SKILLS TRAINING – By Jeanne Farley
Ready to learn? We’re playing your song
Building a skills training program can be a lot like calling into a radio station (back in the day) and trying to geta song you wanted to hear played on the air. You listened faithfully to the station and finally got up the nerve to call in with a request. When you called, you may not have gotten through right away and had to call back several times.
And then, finally, you get through.
You say, “Hello, long-time listener, first-time caller here.” And depending on what song you requested, the DJ may play that song – or may not. That just meant you needed to try again.
Starting up a skills training program can be much like this. You try and try to get through to the leadership that a skills training program is what needs to be “played on the air.” Your call may get through or it may not. But if or when you do finally get through, maybe they are willing to implement the plan you propose.
Here’s how I moved from longtime listener to first-time caller.
Top 10 on the S-K-I-L-L Charts
Some companies and leaders are very driven by data. Here are10 statistics you can share:
- 55% of sales reps lack basic sales skills (Caliper).
- 82% of business-to-business decision-makers believe that sales reps are unprepared to effectively engage with potential customers (Blender).
- 66% of companies have trouble recruiting candidates with necessary skills (Performance Based Results).
- 69% of seasoned sellers say selling has gotten more challenging in recent years (Mindtickle).
- 40% of sellers don’t receive the training they need to sell virtually (Salesforce.com).
- 52% of workers admitted they need to learn new skills to continue their career (SHRM).
- 74% of workers want to acquire new skills in their training (PwC).
- 46% of workers admitted they are not as skilled as they need to be (SHRM).
- 94% of employees said that development opportunities would keep them in a role (LinkedIn).
- 52.6% increase in win rates in companies where sales skills training program exceeded expectations (CSO Insights).
There is variety here – retention, customer needs, recruiting, modern selling needs, development and improved sales. Just as we would train a salesperson to select the appropriate talking point for the appropriate stakeholder – choose your stats accordingly. Many supplier partners can also offer a plethora of statistical analyses their company performed that can be useful if you are looking to utilize a supplier for skills training.
Long-Time Listener
As a salesperson, I honed my selling ability through observation. I was given no formal training on how to sell per se. In fact, I often refer to my learning period as going through the “school of hard knocks.”
My first sales role was in an ubercompetitive environment, with daily sales expectations, and harsh Friday in-person “roll calls” where you were either celebrated or humiliated. Frankly, many cracked quickly under the pressure. You had to figure it out quickly or you were surely not going to make it long.
So, I watched and listened to those who were successful. I had a great mentor who showed me the “how” of selling. After four years, I moved on and into my first medical sales role, where I was able to parlay these selling skills successfully.
As we usher new sales reps into our organizations, many arrive on the scene without a foundation of selling skills. Coupled with a need to learn product, the industry and internal navigation of their new company, this presents a great challenge.
Some organizations spend a great deal of time and money creating pre-employment assessments intended to determine if a candidate has the innate qualities or inherent talent that would enable them to perform in their role. Organizations embracing this process often posit that skills training, therefore, is not a necessary item and focus their attention on product training. Their innate talent will carry them through once they have learned their product.
Right? Not necessarily.
Even if a new hire shows innate talent, they need to be guided on how to hone that talent. We can’t leave our sales success to luck.
Many candidates who make it through this sieve of pre-assessment – the ones deemed to have innate talent – still often struggle with the “how” of selling.
First-Time Caller
When I became a learning and development professional, I became a first-time caller. I had to be unwavering in my commitment to skills and relentless about “calling” (for action).
Sometimes when we call in we don’t get through – the line is busy, too many people are calling in or no one answers the phone. And sometimes, even when we do get to talk to someone, they don’t want to play our song, or they say they’ll play it, but it never comes on.
What can we do to ensure that decision-makers in our organizations agree that relying just on innate talent is not enough? That we need to supplement talent with skills training (formal or informal) to provide the guidance that hones abilities?
What Song Would You Like to Hear?
There are different avenues you can take to provide skills training. The path will be dictated by one or more items like budget, time and buy-in from leadership.
