Learning from Experience: Implementing After Action Reviews in Your Sales Force
Learning from Experience: Implementing After Action Reviews in Your Sales Force
Good knowledge management (KM) holds the key to breakthrough performance for many sales teams, however, KM has had mixed reviews by managers ever since it came on the management scene. Managers love it and hate it. They love it because it offers easy-to-see benefits by leveraging what’s in peoples’ heads. They hate it because most KM initiatives are expensive and take too much time to start showing results. So much of the knowledge generated today has a time decay characteristic. By the time you collect it, document it, and store it for future retrieval, it is already in need of an update. For most managers, knowledge is a bear to manage.
Without question, leveraging knowledge is a powerful performance improvement tactic. The faster you can capture information, turn that information into knowledge, and get that knowledge into the hands of the people who can use it in meaningful ways, the faster you will see results. What’s needed is a "quick and dirty" KM approach that is easy to implement and that doesn’t require complex systems or processes.
A quick and dirty KM program for a sales organization has two parts: a technical part and a people part. The technical part is a combination of paper and computer tools you use to manage sales force information. Most sales forces have some kind of functioning system that does this, albeit inefficiently. What most companies don’t have is the people part — an After Action Review process, or AAR. This tool can be the single most important sales performance enhancer that you implement.
The "After Action Review" was first developed as a learning methodology in the 1970's by the US Army. Its purpose was to create a structured means to facilitate day to day learning from combat training exercises. The reasons for success or failure in combat training exercises are often not clear. AARs were designed to tease out the learnings from such exercises. After Action Reviews are now used by many companies in a number of ways. When conducted properly, the AAR serves as a post-event debrief that generates specific actionable recommendations (SARs) for immediate use. It also creates an environment in which sales people can identify real mistakes, learn from them, and make immediate adjustments, rather than get bogged down in blaming the market, the prospect, or the competition.
In a business setting, an AAR is a team-only discussion after an event or activity — to start with, perhaps, a sales call, presentation, or phone meeting. As the team becomes adept at conducting and leveraging their AARs, their use can extend to larger activities such as lead generation events, networking initiatives, and trade show exhibit participation.
The purpose of the AAR is to identify one or two specific actionable recommendations (SARs) focused on improvement that can be acted upon immediately. Key characteristics of the session are:
-Short-term, in a small group
-By the team, for the team
-Takes about 15 minutes
-Makes learning conscious
-Can make learning explicit
-Builds trust
-An AAR consists of four deceptively simple questions asked in succession:
- What was supposed to happen?
- What actually happened?
- Why was there a difference?
- What have we learned?
The only acceptable climate for an AAR is one of openness and commitment to learning. The objective is to improve performance, not assign blame for something that isn’t working. AARs are not critiques; more importantly, they are not personal performance evaluations or even a part of the evaluation process. Nothing kills an AAR effort more quickly than using it for any kind of management evaluation.
Each member of the discussion is on an equal footing, with one member assigned the role of facilitator. The facilitator’s job is to keep the conversation factual and free of blame, and to present supporting questions (specifically, "whys" and "hows") to capture more information under each main heading. The manager or leader of the team should not be present if their participation will inhibit honest or open communication. In these cases, the facilitator can provide the manager with a summary of the AAR that has been shared with all team members beforehand.
The final result of an AAR is the identification of SARs; that is, specific statements of actions to take to improve the outcome of the next similar event or activity. Other than instances where a manager summary is written, AARs are not usually formally captured in written form. During the discussion, each member takes notes. However, this is not written in stone; you can elect to have a written record of AAR activities on the team’s online system, with proven SARs converted to best practices and included in the Sales Standards of your sales force.
KM doesn’t have to be complex and expensive. By simply putting AARs into place, you can implement a quick, dirty, and effective KM component to your sales team for far less time and trouble than any packaged KM solutions currently on the market. Not only that, you will see far more meaningful results from a quick and dirty KM initiative than any training program you have considered trying. When you combine the technical and people parts of a quick and dirty KM system, the result is greater than the sum of the two parts. In addition to providing a repository for sales and business intelligence, your online repository can hold the results of AARs, so that as SARs arise from the debrief process, they can be recorded and then refined as they go through further AAR processes.
Over time, as team members comment on SARs recorded on the site and their results in the field, some of these learnings will evolve into best practices. When best practices are noted, codifying them into your department’s Sales Standards is the next step in performance enhancement.
Learning from Experience Implementing After Action Reviews in Your Sales Force - To learn more about this author, visit Bryan Feller's Website.
