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senior management to front-line management to coaching and reinforcement.

4 Limit the number of people in coaching classes. Dont overload the coach. Coaching more than three people at any point in time is not recommended for a first-line manager who already has a large span of control. Coaching and feedback tasks are time-consuming.

4 Measure and monitor the results of coaching. Take a baseline measurement of the behaviors of each participant as soon as possible after each training session. (This is usually done by the first-line manager.) Measure the behavioral change of each participant every thirty days.

4 Recognize and reward behavioral changes. Reinforce the coaching program by acknowledging new behaviors that salespeople exhibit. Award plaques. Create an atmosphere and culture that genuinely believes in improving sales performance through behavioral change and personal development.

SALES TRUTH 7: Sales skill training effectiveness is about coaching, not content.

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sales trap 8:

Beginners Should Start With

Comprehensive Training

More is better. Thats the widespread belief when it comes to training beginners in sales. The assumption is that because beginners have so much to learn, they should get it all at once. During their initial sales training period, beginners are often given a comprehensive skill-based training program covering many strategies and tactics, so that they can pick and choose which ideas to implement. Its then assumed that they will be able to go out in the field and do what is expected. This is a fallacy.

I call this approach to training beginners the Blitz, named after the blitz bombing of London by the Nazis in World War II. The Blitz approach blankets beginners with everything they could ever need to know about sales. Its total immersion. And its devastating.

Why? Because comprehensive training overwhelms beginners. Its ineffective because beginners are not able to take in all the new material. For sales training effectiveness, introduce one skill at a time and reinforce it.

John Cuny, currently a consultant with Ernst & Young and former manager of training and development for Xerox, explains that he tries to keep his sales skill-based training simple. The information included in our Buyer-Focused Selling program used at Document University in Leesburg, Virginia, is almost overwhelming. Its good content, but it is almost too much in too short a time. I tend to favor a less is more approach rather than a more is better. People can only learn so much at one time. 8

Dr. Richard Ruff, president of Sales Momentum in Scottsdale, Arizona, said it this way: Your best sports coaches recognize that they get behavioral change quicker from their players when they focus on one particular behavior at a time, whether it be blocking

out in basketball, tackling in football, or tossing up the tennis ball in a serve. Most people, generally speaking, have difficulty trying to change several things at once. And, sales training programs that include so many behaviors and strategies to learn are less likely to work in the long run than programs that key in on just a few things for the consultant to change.

People are more motivated to learn when they are not deluged with things to think about. Knowledge isnt successfully transferred to behavior when its hidden in a comprehensive training class. This is because behavioral change is harder than knowledge transfer. And behavioral change takes time. Sales training that focuses on one or two skills at a time provides ample opportunity for beginners to work more effectively in the field. Anything more than that overloads them. Perhaps Leon Edelsack, former senior vice president of Westinghouses communication division, said it best: I dont want our people to experience a data dump because it is like drinking water from a fire hose. It is too much and it doesnt satisfy anyone.

ACTION POINTS

For training organizations:

4 Avoid the data dump. Take a less is more approach to sales skill training. New hires cant drink water from a fire hose.

4 Change behavior one skill at a time. To be effective, training should focus on one behavior at a time-for example, asking lots of questions versus giving lots of information.

For people who want to be top performers:

4 Focus on one behavior to change at a time. Practice. Get feedback from someone (your sales manager, your training manager, or a high-relationship customer) regarding how well you are doing