Training as Punishment

I was chatting with a young woman, Felicity, a while ago. She had asked for my help with her Sales Manager who was being a bit too demanding, expecting Felicity to meet targets of at least 50% to budget. Felicity was afraid that she was going to have to do some remedial training because she wasn’t meeting the mean old Sales Manager’s expectations.

This raised a few questions in my mind, firstly why was Felicity’s target 50%? Surely 100% makes more sense. Nobody can feel good with the job only half done. They tend to just give up because they perceive that it’s impossible to reach the goal. 100% to budget should be the starting point. Acceptable performance rates 100%, superior performance rates higher and less than stellar performance rates lower. With 100% as the target, everyone knows where they stand and they also know what they're shooting for.  So why not have a rethink and set the budgets accordingly? Felicity’s manager could still have the same expectation in terms of dollars, but instead of calling that expectation 50% to budget, rename it 100% instead.

Felicity wasn’t reaching her targets at all, there was obviously something wrong, yet according to her, the Manager was the source of the problem.  I suggested to Felicity that if she had met her targets, the Manager would have nothing to moan about and as she grudgingly conceded, the spectre of remedial training hung over her like a big black cloud.

Felicity’s fear of being forced to undergo training rang alarm bells with me. Surely training is a positive thing or am I just a bit biased? If you’re presented with the opportunity to improve yourself, to learn new things and grow in your personal and business life, why wouldn’t you? Well, that was not how Felicity saw it at all. She considered training a punishment inflicted on her by a cruel slave driver of a boss. Training was a chore and a bore and an utter waste of her time.

Her perception of training was not uncommon. Her only experience of it was being held captive in a room for hours or perhaps even days on end while some talking head stood at the top of the room and incessantly preached at her, telling her the error of her ways.  She claimed she never learned anything or if she did, it went out of her head within a week. She was probably right because I’ve heard all this before, more than once and not just from Felicity.

In a perfect world, training would be a positive experience with eager fresh-faced young things all lined up breathlessly anticipating every word that falls like pearls from the brilliant trainer’s lips. They would then head out into the world armed with all the knowledge they would ever need, empowered to conquer their budgets and tame their clients. Yeah right! Felicity’s idea of training as punishment is far closer to the truth.

I considered all this when I decided to create Sales Essentials -  Interactive Training on DVD.

I wanted training that would engage salespeople, not just make their managers feel satisfied that their people were getting a good dose of training.

I wanted training that would enrich people’s lives, get them excited about what they were doing, not just in their work, but in their whole life.

I wanted training that was available when the trainee needed it. 

When new people came on board and needed to be quickly brought up to speed, I wanted our training to be ready when they were.

I wanted to make sure that each and every trainee was given the same training, not skipping a bit of crucial information here and there because the trainer went off on a tangent. 

Most of all, I wanted training that got the job done, that educated and informed and left the trainee feeling knowledgeable and eager to succeed.

Cue the applause, because I got what I wanted!  Clients who’ve tried the Sales Essentials programme are raving about it. They’re telling me they love it and why wouldn’t they?  It does what I say it does - teaches people to sell well. It’s entertaining, easy-to-digest, covers all the bases…… I could offer pages of superlatives but why am I telling you all this when you can so easily find out for yourselves?!  If you’re ready to make knowledge and empowerment a priority with your sales team, if you’re committed to improving your performance, then you simply must take a look at Sales Essentials right now, today.

By the way, I put Felicity through the programme and she loves it too. She’s not just meeting budget, she’s exceeding it and her attitude has done a 180⁰. She told me she was starting to believe in herself again. No more moaning about training as punishment. No more blaming the boss for her own shortcomings. Felicity understands accountability, she has set personal and professional goals, is on-track and serious about attaining them and finally gets it that she creates her own reality. I have to say with just a tinge of pride that Felicity’s reality is looking a lot rosier these days.