Before an inside or outside expert can help you develop your sales force, there are at least 25 milestones that must take place or the initiative will probably fail. Development has much less to do with content, curriculum, and methodology than it does with the person, or people who will do the developing. I am not saying that content, curriculum and methodology are unimportant! They are very important. I am saying that much like everything else you do, the people have more impact on the success or failure of the initiative than the tools being used.
When I, or members of my team are involved in developing a client’s salespeople and sales managers, we make certain that the following milestones take place very early on – in our very first session. We must:
- Help them feel safe
- Get them to believe we can help
- Get them to want the help
- Develop credibility
- Understand their challenges
- Be viewed as a resource, not a threat
- Develop a relationship
- Add value through the effective strategies and tactics we share
- Encourage them
- Challenge them
- Question them
- Demonstrate, through role-play, exactly how a strategy or tactic plays out
- Entertain them
- Engage them
- Make them want more
- Provide them with several perspectives
- Give them assignments
- Be committed to their success
- Get them to commit to their success
- Poll them often for their lessons learned
- Make sure they understand their assessment results
- Prepare sales management to coach to the training
- Have systems and processes in place to support the training
- Create a no excuses environment
- Get them to practice.
There are many more things that take place along the way, but when these things don’t take place day 1, it’s an uphill climb.