Friday August 5, 2016 marked the opening of the Summer Olympic games in Rio. Athletes from 205 countries will compete against the very best in their field. They’ve trained long and hard to get to ‘this day’ — ‘their event’. They are all gifted and talented; ready to compete for their county.
Are these athletes born or made?
Although most Olympians are born with physical advantages that help them reach world-class performance, they still devote huge amounts of time to training. Preparation for the Olympic Games takes years of intense, focused physical and psychological training. Athletes work with coaches on their individualized training plan to reach peak performance just as the games occur.
Learn how to leverage the lessons learned from Olympic athletes and their world-class coaches to build better, more successful, enterprise sales teams.
Are these athletes born or made?
Although most Olympians are born with physical advantages that help them reach world-class performance, they still devote huge amounts of time to training. Preparation for the Olympic Games takes years of intense, focused physical and psychological training. Athletes work with coaches on their individualized training plan to reach peak performance just as the games occur.
Learn how to leverage the lessons learned from Olympic athletes and their world-class coaches to build better, more successful, enterprise sales teams.
Ever wondered how they prepared themselves for this epic life moment?
Coach Christopher Sommer, founder of gymnasticbodies.com, outlined his approach on preparing athletes for National competition teams and Olympic trials in a number of interviews & podcasts. I enjoyed Coach Sommer’s podcast with Tim Ferris (The Secrets of Gymnastic Strength Training). The meticulous preparation of an athlete in physical capabilities (strength, mobility & neuromuscular coordination) as well as psychological conditioning (overcoming fear, uncertainty & doubt) enable them for the physical and mental demands of competition.
Coach Sommer constantly stresses the importance of progressive, successful repetition to prepare his athletes for success.
Coach Christopher Sommer, founder of gymnasticbodies.com, outlined his approach on preparing athletes for National competition teams and Olympic trials in a number of interviews & podcasts. I enjoyed Coach Sommer’s podcast with Tim Ferris (The Secrets of Gymnastic Strength Training). The meticulous preparation of an athlete in physical capabilities (strength, mobility & neuromuscular coordination) as well as psychological conditioning (overcoming fear, uncertainty & doubt) enable them for the physical and mental demands of competition.
Coach Sommer constantly stresses the importance of progressive, successful repetition to prepare his athletes for success.
“Skill is only developed by
hours & hours of work.”
- Usain Bolt
What does this have to do with training our sales ‘athletes’?
Business has become more competitive and complex. Sellers need to be broad and deep across many capabilities and competencies to reach peak performance to add value during every client interaction. Just like competitive athletes, sales athletes need meticulous preparation and optimal coaching; however, sellers and frontline managers don’t have huge amounts of time to devote to training & coaching.
And to make matters worse, sellers are burning out faster than ever according to a recent Forbes leadership article. Here are the reasons why; Sellers don't have:
1. coaches and mentors
2. the latest sales tools
3. data and insights
4. a playbook
Success requires the right coaching at the right time and seller preparation across core sales skills.
So how do we find the sweet spot for sustainable sales capabilities and performance?
As the saying goes, “the learning curve is the earning curve”; yet, sellers cannot absorb all we give them which means the traditional learning methods have a significant amount of waste in time, money and ROI. Studies show that in as little as 30 days, 79% of knowledge is forgotten. It is simply a matter of how the human brain works.
How many times have you heard this:
On-boarding new sellers is like drinking from the firehose or this we rolled out a new sales tool, process or methodology but it didn’t work, didn’t stick, low adoption, no one is using it, etc…
The good news, interval reinforcement is a proven way to combat the forgetting curve. The spacing effect enables a significant increase in knowledge retention if you present information and reinforce it over spaced intervals of time.
[Added Bonus: it’s easy to do]
Business has become more competitive and complex. Sellers need to be broad and deep across many capabilities and competencies to reach peak performance to add value during every client interaction. Just like competitive athletes, sales athletes need meticulous preparation and optimal coaching; however, sellers and frontline managers don’t have huge amounts of time to devote to training & coaching.
