Involving Sales Managers in Development and Delivery
Involving Sales Managers in Development and Delivery
Understand their needs: Prior to training, ask sales managers to define the business objectives they hope to address. Identify what they want their employees to accomplish, that they haven't achieved previously. Determine the return on investment and skill change the sales managers are seeking to appropriately match the training program.
Include them: During training have sales managers kick off the program and tell participants why it is important to the business, the team, and them individually. Have managers share their expectations for the team following training. Ask them to deliver key content where they excel, share stories that reinforce class content, and to participate in activities.
Position them as a role model: If the manager is participating in the training, which is the ideal, be sure to let them know how important their presence will be among the reps. Make them understand that it's their job to serve as a role model, being attentive, and engaging themselves in the training program. This is your opportunity to ban the manager's cell phone and laptop.
Serve as a coach: Suggest that sales managers who attended the training use sales calls and team meetings as an opportunity to continue to teach reps how to apply the training concepts and techniques more effectively. As a trainer, offer to instruct managers on the key techniques to reinforce through coaching and modeling. The world of learning and development has evolved and sales managers in many organizations are now getting engaged in the development and delivery of sales training to their people. As they get engaged, managers discover three benefits of their involvement that far outweigh the cost of their time:
They serve as subject matter experts, influencing the key learning objectives, content, and activities to ensure they fit the business objectives driving the training
They can reinforce the points they feel are key to the success of their teams, and ensure their teams are focused on the right learning
They demonstrate their expertise, ultimately gaining and reinforcing the respect of the sales teams
When to Involve Managers
Not every program should involve sales managers in development and delivery. They have other business priorities of their own. Consider where their expertise and support are critical to the success of the program, and the level of their involvement needed to be successful. Some examples include:
If you are implementing a custom process, such as a custom sales, negotiation, or lead generation process, involving sales managers in the development and delivery of the program will garner immediate buy-in from the entire Sales organization as they see the manager support.
Several of our clients have found using sales managers as subject matter experts in development and delivery to be an effective way to reinforce specific sales topics. Topics have included structuring creative deals, demonstrating solution capabilities, handling consulting services objections, cementing partnerships, and forecasting success.
Kick-off and team meetings where available time is limited, but a skills element is required, are also ideal situations in which to engage sales managers. Managers are perfect subject matter experts and when assigned a 1-2 hour module, can spend a total of 2-3 hours working with an instructional designer to have it created. If the program is designed well, groups can be up to 60-80 participants, and sales managers can deliver effectively with appropriate preparation and facilitation support.
What Managers Can Offer
Sales managers can share knowledge and expertise, without a significant time commitment, if they're asked the right questions. Areas where they can assist during development include:
Key skill gaps to address and how to frame them with the sales reps
Specific techniques to train
Sales phrases they would like their reps to use
Positioning to use with customers at different points in the sales process
Anticipated roadblocks to the training content and how to overcome them
Areas where they can assist during delivery include:
Delivery of content modules or sections
Modeling through role play
Serving as an expert on a panel
Assisting reps during activities
The Mechanics of Involving Managers
So, how do you get sales managers involved when you know their time is limited, or they may lack confidence in their delivery abilities?
Let managers serve as the subject matter experts. We develop the content, write the activities, design scenarios, gather success stories, and write assessments, where the sales managers provide the background information required and review the content for accuracy.
When we work with sales managers who are being asked to deliver content, we often facilitate, acting as the master of ceremonies, introducing and debriefing activities, writing on flipcharts, even engaging the class in discussion. This allows sales managers to focus on the content and not worry about the training techniques required to keep the class moving forward. This works both face-to-face and over the web, and is especially easy for managers who were involved in the development.
Prepare managers to deliver their portion of the training so there are no surprises for them or you. Run an abbreviated train-the-trainer over the phone. Make yourself available for questions during their preparation.
Engage multiple managers so no one manager has too much responsibility. You may choose to work with them as a team, or one-on-one.
Critical Success Factors
Not all managers will be successful in training development and delivery nor will they all have selling experience or be particularly good in front of customer. Be sure you know they can present and sell. Look for sales managers who have the respect of the sales force, are articulate, and know what techniques and processes work with customers. You want consciously competent managers who are able to articulate what they do well - so you can develop the content and so they can deliver it.
Engaging sales managers in training will increase the company's return on investment as managers are more likely to reinforce it, and reps are more likely to implement the techniques their managers taught them. It's a win-win for the whole organization.
Involving Sales Managers in Development and Delivery - To learn more about this author, visit Kendra Lee's Website.
