by Tech Support | Apr 25, 2012 | Sales
This week I had an amazing training experience. Like most entrepreneurs, I really want to make difference. At the center of our core values at TrainerTainment we know we want to help others. It’s pretty simple and it keeps us on track when we train. With the thought of helping in mind, I received a call on my way to a training this week. The assignment was to re-coach a party team and help them bond with a new party manager. However, this call made me rethink the situation. The new manager and another senior sales manager called to say the weekend before had been pretty tough. The new manager was in place and this young party team that I was going in to work with was pretty standoffish. It sounded like I had my work cut out for me.
I sensed a power point, fun games, and a reminder of the job they needed to do was not what everyone really needed. Fortunately, I had pre-board and air-time, along with a rush hour drive to the location. For whatever reason, I normally go to sleep during take-off and again once the plane begins to descend. Often times during this twilight nap time, I come up with article ideas, products, and fortunately, this time-just the right thing to do with this fractured team.
I called the center to let them know the traffic was going to create a bit of delay. We were due to start at 6:30 and there was no way I was going to make it before 6:45. As it turned out my tardiness turned into perfect timing. The new manager was able to have a good conversation with the team, and helped them understand her rules and processes. She also heard from the team about some of the issues they had been having. Everything was OK when I arrived.
It seemed to me they did not need me to stand up front so instead I just sat at the table with them. I chose to do an exercise that seems to really help managers and team members understand what they need from each other. Now pay close attention – this is VERY sophisticated.
Step #1: I ask the managers to step out of the room.
Step #2: I ask the team members what they thought the managers needed in order to be successful in their jobs. We went around the room with each person saying things like, “they need me to be on time, they need me to make customers happy, they need me to deliver great guest service, they need me to clean up my room.”
Step #3: I then ask the team members to write down on a piece of paper the 3 things they need in order to succeed in their job. It’s always so interesting to see these responses. Team members talk more about what they need from each other than what they need from their managers. They do need to know managers, “have their back.” They also need other team members do their fair share of the work, and I quote, “They need to perform UP and BEYOND!” I love this concept. Blue, a fantastic Party Hero in Sugarland, TX, gets credit for this wonderful slogan for excellent performance.
Step # 4: We then invited the managers back into the room and asked them to share the 3 things they needed in order to be successful in their job. These managers and most managers that I visit with all said they need communication. This opened up good conversation about what that communication looked like; and we were able to clarify simple things like appropriate timing and responses using text messaging. We also heard that it was important to the manager for the team member to understand that they could come to them for help and encouragement.
Step # 5: The team told the managers what they thought they would say.
Step # 6: The team told the managers and each other what they needed.
This proved to be an exciting conversation about where this team could take the party program. I did jump in with some of our training messages and encouraged this team to know that they were the core, literally at the center of the success or failure of this party program. All the things that they choose to do right now will determine their level of excellence. I thought it was important to share the message that they don’t have to do the job. They chose to do the job and if this is their choice then why not do it to the best of their ability…to which they all described as UP & BEYOND!
It was incredible. These kids did not want to go home. We had been there for more than 2.5 hours with no break and everyone was leaning in wanting more. When I asked them what they got out of the evening I was completely blown away. Somehow, the situation created an environment that struck a chord with everyone in the room. They were visibly emotional with their gratitude. It meant something to them that their level of excellence in this job is indicative of the choices they’ll make in the future and a sign of how they will perform in the jobs in their future. One young woman seemed very inspired by my story of entrepreneurship and admired the business woman in me. I won’t lie, that made me feel pretty special. Another party pro said, “I get it, I’m choosing to do this. I am going to do a better job.” I tell you, I was overwhelmed.
And I’m happy to report they had an AMAZING weekend! I’m feeling pretty successful about training this week. Thank you for giving me a forum to share. I’ll close with my favorite thought on Success.
This is my favorite poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Success
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, or garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
by Tech Support | Apr 18, 2012 | Sales
I’m not suggesting that you might need to shoot your trainees. While that might be an effective training method, I’m not a proponent of firearms in the workplace.
Last week I went on a retreat with my CEO, Vistage Group. We had a great time; and our last activity together was skeet shooting. Now I’m not a gun person at all. I admit that I was a little frightened of the whole process well as being pretty nervous that I would not be good at it. Of course the competitor in me was ready to take bets on who could hit most clay targets.
What I found most interesting is that training new employees kept coming up for me during this entire experience. Here I am, new to skeet shooting, just like a first time new employee is to your facility. There were rules listed on the wall. In my own anxiousness to not look stupid and to try and be good at this “new job”, I started to read the rules. I had problems right away. Rule # 5 said something about leaving the chamber open when not shooting and the safety on as well. Guess what, I had NO clue as to what the chamber and the safety were.
Good news, in addition to the written rules, a trainer-facilitator-fun guy, was there to help. He was great. He qualified that there were some newbies in our group; and we (I) received some remedial training right away. You’ll be glad to know, I understand how to keep the chamber open as well as click the safety on and off!
We got great info on how to hold the gun close (my shoulder still hurts by the way), the proper stance, the houses that the clay targets would come out of, how to load and unload the gun and the most important tip to look down the barrel of the shotgun and line up the bee bee with the target (I think that’s what he said). House 1 and 5 shot the clay targets out low and fast which meant you had to stay in front of the clay thing. That sounded, and was way too hard for me so I didn’t even try those two targets. My strategy was to get really good at the easy ones first before I moved on. Interesting correlation to job skills don’t you think?
