit back and wait for business to come to you, you might as well shut your doors. It is not going to come. How about looking through all the business cards you collected last year and send out a few emails. Invite some “friends” out to coffee and find out what they have been doing. Ask them how you can help them. You would be surprised what may come back to you. If you invite five people out for coffee, discover what is going on with those five people, chances are those five people will want to know what is gong on with your business. After coffee, they’ll leave and think about your business and tell a few more people about you and then you quickly become the hot topic for the day. A few years ago everyone was using the term, “creating a buzz”. That’s what you want. You want all those bees that had coffee with you to go out and spread the honey about your business. Chances are they’ll learn something new about your business! How hard is it to look at the collection of cards you have in a box and pull out five every other week and ask them to coffee. Maybe coffee doesn’t work, so you do a phone conference just to catch up. If you spent the time networking to capture those cards - you should spend the time reaching out to follow though. How about contacting a local not-for-profit and letting them know you want to help. Maybe you can donate an item or your time. You would be surprised how quickly the word gets out that you did something. Granted, you may get a few more requests but you can always tell people that you only make one donation a quarter and will keep their contact information on file. Ask them to put your name on their newsletter list so you can stay informed about all the great work they do. You never know where your next customer/client may come from! If you run a retail store, why not find another owner in your neighborhood and ask if they will split the cost of advertising with you. Maybe you can host an event - it doesn’t have to be huge, just an opportunity to have a few people in to remind them what you have. Go to your local chamber and ask them if you can have a membership directory to find someone who you could partner with. If you are not a chamber member, join a chamber- you can always ask about payment plans for membership - you don’t know if you don’t ask! Look online for other groups, activities and community events in your neighborhood. Get involved. You can’t sit back and wait for business to come to you - you have to go to business. I call it “active marketing”. Need more suggestions, email me and I’ll see what I can generate for you. melody@melodyburns.com
This entry was posted on February 20, 2009 at 6:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
One Response to “If business is so bad, why aren’t you doing something about it?”
Jim Ullery Says: March 23, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Melody you have triggered my thinking. As soon as you and I share ideas like this with associates they might walk away thinking well that may work for her or him BUT my customers are different. Folks the difference may well be you. I have had the realization that there is no way as a salesperson or as a trainer can not change anyone! That is a personal choice. Each person needs to look deep inside them to modify their own behaviors. We have the choice to be whatever or whoever we desire to be. Laugh if you wish at the ideas of visualization - I will share that they work and they have for decades. I see some very sad cases today of businesses and people falling that lost sight of their vision and the importance of having contingencies in the event of this kind of challenge. Just have faith in people. We will be back. Focus, listen and care it will make all of the difference. When you connect be real and do not just gather names. Look into the hearts and minds of the people you collect names and contacts of. I stopped going to a lot of networking events when I met so many people that were looking beyond me. You know in the middle of a meaningful dialogue they are looking over your shoulder at who else just came into the room that they should go collect. Be connected to those people that Melody suggests having coffee with.
By melodyburns
At least once a day someone will say how terrible business is, no one is calling them, stopping in, or ordering anything. I wait until they are done crying and ask, “What are you doing to bring business to you?” More often than not, I am told, “nothing.” Nothing? Really, no wonder your business is not growing. Now is the time to get out there, do something different, find a new market, become involved, And DO SOMETHING!! If you sit back and wait for business to come to you, you might as well shut your doors. It is not going to come. How about looking through all the business cards you collected last year and send out a few emails. Invite some “friends” out to coffee and find out what they have been doing. Ask them how you can help them. You would be surprised what may come back to you. If you invite five people out for coffee, discover what is going on with those five people, chances are those five people will want to know what is gong on with your business. After coffee, they’ll leave and think about your business and tell a few more people about you and then you quickly become the hot topic for the day. A few years ago everyone was using the term, “creating a buzz”. That’s what you want. You want all those bees that had coffee with you to go out and spread the honey about your business. Chances are they’ll learn something new about your business! How hard is it to look at the collection of cards you have in a box and pull out five every other week and ask them to coffee. Maybe coffee doesn’t work, so you do a phone conference just to catch up. If you spent the time networking to capture those cards - you should spend the time reaching out to follow though. How about contacting a local not-for-profit and letting them know you want to help. Maybe you can donate an item or your time. You would be surprised how quickly the word gets out that you did something. Granted, you may get a few more requests but you can always tell people that you only make one donation a quarter and will keep their contact information on file. Ask them to put your name on their newsletter list so you can stay informed about all the great work they do. You never know where your next customer/client may come from! If you run a retail store, why not find another owner in your neighborhood and ask if they will split the cost of advertising with you. Maybe you can host an event - it doesn’t have to be huge, just an opportunity to have a few people in to remind them what you have. Go to your local chamber and ask them if you can have a membership directory to find someone who you could partner with. If you are not a chamber member, join a chamber- you can always ask about payment plans for membership - you don’t know if you don’t ask! Look online for other groups, activities and community events in your neighborhood. Get involved. You can’t sit back and wait for business to come to you - you have to go to business. I call it “active marketing”. Need more suggestions, email me and I’ll see what I can generate for you. melody@melodyburns.com
This entry was posted on February 20, 2009 at 6:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
One Response to “If business is so bad, why aren’t you doing something about it?”