Here are a few options. They can be used alone or together.
- Select a supplier partner: There are many suppliers that can offer you either out-of-the box solutions or something that is fully customized to your organization. The options range from basic to advanced skills, and the courses can be stand alone or possibly integrated into enablement platforms like your learning management system, customer relationship management or communication or content solutions. Along with how well their offerings align with your needs, budget and administration will be two considerations when selecting your partner.
- Create content in house: If you have access to instructional designers and time to create content, this may be an option for you. The creation of the content should be accompanied by application activities and a reinforcement plan. Given that our training landscape has also changed significantly in the past four years, offering virtual, in-person and blended learning is critical. Rightfully, you may decide that some skills courses cannot be learned virtually and opt for inperson application and practice. An example of this may be communication skills.
- Field training program: As an extension of the training department, field trainers can provide great support in helping to upskill new hires. Provided you have carefully vetted your field trainers (tenure, sales success, demonstrated skill), new reps can observe them in action (like my experience in the “school of hard knocks”) and learn best practices in selling. To keep the program consistent for all, it will be important to provide training for your field trainers along with a field trainer guide that sets expectations. Requiring a completed checklist and feedback form are helpful as you will wish to monitor their work with new hires. These items will also be a useful tool when discussing progress with the new hire’s manager. Because this is a professional development opportunity for field sales trainers, reward them by offering additional development opportunities in the form of an advanced skills course or networking opportunities.
- Bake the veggies into the meatloaf: You may find that there is limited support for skills training and therefore also no budget. If this is the case, consider embracing the adage, “do what you can with what you have.”
When you are facilitating product training, add activities that include skills development. Inject quick hits of a skill training and have them practice it during their role plays. For example, include a 10-minute session on using an objection handling model and then ask them to emulate it in the next role play. As you include these short skill bursts, make them build with each scenario. Expect they will use all the skills by the final role play. By providing even quick hits of skills training, you are helping guide their ability. If you use this in combination with field training, the field trainers can help emulate these skills and practice with the rep as well.
Who Can Get Your Song Played?
Remember, you’re not alone and someone can help get your request on the air.
All managers, everywhere, until the end of time, will always want their reps in the field, selling, as soon as possible. This is the perfect help-me-help-you situation.
Provide managers with tools that can help them coach their new hires to earlier success. Consider using a one-page quick guide to coaching that accompanies training or various parts of your new hire curriculum. It can call out what the rep is learning and what they can expect to hear and see in the field with the rep and provide suggested questions to gauge understanding or application of the training.
Too much work? I get that it may take considerable effort if you are limited on staff or time. How about a set cadence of communication with all managers that have a new hire. Five-star communication is something I implemented in a past role. It included five touch points with the manager throughout the learning journey. Some were quick – an email or text about how they did in training today, how the manager could encourage the rep or where they could boost engagement. You may make one of those touch points come from the rep – here’s how training went today.
HR business partners are another resource. Skills training helps develop an individual in their current role, and potentially for other roles as well. This two-pronged benefit is something that may enable you to partner with HR.
When annual reviews take place, does the manager note that there are certain skills that a rep could improve? Partner with HR to understand what those skills are, aggregate them and use that to justify a skills training program. Also, as career pathways are something many organizations are examining, remember 94% of workers said they would stay with a company that provided development opportunities.
Providing varying levels of skills training can align with a competency or capability framework and aid in succession planning. Co-promote skills training with HR for greater success!
In Summary
Whether you are a long-time listener, first-time caller or repeat caller, the pursuit of growing skills is one to keep in the forefront. While some organizations are bringing in new hires they believe to have innate talent, it simply will not be enough to match the challenge of the changing buying landscape.
Don’t let the DJ keep playing the same song. Be sure your request gets heard; that song deserves to be played!
Jeanne Farley is manager, field sales and education, diagnostic imaging, for Philips Healthcare and a member of the LTEN Editorial Advisory Board. Email her at jeanne.farley@philips.com or connect through www.linkedin.com/in/aboutjeannefarley.
