In the second of a series of articles, Mike Kelly discusses preparing to implement the Integrity Selling system.
Facilitating
T
he thing about working with a company like Integrity Systems is they hit you on many different levels. Readers may recall last month’s account of the four-day seminar I attended—a life-changing course that hit deep at the emotional level. But don’t be fooled into thinking this is some hippie group that doesn’t understand business. The folks at Integrity Systems make their money by understanding both people and business. Two weeks to the day after putting in my order, I received a complete set of training materials for everyone who would be attending the course. Each package contained a course manual, a sales manual to help them internalize the program, a book written around the course, a pocket guide so you don’t have to carry the manual everywhere, and two CDs that give you much of the same information but orally. For me as the facilitator, there was also a manual written in an idiot-proof (but not condescending) manner that spelled out exactly what I should be doing at every stage of the eight-week course, along with a series of videos and posters to use at the appropriate times.
With
It was clear to me that regardless of learning preference—reading, listening, or watching—my staff would be able to use a medium that suited them. As a publisher, I was glad to see that all of the materials were impeccably presented. So far the company had touched me on a personal level, impressed me with their professional approach, and assisted me in a highly practical way. The reinforcement of the same message through the different mediums was also helpful.
MANAGEMENT
Time is money Running a sales training program is an investment. There’s the initial cost per employee, of course, but more important is the cost of the time allocated by management to run the program and the time away from the job for the staff. If you send staff away for one of those threeday, rip-roaring sales courses, they come back motivated and enthused, but slowly (or sometimes quickly) that motivation ebbs away and they go back to the same old habits. The reason is that while that three-day course excites them, it doesn’t change their behaviors. The only way to achieve behavioral change is
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with time. You could send your staff on a constant succession of threeday courses, but it’s not very practical.
Being a publishing company, we never need much of an excuse for a party, so
Integrity Selling tackles this issue by laying out a well-defined plan to follow. To kick-start the training, you hold a oneday session (or two consecutive half-days) in which you introduce each of the topics the course will cover. This is followed by weekly, one-hour sessions that cover each of the topics in depth. Getting everyone in the same room for the first day is vital, but after that people can “meet” every week using any modern communication method. In the facilitator manual, Integrity lays out the best way to handle teleconferencing, videoconferencing, and distance-learning issues.
we plan to hold a black-tie affair as a reward for the efforts of the team.
Before attending each weekly session, the attendees must read the relevant chapter in the book, listen to the audio tape or CD, and try to put into practice the relevant topic. This means the hour is spent reviewing the real-life issues participants have dealt with, rather than hypothetical concerns.
person’s disease is fine, but curing the patient completely should be the aim of any training program. Integrity Systems personnel told me that it’s usually between week three and four that personal and cultural changes start to take place. A lot of independent trainers and teachers agree, saying that to effect behavioral change, a person must receive a consistent message for at least 21 days. There is a danger that, if left alone after the eight weeks, a person will revert to old habits, so Integrity Systems provides a twelve-month program of events as part of the course—to keep people on track. Still, it’s hard not to question this degree of investment in time for a sales course. As head of a new company with tight budgets and strict monthly deadlines to hit, I did ask myself if I was sure we should make such an investment. But after the day required to start the process, one hour a week is not much to give up, and most of the participant learning is done on the job and after hours. The truth is, I strongly believe we’ll see a substantial return on our investment. In the next article in this series, I’ll report on the kickoff event. For those who’d like to go back and read the first article, please go to our Web site: www.americanexecutive.com.
At the end of the eight weeks, there is a graduation ceremony. A lot of companies put on a nice lunch and ask their leader to say a few words. Being a publishing company, we never need much of an excuse for a party, so we plan to hold a black-tie affair as a reward for the efforts of the team. Whatever your choice, showing the participants the value of the course by having a formal function is vitally important.
The holistic salesperson The effectiveness of the Integrity course is no doubt due to the constant reinforcement participants receive until they change their core behaviors. This is definitely the holistic approach to sales training. Treating one symptom of a sales
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