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Sales Managers bring a level of expertise and respect that can instantly make - or break - your training program. You know the typical ways to involve sales managers in training:
Understand their needs: Prior to training, ask sales managers to define the business objectives they hope to address. Identify what they want their employees to accomplish, that they haven't achieved previously. Determine the return on investment and skill change the sales managers are seeking to appropriately match the training program.
Include them: During training have sales managers kick off the program and tell participants why it is important to the business, the team, and them individually. Have managers share their expectations for the team following training. Ask them to deliver key content where they excel, share stories that reinforce class content, and to participate in activities.
Position them as a role model: If the manager is participating in the training, which is the ideal, be sure to let them know how important their presence will be among the reps. Make them understand that it's their job to serve as a role model, being attentive, and engaging themselves in the training program. This is your opportunity to ban the manager's cell phone and laptop.
Serve as a coach: Suggest that sales managers who attended the training use sales calls and team meetings as an opportunity to continue to teach reps how to apply the training concepts and techniques more effectively. As a trainer, offer to instruct managers on the key techniques to reinforce through coaching and modeling. The world of learning and development has evolved and sales managers in many organizations are now getting engaged in the development and delivery of sales training to their people. As they get engaged, managers discover three benefits of their involvement that far outweigh the cost of their time:
They serve as subject matter experts, influencing the key learning objectives, content, and activities to ensure they fit the business objectives driving the training
They can reinforce the points they feel are key to the success of their teams, and ensure their teams are focused on the right learning
They demonstrate their expertise, ultimately gaining and reinforcing the respect of the sales teams
When to Involve Managers
Not every program should involve sales managers in development and delivery. They have other business priorities of their own. Consider where their expertise and support are critical to the success of the program, and the level of their involvement needed to be successful. Some examples include:
If you are implementing a custom process, such as a custom sales, negotiation, or lead generation process, involving sales managers in the development and delivery of the program will garner immediate buy-in from the entire Sales organization as they see the manager support.
Several of our clients have found using sales managers as subject matter experts in development and delivery to be an effective way to reinforce specific sales topics. Topics have included structuring creative deals, demonstrating solution capabilities, handling consulting services objections, cementing partnerships, and forecasting success.
Kick-off and team meetings where available time is limited, but a skills element is required, are also ideal situations in which to engage sales managers. Managers are perfect subject matter experts and when assigned a 1-2 hour module, can spend a total of 2-3 hours working with an instructional designer to have it created. If the program is designed well, groups can be up to 60-80 participants, and sales managers can deliver effectively with appropriate preparation and facilitation support.
What Managers Can Offer
Sales managers can share knowledge and expertise, without a significant time commitment, if they're asked the right questions. Areas where they can assist during development include:
Key skill gaps to address and how to frame them with the sales reps
Specific techniques to train
Sales phrases they would like their reps to use
Positioning to use with customers at different points in the sales process
Anticipated roadblocks to the training content and how to overcome them
Areas where they can assist during delivery include:
Delivery of content modules or sections
Modeling through role play
Serving as an expert on a panel
Assisting reps during activities
The Mechanics of Involving Managers
So, how do you get sales managers involved when you know their time is limited, or they may lack confidence in their delivery abilities?
Let managers serve as the subject matter experts. We develop the content, write the activities, design scenarios, gather success stories, and write assessments, where the sales managers provide the background information required and review the content for accuracy.
When we work with sales managers who are being asked to deliver content, we often facilitate, acting as the master of ceremonies, introducing and debriefing activities, writing on flipcharts, even engaging the class in discussion. This allows sales managers to focus on the content and not worry about the training techniques required to keep the class moving forward. This works both face-to-face and over the web, and is especially easy for managers who were involved in the development.
Prepare managers to deliver their portion of the training so there are no surprises for them or you. Run an abbreviated train-the-trainer over the phone. Make yourself available for questions during their preparation.
Engage multiple managers so no one manager has too much responsibility. You may choose to work with them as a team, or one-on-one.
Critical Success Factors
Not all managers will be successful in training development and delivery nor will they all have selling experience or be particularly good in front of customer. Be sure you know they can present and sell. Look for sales managers who have the respect of the sales force, are articulate, and know what techniques and processes work with customers. You want consciously competent managers who are able to articulate what they do well - so you can develop the content and so they can deliver it.
Engaging sales managers in training will increase the company's return on investment as managers are more likely to reinforce it, and reps are more likely to implement the techniques their managers taught them. It's a win-win for the whole organization.
Involving Sales Managers in Development and Delivery - To learn more about this author, visit Kendra Lee's Website.
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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