Why Sales and Service Training Fails
Have you ever tried to lose weight? Have you ever tried to lose weight unsuccessfully? I have done both which seem to be tied together. When I try to lose weight, I am also unsuccessful. Oh, sure I lose a couple of pounds the first week. But then the siren’s song of fried chicken calls me and I am drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Is it because I don’t know how to lose weight? No! I know exactly how to lose weight. In fact, if you don’t know how, take notes because this works 100% of the time. Here we go…
Dang, you thought I was going to give you some miracle advice didn’t you? Well, there is no miracle advice. I have discovered that the problem with losing weight is not that I don’t know how to lose weight. The problem is that the four keys to losing weight “stink on ice.” I don’t want to do any of those things. I want to lie on the sofa, eat Cheetos, drink anything but water and watch football. Thus, I have become more manatee than man.
Similarly, financial institutions waste money every year on sales training and service training. They look for a new training miracle. “Let’s do the training via DVD.” “Let’s use these new role plays.” “Hey, I’ve found a new interactive video-based. . .” blah, blah, blah. The problem is not with the training material or methodology. The problem is that the employees don’t want to use the training you are paying to give them.
However, you can ensure your training dollars do create lasting behavior change by doing the following:
Develop and implement the cultural infrastructure that will cause employees to take the training from the classroom into the workplace.
- Measure service and sales performance.
- Weight the sales and service performance heavily in performance evaluations.
- Hold employees accountable, to the point of termination, if required, for failure to meet sales and service expectations.
- Teach managers and supervisors to confront ineffective performance and to compliment and recognize employees who perform and at high level and/or show improvement.
When your organization does these things, change in behavior will occur. Without these changes to your infrastructure, the best training in the world will only result in a very small percentage of employees making real change.
Bank Sales Champs is designed to help your financial institution improve profitability by growing business. We’ve been doing it successfully for more than 12 years. Find out how by contacting Michael Neill and Associates at 888-440-0552, or mike@banksaleschamps.com.