Jim Ullery Says: March 23, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Melody you have triggered my thinking. As soon as you and I share ideas like this with associates they might walk away thinking well that may work for her or him BUT my customers are different. Folks the difference may well be you. I have had the realization that there is no way as a salesperson or as a trainer can not change anyone! That is a personal choice. Each person needs to look deep inside them to modify their own behaviors. We have the choice to be whatever or whoever we desire to be. Laugh if you wish at the ideas of visualization - I will share that they work and they have for decades. I see some very sad cases today of businesses and people falling that lost sight of their vision and the importance of having contingencies in the event of this kind of challenge. Just have faith in people. We will be back. Focus, listen and care it will make all of the difference. When you connect be real and do not just gather names. Look into the hearts and minds of the people you collect names and contacts of. I stopped going to a lot of networking events when I met so many people that were looking beyond me. You know in the middle of a meaningful dialogue they are looking over your shoulder at who else just came into the room that they should go collect. Be connected to those people that Melody suggests having coffee with.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Building a High-Performance Sales Team
It is easy to energize sales people who want to be motivated, but how do you crack the tough cases, the people who never seem to do what is best for the organization or for them - yet take up all of your time? The challenge is that a fundamental rule of management is that you can not change people's character or behavior; you can not even control their actions most of the time. Change comes from within or not at all. Heaven knows I have enough problems changing myself let alone making me responsible as a coach or trainer to change others.
I propose a method that I have seen work in my external and internal coaching of sales clients. This is a simple shift of the responsibility from the subject to the object, from the sales manager to the sales person. A critical part of this shift is also involved in a twist in perspective as well - The sales manager needs to look at the sales person not as a problem to be solved but as a person to be understood. Instead of pushing opportunities and resolutions on sales people with the force of your argument, pull solutions out of the sales person. In other words use the skills that you use with your indifferent customers to explore circumstances, where you are able to identify opportunities in which you can examine the effects of the sales person when the sales person fails to deliver as required and volia' you have identified a NEED now close the sale by virtue of the corresponding feature and benefit of being gainfully employed. Harsh yes! Our job is to tell it like it is and to establish an ultimatum for improvement with a timetable. Then our obligation to the shareholders of our company is to monitor and follow up on the sales person.
I propose a method that I have seen work in my external and internal coaching of sales clients. This is a simple shift of the responsibility from the subject to the object, from the sales manager to the sales person. A critical part of this shift is also involved in a twist in perspective as well - The sales manager needs to look at the sales person not as a problem to be solved but as a person to be understood. Instead of pushing opportunities and resolutions on sales people with the force of your argument, pull solutions out of the sales person. In other words use the skills that you use with your indifferent customers to explore circumstances, where you are able to identify opportunities in which you can examine the effects of the sales person when the sales person fails to deliver as required and volia' you have identified a NEED now close the sale by virtue of the corresponding feature and benefit of being gainfully employed. Harsh yes! Our job is to tell it like it is and to establish an ultimatum for improvement with a timetable. Then our obligation to the shareholders of our company is to monitor and follow up on the sales person.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Should organizations cut back on learning and development intiatives (reducing human capital potential) in tough economic times, or increase training?
