Peer 2 Peer Mentoring

Transferable Talent
It seems like a simple concept: figure out why your top performers are succeeding and share that information with the rest of the team. Unfortunately, this just isn't the case with most sales organizations.
Most organizations just haven't put a lot of thought into analyzing every step of the sales process. Like many of us, they follow the myth that great sales performance is 100 percent art and no science. This is simply not true.
Sales managers can watch every detail of the sales process from lead generation to closing the sale of their top performers. At best this will give structure to the process but little conceptual information. Three-hundred calls per day will be of great benefit if you want to play the numbers game in sales. This has a price tag that many managers find difficult to pay…increased stress leading to increased staff turnover.
Transferring the talent of your top performers is no easy task considering the competitive environment. Many of the leading sales professionals are reluctant to reveal their competitive secrets after all it affords them a larger slice of the cake.
One way to get them to give over some of the inner working s of successful sales is to compensate them when mentoring their peers. In-house Skill swapping based on coach-lead sessions is a natural extension to individual coaching sessions transferred to a team environment. It is a widely held belief that the individual has all the resources they need to make positive changes it follows then so does the organisation.
There are many external organisations which specialise in learning and development and should always be considered as an investment for the future. However before you go looking at the horizon it would be wise to look closer to home for exactly what you need. The existing executive and representative may have what you require and given the correct incentives would be willing to share.
Another technique is to make training and development a top priority. In the sales world, it is easy to get so involved with your work that you forget about the basics. Dedicate a portion of your team's time to training initiatives and make sure everybody participates, no exceptions. Continuing efforts on team building and professional development contribute to future success.
Finally, encourage your team to take advantage of coaches, within and outside your organization. Coaches within client organizations are effective when working with a specific account, but coaches within your organization can be additionally beneficial. Encourage your top performers to take on a mentor role with their peers and make sure your team is taking advantage of this great internal resource. It is important to remind your salespeople that a win for a team mate is a win for the whole team.
There is also an underlying positive effect in peer to peer mentoring in that each temporary mentor will have a great sense of self-worth and increase in confidence. This emotional upsurge is also transferable when the mentoring role is switched to others. For example John may be very good at gaining appointments so he can help with that aspect, while Sue may be great at closing the deal face to face. Each tiny step of any process can be broken down and allocated to the best in that area to mentor their peers. Imagine being able to combine the totality of excellence contained within a company into all your staff!
Art of NLP has been creating unique approaches to corporate solutions for many years and here is one idea that you may find useful;
One of the most powerful questions to ask your peers is so basic unfortunately it has been misrepresented since we were of school age. We were taught that to ask questions was to “look” stupid and not understand. We know from our subsequent experiences as adults this in many cases still prevails. Be honest…how many men are willing to stop and ask for directions if they are lost? They would rather drive around in circles for an hour before they admit defeat and therein is the problem in today’s corporate psych.
Is it such a defeatist attitude are we “defeated?” of course not it is a negative metaphor that has no place in the real world. It is a mind-state created by our imagination, past indoctrination and an immature way of looking at the world. The most powerful question once you remove these negative filters is simple; “Can you help me?” another question is “How do you do that so well?”
Both questions invoke an immediate positive internal emotional response from the person being asked. Increased confidence from that fact their excellence in a particular area has been recognised by another person. Increase in self-esteem and subsequently a willingness to impart the requested knowledge. This could and generally does open the doors to a more honest communication between peers and “bite-size” chunks of excellence begin to flow between peers especially if it is encouraged by the leadership.
The art of NLP is the ability to recognise the details and focus on the difference that makes the difference. It is real-world communication not some chalk board method that is difficult to implement outside the classroom. Why not consider implementing the good practice within your organisation of tapping into those “bite-size” chunks of excellence and get your staff to share ideas.
Gather your staff for a feedback session and while no individual will openly say or admit to excellence through fear of appearing arrogant. It is up to their peers to point out what they see as excellence in others and work over the next week/s to extrapolate and impart that to the group. After all, that is what being good at the art of NLP is all about.
While it may be said the world’s resources are dwindling, personnel skills are increasingly used from within the company. We have mapped more of the surface of Mars than we have the floor of our oceans. Let us not make the same mistake within our own corporate communities, look closer and use the excellence that resides within your own people.


Peer 2 Peer Mentoring - To learn more about this author, visit Jason Rife's Website.

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