When was the last time you examined your manager’s behaviour and how it affects sales performance?
Over the last 16 years I have facilitated thousands of sales workshops. The vast majority have been effective with a high ROI and a few have been a waste of time and money. When I examine the workshops that were not a success, I find that they all had at least one of the elements below:
- The sales manager asks for a workshop on topics they think are critical, but the sales team is not consulted. If the team has not bought into the workshop content, they tune out. Immediately! When I include the audience in the creation of the agenda, the workshop is a success.
- The sales manager does not show up to the workshop or they sit in the back of the room with their computer open, not paying attention to the facilitator and ignoring their team. This behaviour sends a message to the team that the workshop is not important. When that happens, participation drops. The leader’s behaviour during training sends a strong message, that is never ignored by their team. <– Click to Tweet
- No follow up. If the sales manager does not follow up with coaching to help their team implement new skills, everyone goes back to their old habits and the ROI for the workshop is lost.
What’s the common denominator? The sales manager’s behaviour before, during and after the workshop. Fixing these three issues does not require any additional investment and will make the difference between a profitable workshop…and a waste of money.