Should organizations cut back on learning and development initiatives (reducing their human capital potential) in tough economic times, or increase training and development initiatives?
In the creation of a learning culture one cannot look at the right time to train or the wrong time to train. It is about the LEARNING in either case. Is the student ready, willing and able? Do the supervisors support the initiative in such a manner that they will allocate the time off from normal work to allow the student to learn.
The right time if there is one for LEARNING is all of the time. I dread and fear the organization that says, "We are too busy to train." One can only imagine the disaster that group is heading for. It is like the vehicle that is on a path directly for a cliff without wings to allow it to soar. They will crash. This is not always because training was not provided – more likely is the case that the structure was in place to train and the supervisors grumbled that we were short staffed and could not spare the time of for attending the session.
As they fly off the edge of the cliff it is not the correct time to deploy the wings and read the instructions on how to fly. Yes there will be some value. It should not be the expectation that the value would be as great as if there were a commitment to an ongoing initiative.
Taking our thoughts in another direction we have heard the organizations that say, "As the leader of this company it is my job to develop my people and train them." Perhaps some examination of the leaders role needs to be kept in perspective. When we go off the cliff having that leader at the helm is what most people will want. Yes the leader should be involved in the LEARNING with her or his people. She or he should not be the only one creating the learning culture. Everyone is involved in a learning communities cultural development.
Is now the right time to invest? Yes just as it is important all of the time to invest. Measured development is a part of a learning culture and must be ongoing. On should never give it up if they expect a return. Just as it is difficult for people to invest in a down market now is the greatest time in our nations and the world’s history to invest in our future. Learn now and always. Invest in human capital now, as you always should. For those that have done it regularly there will be a greater return, for those that start to now just keep doing it and for those that never did and never will enjoy your flight off the cliff.
As a final note does one need question the experience, learning culture and safety expertise of the US Airways captain and crew and their training to land their plane in the Hudson River saving every passenger?
Provide training and learning now and allow learning to flourish earn now and forever. Never give in!
In the creation of a learning culture one cannot look at the right time to train or the wrong time to train. It is about the LEARNING in either case. Is the student ready, willing and able? Do the supervisors support the initiative in such a manner that they will allocate the time off from normal work to allow the student to learn.
The right time if there is one for LEARNING is all of the time. I dread and fear the organization that says, "We are too busy to train." One can only imagine the disaster that group is heading for. It is like the vehicle that is on a path directly for a cliff without wings to allow it to soar. They will crash. This is not always because training was not provided – more likely is the case that the structure was in place to train and the supervisors grumbled that we were short staffed and could not spare the time of for attending the session.
As they fly off the edge of the cliff it is not the correct time to deploy the wings and read the instructions on how to fly. Yes there will be some value. It should not be the expectation that the value would be as great as if there were a commitment to an ongoing initiative.
Taking our thoughts in another direction we have heard the organizations that say, "As the leader of this company it is my job to develop my people and train them." Perhaps some examination of the leaders role needs to be kept in perspective. When we go off the cliff having that leader at the helm is what most people will want. Yes the leader should be involved in the LEARNING with her or his people. She or he should not be the only one creating the learning culture. Everyone is involved in a learning communities cultural development.
Is now the right time to invest? Yes just as it is important all of the time to invest. Measured development is a part of a learning culture and must be ongoing. On should never give it up if they expect a return. Just as it is difficult for people to invest in a down market now is the greatest time in our nations and the world’s history to invest in our future. Learn now and always. Invest in human capital now, as you always should. For those that have done it regularly there will be a greater return, for those that start to now just keep doing it and for those that never did and never will enjoy your flight off the cliff.
As a final note does one need question the experience, learning culture and safety expertise of the US Airways captain and crew and their training to land their plane in the Hudson River saving every passenger?
Provide training and learning now and allow learning to flourish earn now and forever. Never give in!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Business is slow
When the customer says this to you as the salesperson you want to first acknowledge the statement. NOT AGREE with it! Successful sales calls have over twice the number of acknowledgements as unsuccessful sales calls according to the research conducted in the development of the Achieve Global Professional Selling Skills seminar (PSS). As the largest provider of the program for the last two consecutive years I would like to share some things that I have discovered that work for my clients that use the PSS skills. Not the ones that just give it lip service!
