It's a simple equation. Better trained salespeople means more money.

We all know that the world of business is based on sales.

But with customers becoming increasingly sophisticated and well-informed, some of the methods sales people adopt have become dated in today’s corporate world. So how can you ensure that your company’s sales people capitalise on their good skills and update their irrelevant ones?

Bruce Murphy, sales training manager of Ricoh Singapore and associate trainer with NTU’s Centre for Continuing Education, shares with us seven points to help sales managers prescribe the right training solutions to even the most experienced of sales people.

1. Do a GAP analysis

There’s always room for improvement, no matter how seasoned a sales person is. Get feedback from their peers, supervisors and even customers or follow them out on field attachments. Initiate an open and honest discussion with them – this would help you identify the gaps hindering them from achieving higher sales figures.

2. Take care of their self esteem

Sales people are driven and proud of their achievements. If you hurt their self esteem, you risk having them ‘shut you off’. Position their ‘gap’ as areas for improvement rather than areas which they are lacking in.

3. Let them discover it for themselves

Get them involved in role playing in an everyday scenario. Then ask them to describe what happened during a sales call that didn’t go well and ask them what they could have done differently if given a second chance. Be sure to take note of their answers as it will come in useful when you eventually decide on what training to prescribe in order to add value to them. But the role playing will allow employees to discover their weaknesses for themselves.

4. Show proof through white papers, research, and statistics

Provide your seasoned sales people with white papers. Quote relevant research findings and statistics. Show them that many other seasoned sales people have benefited from upgrading their sales skills. Assure them they are not alone.

5. Customise a Training Plan for them

Training doesn’t just refer to classroom training. Customise a plan comprising of a variety of learning strategies like role plays, coaching or field attachments. Remember to tailor it to match the requirements that have been discovered during the gap analysis.

6. Measure their success

Create appropriate metrics that have been agreed upon with the sales person and update him or her on their success rate after training. This would help you to identify areas of improvement that may have been missed out during the initial gap analysis. Some examples of success include improved win ratios or even shorter sales cycles.

7. Celebrate early wins

Share success stories of others with experienced sales people on how they too can reap the benefits of sales training. As soon as they see their peers improving after training, they too will want a piece of the action. Furthermore, celebrating wins helps publicise the credibility and effectiveness of your training.

Murphy says experienced sales people are like valuable diamonds that need to be polished to keep them shining for a long, long time. So never write them off as people who do not need to be trained further.

Bully-proof yourself

How can you tell if you are being bullied at work?

When the term “hostile workplace” is brought up, people generally tend to think that it refers to an environment where one has to subdue to another’s overbearing ways of threats, harassment, belittling, verbal abusing, or excessive criticism.

But because there is no pre-determined definition to the term “bullying” in the corporate world, does it mean that you are being bullied if you feel isolated and singled out at work?

Some bullying tactics to help you identify if you have fallen victim to your workplace bullying include:

• Made up rules (generally against you)
• Silent treatment
• Accused of things you have not done
• Discounting your personal opinions, work, etc.
• Non-verbal intimidation (e.g. stared at)
• Encouraging others to turn against you as well
• Starting rumours (which are about you and your work and generally negative)
• Constant criticism
• Harsh treatment
• Ignoring and not commenting on good work

Stress is often a consequence for victims of bullying. Hence, it is essential to take steps to resolve the situation:

• Speak to the bully
• Tell someone else that you trust
• If you are part of a Union, speak to them
• Keep a note and diary of every incident occurred
• Do not fight back or get into a debate with
• If it gets really bad and none of the above has led to the bullying stopping, make a formal complaint and go through the grievance procedures

(Via)

Playing with Lego bricks can foster teamwork in employees which would translate into better decision making and effective communication in the workplace.

Other than possessing the necessary skills and creativity, a successful employee has to be able to work well in a team, says LegoLand’s creative director Tim Burnell. And it is an attribute which is specifically tested for in any recruitment exercise LegoLand conducts.

There are altogether three model building – individual skills, team skills and creative freeform building skills – tests, followed by an interview during a recruitment session for model makers. It is in the second round where Burnell would quietly observe the candidates’ ability to communicate with each other. “As team members, they try to recreate this model [a large 30cm-tall Lego man]. It’s not necessarily to rebuild it but to see how they work together as a team.”

In the video, Burnell explains why teambuilding with Lego bricks would allow HR to understand how employees connect and adapt to each other’s working styles in order to complete any given tasks.

It’s a dog-eat-dog business world where employees keep trade secrets and skills to themselves. Conventional wisdom says that if you teach someone else to be better than you, there would come a day when you would be made redundant.

But for a leader to truly be great, a good leader needs to spend time and effort in raising other people to be better than they are, says Steve Farber, author of Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership.

Watch the clip below to find out how a new leadership mindset could help you as a leader and your company’s business:

Have trouble loading the video? Why not check your company or computer’s firewall settings to make sure that Youtube videos can be streamed on your computer.

It’s a common scenario. HR practitioners spend precious dollars on training in hopes of achieving specific behaviours, and yet when the training sessions are over,  employees just lapse back into their old habits.

So why is it that training often does not lead to the desired outcomes? The reason is because there is no change in employees’ thinking, says James Irvine, director of Egyii.

In this video, Irvine talks about how our thinking affects our behaviours and what we can do to control our thoughts.

Have trouble loading the video? Why not check your company or computer’s firewall settings to make sure that Youtube videos can be streamed on your computer.

Best in class

With the results of Hewitt Associate’s Best Employers Survey released two days ago, I thought it would be interesting to see what HR policies and initiatives some of these companies have in place that made them a top employer.

McDonalds:

• Seeing the value in mature workers
• Investing in employer training

FedEx:

• Making employees the face of the brand
• Ensuring a fair and equitable workplace for all employees
• Acts of corporate social responsibility
• A belief in investing in women employees

Marriott Hotels:

• Ensuring line managers are trained properly
• A mutual respect among colleagues and a fun environment for all
• Ensuring a rigorous selection process to select the right expatriate for the assignment

Ritz-Carlton Hotel:

• Proactively taking steps to safeguard jobs during a recession
• Understanding the value of employee diversity

And as employer branding becomes even more important during this downturn, what steps is your company taking to become an employer of choice? Or has your company put aside employer branding to focus on other pressing issues?

I’m blogging from Kuala Lumpur (where my company has set up a third office to launch Advertising + Marketing magazine) on a two-day conference with the rest of editors who work on my sister publications. It’s been really productive conference so far. There’s been great food, great company, and sharing the collective wisdom of how we as editors can make our work and magazines even better.

With the economic downturn upon us, one of the budget cuts many companies will look at is training budgets. Instead of a senior management retreat in Koh Samui or another regional resort, some may look to move it to a cheaper locale. Instead of holding it at a glitzy hotel, some may choose to have it in their office instead.

Which makes me wonder – what makes training sessions effective?

While thinking about this topic, I was reminded of a column we once ran by Michael Podolinsky where he gave his thoughts about the mistakes companies make when in creating L&D sessions.

Other times trainings are held on-site and leaders go back to their desks at breaks and lunch and rarely return on time. When they reappear, their minds are glued to the problems sitting on their desks – not their training.

While I did check my emails every so often, personally I feel that being away from the usual rut that is the North Bridge Road office (our quaint little shophouse) has helped invigorate and help clear thoughts and processes, and come up with ideas on how Human Resources magazine can be an even better brand.

So what do you think makes training sessions effective?