So I’m up first and am pretty nervous. I pick house 2 for the clay target to originate from. Our trainer even let me see what was going to happen first. House 2 and 3 were the easiest for me because the target floated up and toward me. I found it really hard to get things lined up along the barrel of the gun. It seemed to me like there were a lot of things to remember. Putting it all together was a bit complicated. Lean in so it won’t kick so hard. Hold the gun tight into your shoulder. Right before I got ready to shoot for the first time, someone shared info that they had gotten a black eye one time because they didn’t hold the gun in tight enough. So here I am, just like a new employee, overwhelmed with a bunch of things to remember at one time, a bit fearful because I’ve never done this before and here’s the kicker (pun intended!)… I missed, and I missed.. I missed again and again.
So I have a couple of choices. I can quit, bu this really just isn’t my thing. Or I can ask more questions. Or I can try to figure it out on my own so I don’t ask any stupid questions. Or I can put in my time, shoot my 25 rounds and just blow it off that I suck at this job.
I’m not much of a quitter. I like to figure stuff out. So I started messing around with the gun. I knew things weren’t lining up for me. So I got to thinking about my eye dominance. I’ve had lots a great bowling coaching; and I think that I remember that I’m left eye dominant. I start to wonder if I would be better off shooting left handed. Now I’m not left handed so the coordination of making the gun feel okay in my hands was a bit of a test but sure enough when I did that, boom-boom (I was 2 for 2). I did that for 2 rounds (and my left and right shoulder still hurt today!).
Then I get to thinking, maybe I was looking down the barrel of that gun with my left eye when I was shooting right handed. That’s why things weren’t lining up. I switched back to my less awkward right hand, forced my left eye closed and could then line up correctly with the right eye.
Amazing. Now that I have some experience under my belt, and have the all-important (eye) piece of training that I either missed or that our trainer may have thought I would just know. The facilitator then said, “Okay, I’m going to release the targets one right after the other.” This was genius for me. Bam-Bam, I got them both. I thought maybe they were teasing me and could somehow blow those targets up in the air. But sure enough, it was me. Woo Hoo. When he put those clay targets up one right after the other I didn’t have time to think about it. I simply took the little bit of experience that I had and executed! It was awesome. I felt good. I wanted to do it again.
I couldn’t quit thinking about what a cool training lesson this was. Actually, I think there are a bunch of lessons. I could recap here but would really like your input:
- What comparisons do you see between training, job performance, first-job jitters and skeet shooting?
Hope you are having a great week! I’ll see you on the range (as soon as my shoulders heal up).
by Tech Support | Apr 11, 2012 | Sales
I’ve had a bit of a reading frenzy lately. And when I read, I get reflective and interestingly enough it makes me think!
I love it that the great, late Jim Rohn said, “You gotta read.” He also indicated that education could make you a living but long term study could give you a great life.
With that in mind, I thought you might be interested in the 3 books I just finished. I’m not going to do a book report but rather I’ll show you the result of the last read.
I think the book that moved me the most was Bob Burg and John David Mann’s
It’s Not About You. To see more go to
www.thegogiver.com. This is one of those allegorical story reads that you can’t put down.
Sales Tough is another short powerful “tips” book that every sales person ought to take a look at. I mentioned this book a few weeks ago in an article. The book is written by Sam Parker and I’m interested to know if anyone has read it.
Finally, I want to share what might be the most important read of the year from a marketing perspective. This book is written by Jaynie L. Smith & William G. Flanagan and its’ title is, Creating Competitive Advantage. I could barely get through the book because I kept having so many “aha” moments about how we are sharing our message at TrainerTainment, and more importantly how our customers are getting information out to their potential buyers. As a result, we are currently doing some unscientific research for some of our clients by calling people who have had group events at their center and asking 4 really important questions:
1. How did you decide to book your group event at this Family Entertainment Center?
2. What did you like most about the experience?
3. Have or will you tell others and recommend they book their group event at this center?
4. Do you plan to have another event at this center?
Jaynie Smith makes the point over and over that often times, the top reasons we think people buy our stuff is really opposite of the things that buyers consider most important. So when we are talking about creating competitive advantage it makes perfect sense to find out with the customer counts as important! Duh… I’ll get back to you on our research. What I can tell you now is that we’ve already been really surprised at the answers to question number two.
I hope these books make it to your reading list; and if you’ll indulge me a few more words I’d like to show you the results of the lessons I learned about getting information out about one of our own products that we consider so valuable to our customers. I’d love your feedback. Tell me what you think of the message? Does it make you want to know more? If we aren’t peaking your interest what would? Thank you and I promise to return the favor and help you with your message as well …
Sales Shopper Program Facts
We’ve helped more than 50 locations increase their birthday sales 10% to 60% over a 6-month to 1-year period of time.
Our Gattis Pizza Client continues to increase year over year. All 17 stores experienced a system-wide, 26% increase in 2010, followed by a 25% increase in 2011.
98% of stores that have utilized the Sales Shopper Program have increased birthday sales by 10% to 60%.
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We are 100% focused on winning. We have a diverse group of shoppers. We utilize technology to provide the kind of information you need to produce the right results quickly.
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