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Guest post by: Dr. Rick Johnson Become an Author

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I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say exactly that --- "Our Truck Drivers are some of our Best Sales People." In fact, I often made that statement myself when I ran my own Steel Processing Distribution Center. During seminars and association meetings I still often hear CEO's and other executives make that comment over and over again. But ------ When I ask for a show of hands as to how many people actually train their truck drivers on sales techniques very few hands go up.

What's the deal? If we truly believe that our truck drivers are good sales representatives, why don't we leverage that talent with some support and training? I'm not talking about teaching them about close ratios, kill rates, the assumptive close, the Franklin Close, the Puppy Dog Close or any other specific tactical selling strategy. I am talking about teaching them about relationship equity, tier level relationship building and how they can indirectly influence purchasing behavior.

Leverage Truck Driver Talent

Think about the potential contribution and return on investment you could achieve by leveraging the talent of your truck drivers that may have a ‘view of the customer that your outside sales people and inside sales people don't have access to. Think about the tremendous leverage and ability to increase penetration at accounts if you can create a teamwork relationship between inside sales, outside sales and the truck drivers. The potential for penetration growth may be unlimited.

To succeed in today's economic environment, leadership must build a foundation that allows the creative energy released by employees to actually work. You must leverage employee dedication and sacrifice that stems from ownership of the Vision-Values and Core Beliefs that has been engrained into the culture of the organization. Ask yourself, do your truck drivers even know what the company vision is? Has anyone asked for their input on any of your strategic issues? Create a mental picture of what the company is all about; where you want to go, how you are going to get there and how they can help by redefining their role that includes leveraging their talent. Success in today's economic environment requires new business tools, practices and relationships. Being receptive to new ideas and suggestions opens the door to an array of business opportunities. Truck drivers may represent an opportunity often ignored in the past.

How Do We Begin

That's a critical question that must be answered to define any type of program to leverage truck driver talent. The very first step is communication. Schedule an open ended brain storming session with all your drivers. (I call it a "Dawn of Creation" exercise) You may be amazed at the ideas and suggestions that they come up with. Record everything and don't discourage comments or participation. Admittedly, every truck driver may not be enthused or support the idea. That's okay. Not every person can be an extravert or have an outgoing personality. However, the opportunity to participate should be open to all.

Attitude is Important

Creating the right attitude is paramount to structuring an environment of success that your truck drivers will embrace. Be "open minded" and respectful. . Getting your employees to work with you and join in the search for better ideas, new methodology and customer penetration will transform your company from passive individualists to an intelligent sales driven organization that demonstrates you can walk the walk. It is a basic fact that the attitude of the truck driver is a key factor in their success. It is actually the foundation for success if you are going to create a proactive truck driver sales program. The critical question then becomes how to ensure that the best possible attitude exists on the part of the participants. The basic platform to create the right attitude is the initial meeting with your truck drivers and allowing them to become part of the design and creation of the program. If you actually identify a driver that can be a champion and actually participate in administering the training it is even better.

Create a Basic Model

Remember, the model must be based on their input resulting from the lengthy session you had exploring their ideas, your ideas and input from both inside and outside sales. Determine if you have a champion in the group that can participate as a co-trainer in the process. Consider using an outside facilitator to manage this session to insure that you come away with a basic platform upon which to build a model for success. A model that lends itself to training the drivers and leveraging what they do on a daily basis with your customers.

You need "Risk Takers." You need "Mavericks." Identify every truck in that category and empower him or her to go out and get the job done. Effective leaders create a culture where employees can express themselves and fight for what is right; employees become responsibly fanatical about aligning their resources to add value to the customer and the company. Truck drivers are an important part of your culture.

By all means, don't forget to incorporate some type of SPIF (Special Performance Incentive Formula) that rewards each driver based on measured success.

Training Truck Drivers is an Investment

Most company executives decide to spend money on training because it's popular, especially when economic times are good. There is a view that it's "good," and it's also something that responsible leaders are "supposed to do" to prepare for the future.

Unfortunately, training becomes the first activity to be cut when times get tough. There is also no objective measure that calculates the business case of return on investment for training.

Actually, training, education and coaching should be the absolute last consideration when investigating cost reductions during difficult economic times. In fact, initiating a program to train and leverage truck driver talent may be one of the best investments with the highest return that you could possibly make.

Leadership carries a responsibility to release the greatness in others. The ability to recognize potential in others is important in determining the type of support an employee may need. Don't ignore the potential for growth that your truck drivers may represent. And, if you truly believe that your truck drivers are good sales people, what's stopping you. Do something about it. Actually, training is the easy part because most training is job-specific. However, sales training for truck drivers goes beyond job specific and will create a resource for you that can provide tremendous return.

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