Corp America January 2017

wishing to perform at the levels that customers reward with loyalty will want to enroll themselves in a program if their company isn’t progressive enough to invest in ongoing education and skill training. Notice in my comments the operative word is ongoing . Unfortunately, most companies or individuals will not opt for ongoing . Instead, they will do nothing or have one-time training for just a few hours and think mistakenly that everything is covered. In order to save a few dollars, others will opt to just do online customer service training over live, interactive, role-play based training. History has proven that this mistake will cost money and time rather than being an investment since the long and short term results will be lacking. Contrary to that, participating in a quality ongoing customer- service education program is truly an investment since it will reap significant financial as well as personal rewards that are compounded over time. Additionally, make the commitment to enroll all your customer support people in a top-quality sales education program. No service department or individual can provide the best value to the customer experience without this critical ongoing training. An excellent sales education program will teach virtually all the skills that are necessary for excellent service. Product and service specifics will still need to be addressed and should be handled internally. The best companies train everyone from the receptionist to the product development people in fundamental sales philosophies. This creates a company synergistic approach to customers that yields incredible results over time. If you choose not to get everyone involved, at least have all customer-facing people in the program. Sales The best companies will invest in their people’s skills by using outside sources to create long- Winning Business Strategies for 2017 g Richard Tyler term programs with custom- designed, industry-specific components. The benefits of a $199.00 (or country equivalent currency), one-day program are limited. Winners will look at ongoing programs as critical to success and will devote top priority and money to them. To provide an example of this point, the investment in my company’s world renown six-day Sales Immersion® Sales Training Program is $5000.00 U.S. dollars per participant. The ROI for individuals and companies that attend is off the charts as illustrated by this comment from the President of a major company that participated. “I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend Richard Tyler’s award-winning ‘Commitment to Excellence, Sales Immersion’ Sales Training program. I considered myself an accomplished sales professional, and I entered into this six-day program thinking that I could pick up a few tips and ideas that might help me be even more successful. What actually happened is I completely revamped and retooled how I did my job and approached my profession based on the intensive course work, presentations and study that was required during the session. I cannot emphasize enough the profound impact this course has had on both my career and my personal life. One of my proudest moments ever has been that I graduated from the Sales Immersion program as the Valedictorian with the highest score in the class that I attended. My success since that time has been exceptional, as I used all of the techniques and disciplines I learned while leading the sales and marketing organization in the company that I was working for at the time. We were able to achieve a remarkable 70% increase in overall revenues in the 5 years that followed my time at Sales Immersion.” The results of high quality, ongoing programs that establish and help maintain a revenue- generation culture will pay massive dividends year after year to those that commit to them. Vice presidents, managers and heads of human resources must push for the types of programs. It’s too easy to miss what you need so work with outside expertise to develop and implement effective programs for maximum results. It is particularly important for all human resource professionals, including at the highest levels, to participate in the sales education program themselves so they are best able to recognize the qualities and attributes of the best candidates. This recognition will perpetuate the revenue generation culture throughout the organization. HR must remember a significant portion of their job function involves sales at multiple levels. Too often weak leaders will not push for the types of programs discussed here because of fears of inadequacy and job loss. Pressure for performance in 2017 will expose weak sales and service leaders quickly. Ignoring this weakness will have punishing consequences to the business. Management Management skills are still woefully inadequate. Most managers are reasonably good at giving orders, but not at motivating their people to action. Successful managers in 2017 will be excellent teachers. To be an excellent teacher requires both