Training Program Pays Off Big Time

Agency Sales,  Apr 2006  

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When Paul Lunsford, CPMR, thinks back to 2001 when he signed on with a sales coach for the reps who make up his sales team, he doesn't bemoan for a moment the time, effort and expense. Rather, he considers where he would be today without that effort.

According to Lunsford, president of AIM/Rmember Manufacturers Marketing, Inc., (MMI), Westfield, Indiana, his continued emphasis on rep training serves as just another weapon in the battle to develop a "competitive edge."

"My philosophy, and the philosophy of our agency, is that no one in our organization should ever stop learning," he says. "The catalyst for that philosophy is a simple one. If we're not trying to constantly develop a competitive edge, then we're leaving an easy mark on the ground for our competition. As I consider all the things we encounter in running an agency and in staying competitive, there are many things that affect my business that I cannot control. I could go on for hours about all the uncontrollable things. However, there are some things I can control, and one of them is the education of my team."

To that end, MMI had in place a regular emphasis on keeping its team members up to speed. Years ago he began by training his staff in sales training basics. He made every effort to see to it that they regularly attended seminars on sales and improving communication skills. "We sent them to everything from Zig Ziglar seminars to Colin Powell formal presentations. Some of these were the very large stadium 'rah-rah' kinds of events. We did that for years, but what we me away with was the question: Was it worth it? We walked out of these sessions feeling good about what we heard, but after just a couple of weeks we all agreed that we couldn't remember what they said to us. And, more importantly, we didn't experience any improvement on the street. Simply stated, the kind of events we were participating in were motivational, enthusiastic kinds of events emphasizing that we had to continue the effort, not quit, stay focused, etc."

More Focused Approach

To say it was time for a change is an understatement, and that's exactly what Lunsford and his agency did. "By our very nature our team members persevere and are highly motivated. As a result, we came to the conclusion that attending these sessions was a misdirected effort. Added to that was the expense. Once you add the expense to the time spent out of the territory attending them, there was a marked absence of effect."

In addition to that, Lunsford continues his explanation of the agency's change of course when he describes what began happening in the marketplace. "It's true throughout the entire rep world that today, as a result of consolidation, there are fewer food suppliers, plumbing manufacturers, distributors, etc. What that has meant is that in the past, even in a very competitive marketplace, the share we brought to our plate was 25 percent-35 percent. That's a pretty good success rate. I was happy with that. But as a result of consolidation, we're in contact with fewer customers. So even though we may have that same rate of success, you're talking about a decrease in business. The 75-percent miss rate was really too much for us to take.

"As the trend continued, I began looking for some course of action that could help us and make a difference for our team. But, whatever we did, I wanted to make sure that the type of training we undertook was not some 'boilerplate program.'"

In order to carve out a non-boilerplate path, Lunsford explains that two courses of action were followed:

* Executive reads - "The first thing we did was to have what I call executive reads. We'd pick a book that we felt could help us (e.g., The World Is Flat by Tom Friedman or The Good and the Great by Jim Collins). We'd have our management group read it and then discuss the subject matter all with the goal of developing a single common vision. I was in the hope that by reading books that discussed 'excellence,' we would be able to settle on a common definition of what excellence is, and then implement that definition. Our effort didn't work. I found that in our own little world, each of us interpreted the message . differently. As a result, we couldn't settle on a definition to work with. While that effort didn't accomplish our goal, we haven't given up the effort of the executive read. It continues today."

* Professional sales coach - "Our next effort - and this was the single most defining thing we've ever done - was to hire a professional sales coach.

"On September 9, 2001, we signed a contract with a company called Growth Dynamics, a professional sales training company that uses a professional sales coach. This was the most expensive venture I ever undertook for our sales team. However, on September 12, I called them up and cancelled because at the time I figured that was the prudent thing to do. Their representative, who was located in Philadelphia and certainly had the East Coast perspective of the events of 9/11, told he me he understood my decision. He asked me to stay in touch and to let him know if there was anything they could do for us. I did just that and called him back later in the month to sign a new agreement."