When the customer says "Business is down right now," we need to understand what is going on. This person knows the facts and business is down or this person does not know the facts and have been told to say this. Either way the job of the sales person in a down economy or an up economy is to serve their customer with ways to differentiate themselves in the market. It is our job as salespeople to assure that our clients and customer do not suffer from the down turn.
EXAMPLE:
Customer: Business is down right now.
Salesperson: I am sure you have plans for improving this situation. Having a relationship with us as a supplier at times like this is the very reason why we should be talking today. Our products or system can help you. Can I ask you some questions to help highlight how we can improve your business right now?
Customer: YES
Salesperson: Turn to the indifference probing model - If you have not taken PSS - this would be the time to make a call to learn more about our work - 518-869-8600.
When the customer says "Business is down right now," we need to understand what is going on. This person knows the facts and business is down or this person does not know the facts and have been told to say this. Either way the job of the sales person in a down economy or an up economy is to serve their customer with ways to differentiate themselves in the market. It is our job as salespeople to assure that our clients and customer do not suffer from the down turn.
EXAMPLE:
Customer: Business is down right now.
Salesperson: I am sure you have plans for improving this situation. Having a relationship with us as a supplier at times like this is the very reason why we should be talking today. Our products or system can help you. Can I ask you some questions to help highlight how we can improve your business right now?
Customer: YES
Salesperson: Turn to the indifference probing model - If you have not taken PSS - this would be the time to make a call to learn more about our work - 518-869-8600.
EXAMPLE:
Customer: Business is slow, we have put a freeze on all new orders.
Salesperson: Prioritizing purchase decisions is extremely important. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE REALLY BIG COMPANIES IN YOUR FIELD DO WHEN BUSINESS SLOWS DOWN A LITTLE? Do you think that they completely cut off all purchases and board up the windows? Of course not. I respect your need to prioritize purchasing decisions. I suggest that you think like your large competitors. Cut back on purchases, but still make vital purchases, let me remind you why our product offerings are vital in any economic condition.
Customer: Okay
Salesperson: Turn to the indifference probing model - If you have not taken PSS - this would be the time to make a call to learn more about our work - 518-869-8600.
EXAMPLE:
Customer: Oh it is so terrible - We are loosing our shirts business is so bad!
Salesperson: Taking time to evaluate our wardrobe is extremely important! Business is slow right now?
Customer: You said it is.
Salesperson: Then, this is the perfect time for us to configure an order for your business. When business is booming, your people do not have the time to learn how to effectively impliment new products it your operation to increase sales and reduce expences. Now, while time are temporarily slow is the perfect time to get into this new product so that we can dedicate the time to training on the new offering and to do sales clinics on selling more of the product at our lower cost footprint! When business picks up, they will be skilled on the product offering.
Customer: Mmm that is an interesting perspective.
Salesperson: Many of our customers have said the very same thing. May I explore a few thoughts with you? Now revert to the indifference probing model.
What is all of the doom and gloom all about?
For those of you that have attended my Professional Selling SkillsTM (PSS) classes this past year and beyond there is a message that I keep getting from you about the selling conditions today. Yes these are turbulent times! A down economy is just the time for us as sales professionals to differentiate ourselves. Now is the time that sales people are exposed as it relates to their weak or limited capabilities. Some of your very best will discover and be discovered for their failure to build and develop their skills.
Let me share the "Leaky Bucket" story with you in terms of you as the salesperson. For the sake of illustration, try to think of yourself as a leaky bucket (hopefully something you don’t do too often). The tiny holes in the bucket are flaws, mistakes, areas in need of format improvement in your PSS skills.
The water represents lost sales opportunities — whether those opportunities are new clients, expanded product sales, new tickets, new kit boxes, more units, more contracts, better networking relationships, more production opportunities, more affiliations with your business and so on. Close up more of those holes, and you retain more opportunities to move towards your goals.
You will never close them all, but you can work to close as many as possible. The process begins with pin-pointing where you need to improve.
