As important as establishing readiness to learn is to a successful session, is closing the session with the learner now ready to execute or apply what you have learned. Too often, as trainers, when we get to the end of the session we are rushing and quite frankly we are glad to just get to the end. We really need to think about an effective closing that will prepare for the successful execution of the learned behaviors, concepts and practices. To me this closing is as important, if not more so, than your readiness to learn beginning.
Here you need to think of an effective closing that will inspire the attendees to go out and apply what they have learned. You also need to enable them with resources that will assist them as they try things on their own. A good idea is some sort of follow up. Maybe a follow up web meeting or a wiki or even a shared survey that will allow them to share they experiences they have in the real world.
It is best that you think of the closing of the class as the real beginning. The beginning of the learned behavior, concept and/or best practice applied in the real world. If you do this right your course will be measurable by performance behaviors rather than evaluation "smile sheets."
In my case, here is where I like to draw upon values such as tradition or use metaphors or analogies to prepare them to execute. In the next entry I will give a detailed example of a closing that I believe prepared the learners to go execute.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Belief, Practice, Execution- The Keys to Success
I believe the keys success in sales are Belief, Practice and Execution. They are also keys to your success in your relationships, your faith and really any job you pursue. This lesson has changed my life. Let me share it with you now
Before I went into sales and eventually sales training, I was a high school teacher and head football coach. One thing you learn as a teacher and coach is that some of the most important lessons you learn will not be those you deliver but those you learn from your students. On a cool Saturday, October afternoon I learned the greatest lesson of my life. Not something I taught my team, but rather something they taught me: "Belief, Practice and Execution."
It was the third game of the year and we were playing the defending conference champions. Our team goal that year was to have a winning record and secondly win the conference championship (a feat not yet accomplished in the history of the school). The last season we finished an overall 4-5 and 4-2 in the league which put us in second place. So I believed these goals to be reasonable and attainable. Although it was early in the season, I believed, this game would go a long way, in determining who would be this years conference champion. We were the smallest public high school in the state and we had only 22 boys on the varsity. The team we were playing had over 60 boys.
At the end of the first half the score was 12-0 in favor of the other guys. In the second half we scored 2 touchdowns to tie the score. All we had to do is to make an extra point to win the game. In our 22 players we did not have one kicker, so we always went for the two point conversion. I had no timeouts left, there was less than one minute to play and back then there was no overtime. So if it was tied at the end of regulation it ended in a tie. So I sent the two point play in. It was an inside reverse. As the player was running in with the play I heard the opposing coach yelling to his team: " Watch the reverse, watch the reverse!" Our kids heard him as well. As I said, I had no time outs so I could not change the play. If I could have I probably would have. But I had no such option.
There are three key ingredients in success. They are belief practice and execution. This maxim holds true in football, your personal life with your relationships and particular faith as well as your job, and more to our point in sales. Let's stop our story here and review each of these key success factors.
Belief. You must have this key ingredient first. If you don't believe, it will never happen. I have never known a salesperson to be an effective seller without believing in his/her product. Customers can sense your belief and if they feel you do not believe in your product, there is no way they are going to buy it. In sales, as in football, belief does not happen over night. It comes with practice and the sense of you having "been there done that". It is a quiet confidence I can see in their eyes and feel in their presence. It is not the loud "rah, rah" of their cheering before the game or the noise of a great marketing campaign. It is the quiet confidence of someone that has been there and done it before. That constitutes the type of belief that the customer will buy.
How do you get that confidence, that belief? It is from the second key ingredient, practice. A lot of people may really believe in their product but without practice they will most likely not close the deal. Practice is anticipating all situations and being prepared for them. In sales it maybe handling a specific objection to the product. A great salesperson has anticipated this situation and is prepared for it by practicing. In football it is running the play 100's of times against all defensive fronts in all weather conditions. You have "been there and done that" before. You are ready!
With belief and practice you have only to add execution to your success formula. You believe in your product, you have practiced selling it in all situations and now all you have to do is execute.
Execution is the hardest step. It is taking your belief and practice and applying it in the real situation, the act of selling , the act of closing the deal,at just the right moment, in just the right way. When it happens it is like magic, it is a feeling of such exhilaration. It is probably one of the main reasons you are in sales. But it only happens with belief and practice, that you recognize what you need to do. You do it and you win.
So now back to my story. So when the kids heard the opposing coach screaming "watch the reverse, watch the reverse". They never looked back, never said: "They know the play!" They jogged to the line with that belief and quiet confidence that comes from practicing this play 100's of times. They ran the play and at the end of the play when the reverse back was about to get hit by an unblocked defender, he pitched the ball to quarterback who was trailing the play in pitch relationship and he jogged untouched into the end zone. We won that game and later went on to win the only league football championship in the history of the school. 22 young men who taught me that day about belief , practice and execution.
