Ed Miliband on Sales & Training

So Ed Miliband has become a capitalist. Well maybe, maybe not. Every political party and politician needs the middle to get elected and they will say whatever they believe you want to hear. Democracy is based on promises. We vote on promises and then vote again for a whole new load of them when we are let down. I don’t believe we are falling for the same scam every time, just we have no alternative. Maybe it is our own fault because we would never elect someone who tells us the truth anyway.

Now to Ed and Sales. In his speech at the Labour Party Conference today, for a moment I was drawn to something he said, something I feel politicians have ignored for too long. If you want to get the country out of recession the only way is to sell your way out. Ed said we need to “… train, invest, invent ,sell”. Here, here Ed!

You and I know that if you don’t sell it it doesn’t move. If it doesn’t move then you stop making it. If you stop making it people lose their jobs. But why is there no focus on sales in education and why is sales so ignored as a key skill in the talent mix for British working population. You can’t study it at school, college or University and very strangely, Business Schools don’t focus on it either. What is it about Sales that stops the powers in the education and training establishment from grasping the opportunity?

Leaving it to companies to train their own sales teams is not enough. I have enjoyed a great career in sales with many different companies, but in reality had no more than a few days training and most of an unremarkable quality. The truth is most sales people are left to their own devices. Even at the highest level strategic sales, the kind of sales that BAE Systems need to secure the jobs of their workers, are not trained to a level that makes the difference. At TALENTStream we are committed to lift the quality and availability of Sales Training available in the UK.

In a competitive market the sale is won on value not price. Sales people build value, build relationships, build businesses and build countries. It is time to train more sales people to levels that mean we win more business at a higher price, that generates more profit leading to more investment and more jobs. I don’t think I’ll say this very often but Ed is right, but he has it the wrong way round. Ed, and any other politician listening, it’s “ Train, Sell, Invest, Invent” then add “Employ”. It is how nations are built and it might even get you elected!

TALENTStream are a Harrogate based Training company specialising in Sales and Management for Sales. More at www.talentstreamuk.com/news.html

Where Were You on 9/11?

The chances are you can remember exactly where you were, who told you and what you did when you heard about the attack on the World Trade Centre (Twin Towers) on September 11th, 2001. I do. I had just come out of a Sales Meeting on the 3rd floor of our building near Heathrow and everyone was crowded round various computer screens and televisions aghast at what was happening on a crystal clear September morning in New York. It is still as vivid today as it was the morning after and just a week from the event. So why do we hold on to such dramatic memories more than others?

A survey carried out by the University of Manchester, commissioned by Yesterday, a UK TV channel, sheds some light on what we remember and how. It looked at peoples recollection of events and compared shared high profile events with more personal landmarks. The findings are astonishing. It seems we remember shared high global events and personal successes more than family or personal landmarks. Take for example the following:

82% of people surveyed could recall the detail of their hearing of 9/11 compared with only 72% being able to recall the same level of detail about their wedding day.

62% were able to recall in detail their whereabouts on hearing of the death of Princess Diana compared with only 50% being able to recall details of their child’s first birthday.

Findings from the data clearly show that the dramatic shared experience is recalled more easily than personal and less dramatic events. Thinking about the implications of this in training I started to list and recall training events I attended as a delegate over the years (and there has been 50 or so). I set myself the task of trying to remember the trainers name, the name of the course and a single learning point from each.

When I reviewed my results I was shocked at the findings. I remember the training stars of course like Bandler, Robbins, Covey and Anderson and others, but most of the standard business trainers and training have drifted away. In fact of the 50 or so I know I’ve attended, I struggled to recall even 10. The only exceptions were the dramatic courses, the big changes and the ones that made me personally feel successful (strangely enough the most remembered personal event in the survey was a personal success; Passing your Driving Test at 79%).

Do your own personal survey and tell us your results;

Step 1. List the training events you have been on in the last 5 years or so. (Do you think you have them all down or have you even forgotten a few already?)

Step 2. Write down the trainers name next to the course. (What was his name again?)

Step 3. Write down the title of the course or what it was about. (Was it…?)

Step 4. Write down 1 key learning point you remember. (Nope! Gone.)

I’m guessing you have gaps everywhere and I know that you are not alone and everyone has a similar experience.

Does this mean that most business training is wasted? Only if it is boring. If it is dramatic (different) and makes delegates feel successful then recall is higher and learning is guaranteed.

The message from all this is obvious. In designing training make sure you have compelling events (not irrelevant icebreakers by the way, they are lame), shared experiences and built in success. In choosing a training provider make sure they are different, stand-out, excite, engage and make people feel good about themselves. Make sure their stories and metaphors are vivid and compelling and their teaching styles varied and flexible. If you do that then I know that your teams will be able to at least recall the three things you couldn’t and perhaps have learned a lot more.

For more information on outstanding presentation and to report “Boring Presentations” and “Trainings” go to http://www.endboringpresentations.com/

For the source report on the survey visit http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/4902836/Memories-of-historic-events-stonger-than-personal-moments.html

Shopping, Rioting and Related Behaviours

I was taken by Andrew Gilligan’s writing this week in the Telegraph (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/News/author/andrewgilligan/). He painted a very real and frightening picture of what was happening in the London riots and it got me thinking about why people do the things they do, like shop or riot.

We know that self-esteem or the like is essential in delivering our mood and that it shapes how we deal with the world around us. We also know that whenever we are praised, stroked or complimented endorphins are released in our brain that top up our self-esteem and make us feel good about ourselves. But what if no-one bothers to say nice things, do nice things or we feel ignored?

