Ep. 258 How to Get the Most Out of Sales Training

Joe Pici discusses the metrics you should be tracking. In addition, he gives great advice on how to prepare beforehand and best practices to apply what you’ve learned post training. 

Voice over:

Get ready for an unfair advantage over your competition. This is The Sales Edge podcast. Where globally recognized sales expert and trainer Joe Pici helps you sharpen your skills for booking more appointments and closing more deals. And now here’s your host Joe Pici.

Joe Pici (JP):

Welcome to the sales edged podcast. I am Joe peachy your host today is podcast. Number 258. We want to especially thank our sponsors Pici and Pici Inc. This is a speaking coaching training consulting company and for over almost close to 30 years. We have helped companies and individuals get in front of that Target Market. Close more business And really attract and retain more clients and our sell more virtually.com platform, where we have live coaching and training every Thursday night. We have e-courses. Downloads consider take a run around that website consider being a member. But today, I also want to special especially thank you our audience. You’ve helped up to get over a hundred countries more and more. Downloads is becoming a very popular. A podcast because of your loyalty and you promoting us and we certainly appreciate it. So let’s just talk about this whole controversy of training. Should I be trained? Should I invest in training? Should I hire a coach? Here are the questions? I hear all the time. It’s training worth. It. Does training work. How can we get the most out of the training we invest in? Is it worth it?

Time away from work. Should I take my team out of doing what they’re doing to train them? Should I take time out of my own business? To sharpen? My sword will the training or coaching? Give me Roi or return on investment and how can we measure the value of good training, you know, over a year ago. I did a podcast on a similar topic as we were getting ready for a boot. Camp. And you know, we always talk about Roi, you know, I said in the past and since 1975 Dawn, and I have sat in convention centers have sat in, coaching’s have received trainings. We also have done trainings, we’ve done coaching. So since 1975, we have been a big part of our Lives as been in the treating teaching coaching training world.

One way or the other. I really do believe Don and I are experts when it comes to understanding training. And so we’re qualified to maybe, give you some advice and some tips on things that you can do with respect to this topic. So what works and what doesn’t and that’s always the topic, you know, what’s good, what’s bad? So it all starts with specific intent, you know, when you’re considering

Training or coaching. Everything has to have a specific intent. So what did the first thing we have to decide individually or for our team is? What is it that we want to improve on? What are the specific areas? For example, is it strategy? Is it skills, methodology, communication or knowledge but then you get more granular. So is it sales? Is it negotiation? Is it? Conflict resolution is account management. Is it Collections? And there’s so many other things. So specifically, the first thing you have to decide is what do you want out of the training? The second thing is, do we have a solid deadline timeline that we want to do this. So many times, I sit across the table from people at, tell me, they need to do this now, but they don’t pull the trigger and that becomes an issue. The third question is,

Why do I? To improve these things. Why is that important? You know, what happens? If I do, improve these things? What are the benefits results in Solutions of investing time and money to sharpen the sword. But here’s the second question and probably more relevant. What happens if I don’t, what happens if I don’t get better. Well, I can tell you a couple things that happen. Your competition, eat your lunch, your competition, gains an unfair advantage, over you, they get better, they get bigger. And so we’re in a competitive World. Here. We have got to stay sharp. We got to stay on The Cutting Edge. So, if you can answer these three questions and you’re ready and you like the answers, now it’s set to move into more purposeful questioning. You want to understand this. So another set of questions we have to ask, do I have the, the ability financially to do something? In other words. Do I have the

Money, can I get the money to do some training or coaching? What sacrifice am I willing to make? You know what value? Do I put on training? Am I willing to give something up to get? And am I willing to invest for the tools of my profession? Now, this is a very important thing here when it comes to money, you know, and as I grew up, you know, my father needed a tool for his Business. He was a builder, you know, if it was either going on vacation with the family or buying a cement mixture. I will tell you we bought the cement mixture why the cement mixture made money, which put food on the table. So I think we have to be realistic in the fact that you don’t spend money in training you invest it. As long as you’re going to get Roi. And so the money that you’re investing in that training will come back.

You do some of the next few things I talked about. So the next question we have to ask is who am I going to hire? Who’s going to be the trainer? Who’s going to be my coach? Are they experts? I mean, are they an expert in their field? Do they deliver quantifiable proven results? Can I measure that? It’s who have they worked with? Who is this? Some of the people, the companies? They’ve worked with in the past, next.