In our sales training we will learn all about the product. You will hear customer success stories that will help you solidify your belief. You will practice selling this product, understanding the competition and handling objections. After the training, it will be up to you to reinforce your belief, practice selling it, anticipating competitive positioning in your account and practice handling what you believe to be the objections your client/prospect may have and ultimately when the opportunity finally appears it will be your chance to execute. This is moment you have prepared for. Execute now and feel the magic reward of success. Belief , Practice and Execution.
Before I went into sales and eventually sales training, I was a high school teacher and head football coach. One thing you learn as a teacher and coach is that some of the most important lessons you learn will not be those you deliver but those you learn from your students. On a cool Saturday, October afternoon I learned the greatest lesson of my life. Not something I taught my team, but rather something they taught me: "Belief, Practice and Execution."
It was the third game of the year and we were playing the defending conference champions. Our team goal that year was to have a winning record and secondly win the conference championship (a feat not yet accomplished in the history of the school). The last season we finished an overall 4-5 and 4-2 in the league which put us in second place. So I believed these goals to be reasonable and attainable. Although it was early in the season, I believed, this game would go a long way, in determining who would be this years conference champion. We were the smallest public high school in the state and we had only 22 boys on the varsity. The team we were playing had over 60 boys.
At the end of the first half the score was 12-0 in favor of the other guys. In the second half we scored 2 touchdowns to tie the score. All we had to do is to make an extra point to win the game. In our 22 players we did not have one kicker, so we always went for the two point conversion. I had no timeouts left, there was less than one minute to play and back then there was no overtime. So if it was tied at the end of regulation it ended in a tie. So I sent the two point play in. It was an inside reverse. As the player was running in with the play I heard the opposing coach yelling to his team: " Watch the reverse, watch the reverse!" Our kids heard him as well. As I said, I had no time outs so I could not change the play. If I could have I probably would have. But I had no such option.
There are three key ingredients in success. They are belief practice and execution. This maxim holds true in football, your personal life with your relationships and particular faith as well as your job, and more to our point in sales. Let's stop our story here and review each of these key success factors.
Belief. You must have this key ingredient first. If you don't believe, it will never happen. I have never known a salesperson to be an effective seller without believing in his/her product. Customers can sense your belief and if they feel you do not believe in your product, there is no way they are going to buy it. In sales, as in football, belief does not happen over night. It comes with practice and the sense of you having "been there done that". It is a quiet confidence I can see in their eyes and feel in their presence. It is not the loud "rah, rah" of their cheering before the game or the noise of a great marketing campaign. It is the quiet confidence of someone that has been there and done it before. That constitutes the type of belief that the customer will buy.
How do you get that confidence, that belief? It is from the second key ingredient, practice. A lot of people may really believe in their product but without practice they will most likely not close the deal. Practice is anticipating all situations and being prepared for them. In sales it maybe handling a specific objection to the product. A great salesperson has anticipated this situation and is prepared for it by practicing. In football it is running the play 100's of times against all defensive fronts in all weather conditions. You have "been there and done that" before. You are ready!
With belief and practice you have only to add execution to your success formula. You believe in your product, you have practiced selling it in all situations and now all you have to do is execute.
Execution is the hardest step. It is taking your belief and practice and applying it in the real situation, the act of selling , the act of closing the deal,at just the right moment, in just the right way. When it happens it is like magic, it is a feeling of such exhilaration. It is probably one of the main reasons you are in sales. But it only happens with belief and practice, that you recognize what you need to do. You do it and you win.
So now back to my story. So when the kids heard the opposing coach screaming "watch the reverse, watch the reverse". They never looked back, never said: "They know the play!" They jogged to the line with that belief and quiet confidence that comes from practicing this play 100's of times. They ran the play and at the end of the play when the reverse back was about to get hit by an unblocked defender, he pitched the ball to quarterback who was trailing the play in pitch relationship and he jogged untouched into the end zone. We won that game and later went on to win the only league football championship in the history of the school. 22 young men who taught me that day about belief , practice and execution.
In our sales training we will learn all about the product. You will hear customer success stories that will help you solidify your belief. You will practice selling this product, understanding the competition and handling objections. After the training, it will be up to you to reinforce your belief, practice selling it, anticipating competitive positioning in your account and practice handling what you believe to be the objections your client/prospect may have and ultimately when the opportunity finally appears it will be your chance to execute. This is moment you have prepared for. Execute now and feel the magic reward of success. Belief , Practice and Execution.
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