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The problem with many sales organizations is not laziness, lack of selling skills or the myriad of other issues CEOs point to when sales are down. The problem with most sales organizations is the inability to learn from experience. Sales people are knowledge workers. Knowledge is their most valuable asset. Yet most sales organizations have no viable way to harness or exploit the knowledge gained everyday from their salespeople.
Good knowledge management (KM) holds the key to breakthrough performance for many sales teams, however, KM has had mixed reviews by managers ever since it came on the management scene. Managers love it and hate it. They love it because it offers easy-to-see benefits by leveraging what’s in peoples’ heads. They hate it because most KM initiatives are expensive and take too much time to start showing results. So much of the knowledge generated today has a time decay characteristic. By the time you collect it, document it, and store it for future retrieval, it is already in need of an update. For most managers, knowledge is a bear to manage.
Without question, leveraging knowledge is a powerful performance improvement tactic. The faster you can capture information, turn that information into knowledge, and get that knowledge into the hands of the people who can use it in meaningful ways, the faster you will see results. What’s needed is a "quick and dirty" KM approach that is easy to implement and that doesn’t require complex systems or processes.
A quick and dirty KM program for a sales organization has two parts: a technical part and a people part. The technical part is a combination of paper and computer tools you use to manage sales force information. Most sales forces have some kind of functioning system that does this, albeit inefficiently. What most companies don’t have is the people part — an After Action Review process, or AAR. This tool can be the single most important sales performance enhancer that you implement.
The "After Action Review" was first developed as a learning methodology in the 1970's by the US Army. Its purpose was to create a structured means to facilitate day to day learning from combat training exercises. The reasons for success or failure in combat training exercises are often not clear. AARs were designed to tease out the learnings from such exercises. After Action Reviews are now used by many companies in a number of ways. When conducted properly, the AAR serves as a post-event debrief that generates specific actionable recommendations (SARs) for immediate use. It also creates an environment in which sales people can identify real mistakes, learn from them, and make immediate adjustments, rather than get bogged down in blaming the market, the prospect, or the competition.
In a business setting, an AAR is a team-only discussion after an event or activity — to start with, perhaps, a sales call, presentation, or phone meeting. As the team becomes adept at conducting and leveraging their AARs, their use can extend to larger activities such as lead generation events, networking initiatives, and trade show exhibit participation.
The purpose of the AAR is to identify one or two specific actionable recommendations (SARs) focused on improvement that can be acted upon immediately. Key characteristics of the session are:
-Short-term, in a small group
-By the team, for the team
-Takes about 15 minutes
-Makes learning conscious
-Can make learning explicit
-Builds trust
-An AAR consists of four deceptively simple questions asked in succession:
- What was supposed to happen?
- What actually happened?
- Why was there a difference?
- What have we learned?
The only acceptable climate for an AAR is one of openness and commitment to learning. The objective is to improve performance, not assign blame for something that isn’t working. AARs are not critiques; more importantly, they are not personal performance evaluations or even a part of the evaluation process. Nothing kills an AAR effort more quickly than using it for any kind of management evaluation.
Each member of the discussion is on an equal footing, with one member assigned the role of facilitator. The facilitator’s job is to keep the conversation factual and free of blame, and to present supporting questions (specifically, "whys" and "hows") to capture more information under each main heading. The manager or leader of the team should not be present if their participation will inhibit honest or open communication. In these cases, the facilitator can provide the manager with a summary of the AAR that has been shared with all team members beforehand.
The final result of an AAR is the identification of SARs; that is, specific statements of actions to take to improve the outcome of the next similar event or activity. Other than instances where a manager summary is written, AARs are not usually formally captured in written form. During the discussion, each member takes notes. However, this is not written in stone; you can elect to have a written record of AAR activities on the team’s online system, with proven SARs converted to best practices and included in the Sales Standards of your sales force.
KM doesn’t have to be complex and expensive. By simply putting AARs into place, you can implement a quick, dirty, and effective KM component to your sales team for far less time and trouble than any packaged KM solutions currently on the market. Not only that, you will see far more meaningful results from a quick and dirty KM initiative than any training program you have considered trying. When you combine the technical and people parts of a quick and dirty KM system, the result is greater than the sum of the two parts. In addition to providing a repository for sales and business intelligence, your online repository can hold the results of AARs, so that as SARs arise from the debrief process, they can be recorded and then refined as they go through further AAR processes.
Over time, as team members comment on SARs recorded on the site and their results in the field, some of these learnings will evolve into best practices. When best practices are noted, codifying them into your department’s Sales Standards is the next step in performance enhancement.
Learning from Experience Implementing After Action Reviews in Your Sales Force - To learn more about this author, visit Bryan Feller'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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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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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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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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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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