And to make matters worse, sellers are burning out faster than ever according to a recent Forbes leadership article. Here are the reasons why; Sellers don't have:
1. coaches and mentors
2. the latest sales tools
3. data and insights
4. a playbook
Success requires the right coaching at the right time and seller preparation across core sales skills.
So how do we find the sweet spot for sustainable sales capabilities and performance?
As the saying goes, “the learning curve is the earning curve”; yet, sellers cannot absorb all we give them which means the traditional learning methods have a significant amount of waste in time, money and ROI. Studies show that in as little as 30 days, 79% of knowledge is forgotten. It is simply a matter of how the human brain works.
How many times have you heard this:
On-boarding new sellers is like drinking from the firehose or this we rolled out a new sales tool, process or methodology but it didn’t work, didn’t stick, low adoption, no one is using it, etc…
The good news, interval reinforcement is a proven way to combat the forgetting curve. The spacing effect enables a significant increase in knowledge retention if you present information and reinforce it over spaced intervals of time.
[Added Bonus: it’s easy to do]
“Companies that use continuous
sales reinforcement methods
see 20% higher quota attainment.”
- CSO Insights
So back to our sales ‘athletes’… Let’s look at Seller Preparation through successful interval repetition:
REPETITION leads to competence;
COMPETENCE leads to confidence;
CONFIDENCE leads to SUCCESS.
What if sellers competed in a series of scenario based challenges to reinforce new product information or a new sales process or methodology; brushed-up on sales skills or competitors? Want everyone to be on-point with the updated corporate messaging?
Imagine this bite-sized interval reinforcement delivered through CRM or on a mobile device where it only takes minutes to complete and doesn’t impact selling time to build seller competence, confidence and success.
Behind every great athlete is a great coach and behind every great seller is a great frontline sales manager.
The best leaders in any profession care about the people they lead. Great coaches will help their ‘athletes’ see what they can do and who your managers coach is just as important as how they coach.
REPETITION leads to competence;
COMPETENCE leads to confidence;
CONFIDENCE leads to SUCCESS.
What if sellers competed in a series of scenario based challenges to reinforce new product information or a new sales process or methodology; brushed-up on sales skills or competitors? Want everyone to be on-point with the updated corporate messaging?
Imagine this bite-sized interval reinforcement delivered through CRM or on a mobile device where it only takes minutes to complete and doesn’t impact selling time to build seller competence, confidence and success.
Behind every great athlete is a great coach and behind every great seller is a great frontline sales manager.
The best leaders in any profession care about the people they lead. Great coaches will help their ‘athletes’ see what they can do and who your managers coach is just as important as how they coach.
ABCs of Sales
Always Be Coaching
Data proves that coaching pays off and formalized coaching is highly correlated with impact. Sadly many companies have not invest in tools for coaching or enabling frontline managers with the right insight into their ‘athletes’ core capabilities.
Sales coaching is critical and it must be done effectively to accelerate sales. The 5 key tenants of Optimal Coaching:
• Timely
• Accurate
• Relevant
• Consistent
• Individualized
Todays time crunched Frontline Managers (FLMs) need the right set of tools to enable coaching the knowledge and skill gaps, not just the numbers.
Sales coaching is critical and it must be done effectively to accelerate sales. The 5 key tenants of Optimal Coaching:
• Timely
• Accurate
• Relevant
• Consistent
• Individualized
Todays time crunched Frontline Managers (FLMs) need the right set of tools to enable coaching the knowledge and skill gaps, not just the numbers.
The formula for empowering
Successful Sales (athletes)
optimal coaching
+
seller preparation
Here are 3 steps to building a more confident and successful enterprise sales team at scale to keep capabilities in synch with marketplace changes.
Reality is market conditions change yet performance standards remain, so we need to up our game to Adapt to the Speed of Change.
Ready to make your entire sales team more effective?
- Develop 6-12 month core capabilities map
- Identify strengths, gaps and trends by team or individual
- Deliver continuous reinforcement and coaching
Reality is market conditions change yet performance standards remain, so we need to up our game to Adapt to the Speed of Change.
Ready to make your entire sales team more effective?