Well many people find they start other activities that release endorphins… like shopping for example. We all understand the term “retail therapy” and now you know it is simply making you feel good by releasing endorphins you are not finding elsewhere. You are literally buying happiness. The thing is once you have bought one thing, the endorphin buzz makes you want another. This is why you never leave the supermarket with just the one item you went in for. Endorphins make the next decision easier and taste even sweeter.

Rioting? Well the first point is the rioter has something missing (intelligence I hear you shout) and possibly we may find it is self-esteem (OK and any modicum of “respect for others”). Where you and I may shop to top up our joy, if you haven’t got the money, and it looks like you can get away with it, then you are a stones throw away from an endorphin rush (pun intended)… and you know what happens when you get one of those, you want more.

This rush may be one of the reasons riots escalate the way they do and when you add in the irresistible power of Social Proof you see why normally reasonable people (slightly stupid and morally void) somehow get drawn into the endorphin fueled frenzy of a riot.

To riot or loot is wrong and there is no excuse and I don’t have the answers. But there may be a clue in making people feel good about themselves; because when we do we don’t feel the need to shop too much or riot for our endorphin fix.

Be happy!

visit: www.talentstreamuk.com

Introducing VQS: Value Questioning Strategy

It was such a fun event. Delegates in last weeks Gravitas & Personal Impact event at Gatwick for one of our clients learned about Value Questioning Strategies (VQS). Now I know many of you have heard about the power of questions before and how to handle all kinds of responses, but what I was amazed at was how this group used the content we trained and how learning beyond expectation exploded from this section. It wasn’t from the understanding of how questions bypass the worst judgemental elements of the conscious mind, nor was it from observing the “Paxman” effect, but from a simple 20 questions scenario.

Half the delegates chose a postcard with an object on it and the other half had to find out what it was from accurate questioning with their partner being as vague as possible. What was amazing was that in the first round only half of the group discovered the item in the 5 minutes allowed. But the second group, with the addition of just 1 minor strategy all uncovered the object within the time, some needed only seconds. The secret lies in understanding “threads” and the explosion comes when you can get to the bottom of any argument, disagreement or evasiveness in about 5 questions or less. This group is now in control of their next challenging encounter with clients, competitors or colleagues and will get exactly what they want or understand exactly what has to happen to get it. Like so many of our ideas, VQS is unique to TALENTStream. Ask us the right questions and find out more.

Selling Is The Heart Of Your Company

Every day I make sure I find time to read and research. It’s an investment that keeps on paying. Today, I was exploring some of the some of the ideas I have gleaned from reading Joe Vitale, one of my favourite authors on influential language and copywriting. He has some wonderful ideas on using keywords in Blogs like this one to attract more traffic and I stumbled upon this article about Sales and Sales Training. Written 2 years ago by Grant Cardone in the Huffington Post it is more relevant today than ever. The gist of it is “The individual and organization’s survival is dependent upon the organization’s ability to sell products despite the economy.” Here, here Grant Cardone you smart thinking man you. I couldn’t have said it better myself… so I won’t. Here is the link: http://huff.to/SQdiM. Have fun today and do great things.

Presenation is at the Core of Dan’s Success

As I was setting up the room for the event yesterday, I recognised Dan as I passed the water cooler and immediately recalled him as a delegate at a prior Gravitas & Personal Impact event. “Come and meet my boss” said Dan, full of enthusiasm and energy, “… she already knows about you and TALENTStream”. Helen stood up and shook my hand and immediately told me the story of Dan’s amazing performance at a presentation he did to a large group of key stakeholders and senior managers… “I don’t know what you did to him but he was amazing, he walked and talked as if he owned the stage and he went down a storm, this is a new Dan” enthused Helen. Dan smiled, slightly embarassed by the open praise and reminded me of how nervous he was about the imminent presentation while he was at the training. I congratulated him on his achievement and recognised a level of confidence I hadn’t seen in him before. The transition was complete and he knew that he had been noticed and was driving his profile and value higher in the business. Time was pressing and we parted promising to stay in touch.

Intrigued by the success story, last night I looked back at my notes from the event and saw that Dan had delivered an outstanding performance in the 2-8-20 activity in our 1-Hour Presentation Workshop that is part of the Gravitas event. In the activity Dan simply learnt to hold a conversation as if it was 1 on 1 over a coffee while moving through various audiences of differing sizes and behaviours. This conversational style is at the core of confident delivery and is easy to learn and use. Dan commented at the time that this had changed his approach to audiences and he immediately leapt in confidence.

Dan had obviously taken the leap with his learning to the stage on the day he delivered what his boss called “Amazing” and at that moment, his confidence and contribution grew and with it his Gravitas and Personal Impact. It is fabulous to meet delegates who have used their learning so well, who feel the benefits themselves and deliver even more value to their business. Good job Dan. Do great things.

Day 1

Its June the 13th, and today, for the first time, our site of 10-months in the making goes “Live”. Our aim is to provide more resources and more ideas for clients to design courses and programmes that bring the best out in their people. Over 30 modules are available to build learning events that realise opportunity, face challenges and shape the future. We hope you enjoy the experience.

Like you we know the power of training and investment in your people. It’s worth more than any marketing campaign and when delivered expertly, delivers measurable results far beyond any other.

We hope you like the site, encourage you to play, build and explore and would love your feedback. Do great things.