Sales trainers are lucky. Salespeople are among the most positive, effervescent learners in the workplace. They typically buy in to discussions, activities, case studies, how-to’s, and how-not-to’s with admirable commitment. They are motivated to excel, often against difficult odds. Often they are very vocal and exploratory with new concepts. This makes most sales training initiatives (a) involving, (b) fun, and (c) rewarding.
But the economy lately has caused more stress for all employees—including hardworking sales teams. If you have been training salespeople for a while, you may have noticed your learners’ faces and voices noticeably showing stress—centering on their quotas and the challenges of work and life. You sense this, and you would like more time to address concerns like stress and work/life balance.Â
However, your client wants your sales or territory management techniques—not the touchy-feely stress stuff! Or at the least your client says, “Spend only a few minutes on stress, OK?â€
The following are some ideas that allow you to be a little sneaky about the touchy-feely stuff. You can help salespeople acknowledge the importance of work/life balance without sacrificing a lot of time away from other required learning objectives.
Diagnose: What’s IN that’s not getting OUT?
Salespeople work “OUT.†They are outside the company; they are OUT-going; they are OUT bridge building with clients and prospects, and they are OUT of their safety zones igniting fires. To help them conquer stress and burnout, consider asking them to do just the opposite. Ask them to go With-IN for a change.
Set up: Take them from OUT to IN
Here’s how you can work a few minutes of stress awareness into your training program. Tell them you are going to ask them to do something different for the next few moments: You want them to dig deeper … not in the key account … but within themselves.
Tell them if they are patient, you promise this activity will tie back to their quotas and sales goals.
Ask them to put away their cell phones, calculators and blackberries and take out a lined pad of paper. Tell them they are going to reflect through a writing exercise that will help them know themselves better.
Then—depending on the culture and personality of the group—select and use one of the following reflection exercises.
Action: Reflective Writing and Sharing
Exercise #1: What Am I Doing Here?
Give the following directions:
To complete this exercise, write continuously, like a brain dump, until you are told to stop. Write forward without returning to edit. Get out of editorial mode—not fast, but steady. The question you are answering is the following:
What am I doing here?—which can be answered on any of the following three levels: today in the workshop, in life right now—relationships, work, etc, or on a more cosmic level—i.e. what is my life about?
You have ten minutes.
Post writing, ask participants to circle something they wrote that is surprising or meaningful. Ask them how it felt to write without stopping or editing. Finally, ask what they learned about themselves as salespeople.
Exercise #2—A Significant Family Member
Give the following directions:
To complete this exercise, begin by listing at least 10 people in your family of origin; for example, your grandmother, grandfather, aunt, cousin, etc. When you finish your list, select one person who is most important to you for some reason; for example, the person you are most like or unlike. Begin writing, again, without editing, about that person—what you remember about the person.
You have five minutes.
Now write the questions you would ask them if you could right now.
Post writing, ask participants to circle something surprising or meaningful. Ask them to tell a partner in the seminar about the person they wrote about, and the questions they would like to ask that special person.
Returning to large group, ask them what they learned about themselves as salespeople or about their career from this person. What traits do they share that benefit their sales career? In doing this exercise, what blocks or stresses became clearer to you?
Exercise #3—Ten Things that Happened this Week
Give the following directions:
To complete this exercise, begin by listing 10 significant events that you were involved in this past week. An event can be as small as a memorable e-mail, or as large as a family wedding. That does not matter. What matters is it felt significant to you.
You have five minutes.
After five minutes, ask them to select three events that stand out, and be prepared to discuss the reasoning behind one event with a partner. Ask: Why does it stand out? What did you learn or relearn by doing this? What lesson did you learn that is important in your life and work?
Debrief: Take Them From IN to OUT
Notice in each exercise you carefully debrief by tying the writing and reflecting back to their work in sales. After that discussion time, weave back into the content at hand in your seminar. Remember to refer back to the lessons learned from reflection whenever applicable.
For example, you might say, “Yes, and it’s with your most difficult customers or prospects that you have an opportunity to use your behavioral strengths—perhaps those you shared about the family member you discussed earlier.â€
Follow-Up: Keep the Door REVOLVING
In the years ahead, our workforce will change drastically as baby boomers leave, work only part time or mentor others, and new graduates and foreign-born workers take their spots. During this transition period, there will be considerable emphasis on training and retraining.
Also during this time, it will be increasingly important to give salespeople time to reflect on issues like how their work influences their personal lives, vice-versa, plus how to select positive approaches to stress.
Start the door revolving now, and use the learning climate to create an opportunity for reflection.
Think of it this way: Who else in a busy salesperson’s life will give them the time to think that you can in your crucial role as their learning leader?