How can I vet them? And it’s just so important, you know, here here, where we live in Orlando, at any given time a day or any given time of day unlinked in or anything. There’s so much free speaking coaching and training and people don’t think about vetting that but that’s because they don’t value their time and don’t put a dollar value, whether you’re paying for something getting it free, or for fee. We must vet.

Instructor because it’s the information is going into your head. It can either be an asset or a liability. Next question is, how am I going to measure everything I invest in? You know, I mean, do I have a metric? Is there a way I can evaluate the ROI? But there’s another thing. How do I want to accept the training? Do I want virtual do I? I want live. I just landed a new client. Just worked with them Thursday and Friday and one of the owners lives in Houston and in Mexico, just a dynamic business owner. His partner lives up here in Orlando, but they really wanted to sharpen their skills. They wanted to create a sales methodology and collectively. We decided most important to anything. They did was mastering the phone. And so when we’re doing our negotiation, he said we’ll just

You know, I’m all the way down here in Mexico or Houston. It’s a major, you know thing for me to get up to Orlando, or whatever. And I said, well, what’s most important to you? He said the phone, I said that cannot be trained virtually. It’s going to have to be live. So you know what he did. He got a plane, he flew up and he and his partner for two days. We did an intensive on day two. We were on a phone booking, real appointments closing, real. All business. Have to decide how we want to accept our training. So now, you’ve decided you’ve made some serious decisions. You have some questions answered, and you’re ready. So now we’re going to go into pre-training questions. Another words. You’re ready. You’ve decided you’re ready to hire a coach or two to work with a trainer. Now, number one, question is, what is the most important things that you need to master and write a list? Okay, when Dawn was working to create the sell more virtually program. She had a list of the things she needed to know. So then she went looking for mentors and coaches and we paid, but she knew exactly what she was looking for. So you’re going to need to know exactly what you’re looking for. Number two.

Once again, how do I measure what is the metric? I’m looking for? Number three, does the training a line with my values, my methodologies, a my strategies. For example, the two guys who were in the training Thursday, and Friday had been to other sales training, but it never aligned with their values or their methodology. These are two very consultative people, and they always say, Sat in transactional sales training, which was get to yes, or no as fast as possible. Get the people honor off and nerve process is a slower sales process needing consultative sales. And so when the training started, I could see the apprehension and three hours into it. They said this is so different. This fits who we are and how we want to sell. So I’m not saying one is better. I’m just saying

Is fit in with their values, in their methodology. The next one. What am I willing to invest in a way of time and money? Am I willing to take a day or two? All am I willing to pull my team off the line? What am I willing to spend in a way of time and money. You have to have an idea. Now, do I understand? What happens? If we don’t get better? We knew this Joe and on peachy knew this a year and a half ago, if we didn’t jump in with both feet to the virtual Market.

We didn’t jump in with both feet to learning the whole virtual world. The digital world, the ability to do business virtually as well as live. Our competitors would eat our lunch. And so we knew what would happen if we did not get better and invested time and money. The next question in our mind has to be, do I have a list of questions in advance before I enter the training? Okay, they never leave a training, never leave a train with your questions. Unanswered. If you have a question, don’t leave the room. Don’t leave the facility. Make sure who’s coaching you who’s training. Who is answering your questions. Now, number 7. Am I allowed to call the person? I’m hirings, former, and present clients. I always tell people I’m talking to, you can call any of my clients and find out.

Hey, they say I don’t don’t hire me but you need to be able in vetting to call clients and say did you get a return on investment? Next is, any part of the training, any of it experiential? For example, when Dawn does LinkedIn training and one of the primary things in LinkedIn training is learning how to mine leads. She’s having them do it when I

You sales training. There’s a poor set sales training. We’re doing real on time right now, live outbound calls. When we have our speaker, boot camp, everybody who comes on day. Three has to give a core story. Presentation. We are very big on experiential training. We want to handle the hardest, part of the business. You’re going to be in in the training room for real. Like I always say, I don’t believe in role play I like Like real play. So now let’s look at some serious action steps. This is to get your Roi. You’ve made the decision. You’ve hired to coach, you’ve hired to train. The room has been rented. Materials are done. And now it’s time. Number one. Do your pre-work. You’ve hired somebody, they’re going to give you some homework. We just today, we just sent out homework for three trainings in November our sales boot camp, our speaker boot camp. Our Behavioral Studies, the