Some of the more critical areas that need improvement are:
Let me share the "Leaky Bucket" story with you in terms of you as the salesperson. For the sake of illustration, try to think of yourself as a leaky bucket (hopefully something you don’t do too often). The tiny holes in the bucket are flaws, mistakes, areas in need of format improvement in your PSS skills.
The water represents lost sales opportunities — whether those opportunities are new clients, expanded product sales, new tickets, new kit boxes, more units, more contracts, better networking relationships, more production opportunities, more affiliations with your business and so on. Close up more of those holes, and you retain more opportunities to move towards your goals.
You will never close them all, but you can work to close as many as possible. The process begins with pin-pointing where you need to improve.
Some of the more critical areas that need improvement are:
- Have a written call plan and call objective - New and old sales people have gotten sloppy in the stronger economy and have forgotten to have a plan. Sales just came to easy before. Frankly it is sad they may have actually been better with call plans and objectives. It is just that sales people became satisfied with less when things were good.
- Knowing how to deal with customer concerns COLD! So the customer is indifferent - what did you expect? Are you even calling on the right person? Do you settle to have a relationship with the purchaser only in good times? Are you known to the owner? When the economy shuts down the first thing an owner does is they tell the purchaser to stop purchasing! How will you differentiate yourself if you do not sell to the Very Important Top Executive? Let me give you a clue - you will not! You settled before so now you pay the price - SORRY.
- Ask for referrals - I am amazed at how shy salespeople are to ask for introductions to people in the respective industries they serve. It is silly. Your clients want you to be successful and they will help you. That is if you really offer something unique and special. Which may be the real message that you are afraid to learn that you are (yawn...) boringly average as a sales person.
- As sales executives we have to understand that this is the time to help our customers reduce costs or increase revenues. A proper balance with this is always required. The same holds true however for the organizations that we work for. In down turns it is important for us to look inside and ask ourselves if we can do the same for our employers. The choice of hotel we stay in, the airline we chose, the extra dinner we charge to the company all serve to increase our firms bid to our next client. Ask yourself if doing business with you and your firm really helps your client accomplish more sales or reduced costs. If so how?
- The most cited factors that I hear to mediocre sales performance are sales peoples customers more than the competitors that are selling the same client. This plays out in the form of customers spending less, demanding more or deferring buying decisions. Do you have options to deal with these stalls and customer concerns? Are you listening? Is your own companies management providing you with creative tools to work in the soft economy? Now would be the time to create a unique way to do business with your firm. Frankly you should have been doing it right along but we all get a bit focused on serving the numerous opportunities that we have until the bucket starts to leak and there are less opportunities.
- Leads which are difficult to assess and those that seem to "fall through the cracks" need to be handled with a strong discipline. Are we even interested in building our customer base?
- Sales people have a way of getting stuck in the past, they have poor metrics for sales performance, and they have incomplete or terrible customer records data. Some of this is in large part to giving the sales people the chore of updating data after a full day of sales calls! Why do we do this? Hire a team of transcription support people and put your sales people on a dictation recording line and let the sales people do what they seem to love to do - TALK! Your data will have so much information now that in a down turn such as we might be in now is harvest time.
- Focus your energy on high-value customers or at the very least on those with significant opportunities. This is accomplished in part by demanding that sales and marketing departments become better and integrating their respective functions. Cross train with each other. Marketing people get out in the field and sell! Sales people spend some time understanding the frustrations of those in marketing. You are both on the same team. I watch so much "us and them" in corporate selling!
- STOP SELLING and START HELPING! Allan Cimberger taught my sales team this over 15 years ago when he was in his late 80's and early 90's after an amazing selling career. I persuade you to understand that you do NOT SELL PRODUCTS - you sell SOLUTIONS. This makes this economy the very reason why your clients and prospects should be buying more from you now.
- Sharpen your saw! Steven Covey says it and we need to listen. Graduates of our class are free to attend public session without charge. Now is the time to join a class again if you are a graduate and bring your book to learn again. Even as in instructor that has taught PSS for over 25 years and in the last year taught the program over 45 times I learn in every class that I teach. It is amazing that we have been named for the second consecutive year the largest providing partner of AchieveNET in the world. A small company in Albany, NY that just believes we can even do better for ourselves and our customers. We want you to have exceptional sales in these challenging times.
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