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The Importance of Follow Up

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A colleague and I completed a  follow up session for a sales training program we did late last fall.  During the session we discussed all the changes that had occurred since the training.  Both my colleague and I were very impressed with the behaviour change and shift in attitudes toward prospecting.  This sales team was a delight to work with and responded well to the coaching that took place between the initial program and the follow up session.

I think it is imperative for sustainable change to provide clients with a structure to support the learning once everyone is back doing their day-to-day activities.  It is easy to slip back into old patterns unless there is structure and a way to celebrate small successes along the way.

Filed Under: Coaching, Sales, Specialty Topics

Lunch & Learns Made Easy

July 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A legal firm approached me after our initial introduction meeting to inquire about running lunch and learns for their admin staff.  They had an approved budget and were excited to get started.  We sat down and looked at all of their options and after a one hour meeting we walked away with a tentative schedule for 15 lunch and learns.  These programs were to run throughout the year.  They chose programs such as: Leadership, Communication Skills, Wellness, True Colors, Personal Branding, Goal Setting, Delegation and more.  I arranged for each of the facilitators to meet with the two young ladies who were managing this project.

One of the young ladies said it would have taken weeks to search the internet and find programs for the variety of programs they wanted to offer, not to mention interviewing the various companies. The customer was so impressed at the calibre of the trainers and their programs and commented more than once how easy I was to work with the Athena Alliance.

Filed Under: Customer Service, Leadership, Miscellaneous, Sales, Specialty Topics, Team Development, Wellness, Health & Safety

Improv to Improve Sales

May 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

One of my clients was holding a sales conference for 16 of their sales reps.  They were going to be doing the usual things like product training and motivational presentations to share the vision of the President.   The VP of Sales and I talked about doing something out of the ordinary for this group.  They were a very conservative sales force, in a very competitive market and the VP wanted them to loosen up a bit and step out of their comfort zones.

We established the outcome from the program, the sales people would learn to step outside their comfort zones when it came to prospecting and coming up with creative and innovative ideas for winning new business.

I left the meeting with several ideas and after a conversation with our Alliance Partner who is highly skilled at designing Improv programs to help people go beyond their daily norms, I thought this would be an excellent fit for our client.  Once I connected the Alliance Partner to the VP of Sales it was clear this was the right direction to go.  During my follow up call after the program the VP shared with me that the program actually achieved more than what they had hoped for and that the sales people were excited to try out their new ideas back on the job.  That is what is so great about our Alliance, we are able to provide unique training ideas to achieve lasting results.

Filed Under: Sales, Team Development

Prospecting for New Business

April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Prospecting for new business can present a challenge for many sales people.  A new client and I spent time reviewing the skills of their existing sales team.  While their team was technically very skilled, they lacked the tools to prospect for new business.  This was a critical factor for them to win more market share in an extremely competitive business and to meet their sales targets.  I recommended adding three months of team coaching after the training to support the learning.   This Director had no previous experience with team coaching and agreed based on my recommendation.

We started the coaching the week following the training.  Within two weeks I received multiple emails announcing the wins that this team was starting to achieve.  The sales people where charting new territory and asking better questions than they had ever done in the past.  The energy was contagious and really ignited the competitive edge within their sales team.

Sometimes the follow up coaching for any training can be the extra support needed as people learn to apply their new skills.

Filed Under: Sales