Work has been sent out. Now the homework for sales, the homework for speaker part of the homework for the Behavioral Studies is that they need to take an assessment part of the homework for sales. They need to bring names with them with numbers. So to get your Roi, do your homework number to have the clarity, about the logistics? What does that mean? Know where you’re going? No one. It starts know how the whole thing is going to work. It’s amazing to me that the day before boot camp. I’ll get a call and I’ll hear people say, where is this? How folks, we send out a ton of information. It goes out. It’s in their email and I talked to them. Have all of your Logistics done be on time. Actually be early. When you’re early you get time to spend with the coach or the trainer to pick their brain. You’re already paying for them. You’re there on your time.

And so get there. Early be ready. Next is be mentally prepared. Don’t bring baggage in with you have a clear mind. Be ready, you know have a great attitude. Next is have your Clarity, on your desired outcomes. Every boot camp Dawn. And I do we start out with everybody in the room. They get one sentence to say, what are the three most important things you want to put in your toolbox and take out of here? Walk in the room.

With that. The next thing is come with a teachable attitude, folks you’re paying with time and money. And you’ve decided that this is the right coach, the right trainer, you decided to invest have a teachable. Heart, have a teachable Spirit, come in hungry, come in, Humble, and come in with a way that you’re there to learn then after each module, most Raining or coaching is in modules. Ask yourself. Two questions. Question. Number one. What did I learn question? Number two, how am I going to apply this? Now? We move down to the next thing. Okay. Now we’re looking at post action items trainings done. All right, you’re on your way home or whatever. Number one. You got execute, the plan of action. You determine during a training. Number two, you have to have timeline for every aspect of the plan, you

Now number three, do your homework and number four, please don’t stick the manual up on the bookcase, keep the manual and read it. I can’t tell you how many times people call me with questions and I don’t want to charge you for the coaching. But my time is worth money. Yet. The answer is in the book review, the materials. Now, this client, we had Matthias and Alex Gray. Wait guys. I mean are fired up and they Good business, but the last question, they said to me, I said, okay, we already got results. We already have appointments booked this week. We already have deals that we believe we’re going to close that are going to be big deals. But what should we do? Monday? Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday with respect to getting clients. And I took out our Focus board and I gave them are focused for it. I’ve been training on our Focus board, but our Focus board is an action item. Check sheet. Of what they should do, Monday, what they should do, Tuesday, what they should do Wednesday. So absolutely create some type of plan board that you can check. The next one, is have your allotted schedule planned out after the training. I seen people go to Trini and then that’s when they take their vacation, take your vacation before the training because during a trainee, you’re going to learn and have things in place that you want to use after.

Training. The next one is maybe during the training. You meet some people that you can establish an accountability partnership with, you know, somebody you can. I know this happens all the time that people walk out of that room with new friends or a new new strategic alliances accountability Partners, but then here’s another thing. Okay, make sure you’re measuring the results of everything you do, so you Do a task measure. Create realistic relationships with the trainer. In other words, make sure you and your trainer have a relationship. And you may want to consider post coaching. That’s something you decide. If you want to keep this momentum going and you feel very strongly that that trainer or that coach has provided probably paid for the training while you were there. Then you may want to enter into a coaching agreement. So I just

Gave you an intense intense training on? Why you should train and Coach, what you should be willing to invest what happens if you don’t, but what should you do to make your training investment dollars? Pay Roi. So thank you so much and we certainly appreciate it. Can you like it? Can you share it? And can you rate a great comment and take out your phone? Put the word sales, edged one word. Send it to five, five, six, seven, eight. It’ll take you to peek and peachy link hit that take it to a splash page. The splash page will give you all kinds of information links to the podcast, downloads e-courses, but I recommend strongly, you, take the link, go on to sell more virtually.com, run around there and consider being a member. So, thank you so much. We’ll see you at our next podcast.

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Thanks for listening. New episodes will air each Tuesday and Thursday. So make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and give us a five star review. The Sales Edge is sponsored by Pici and Pici Incorporated. A firm which provides training, consulting, and keynote presentations. Empowering corporations and individuals to attract and retain quality clients, for higher revenues and growth. Make more money in sales, speak with Joe in person by calling 407 947 2590 or visit www.piciandpici.com