I spend a lot of time on the computer typing. When I say a lot, I mean A LOT–but hey, we are a virtual company! That means lots of typing emails, notes, posting on social media, etc. It also means I am not using the muscles in my hand like I did before. Do you remember the days when everything had to be handwritten and you actually used pen and paper?
I know that seems like a distant memory in the era of smart phones, tables, and laptops, but for the past 8 weeks I have been in a cast with a broken arm. With the cast, I was so amazed that I could still move my computer around and type but I couldn’t write! Well, if I did it looked like my four year old wrote it. So now that I am cast free, I can actually use and write in my planner again. Bad news is, the muscles in my hand are weak and my handwriting looks horrible! I decided to start practicing my handwriting again. Once a day, I write out the alphabet in upper and lower case in print and cursive, then I write out my family’s names and my name, and then the months. Try it. Your hand is going to hurt before you are half way finished with the months!
This had me thinking. Just like the muscles in my hand becoming weak caused me to have poor handwriting, if we don’t practice what we have learned and use it over and over, then the muscles and knowledge we have built and strengthened become weak.
I know you have heard us teach about the CQPC process over and over, and for those who are in our mystery shopper program, we even provide you with a script to use following the process. I see it all the time. Someone was trained on the script and initially kept it front of them by the phone, but then after a while they stopped using the script because they felt they had it memorized, but do they really? One of the things I love about our program is that we record each shop. Everyone thinks that they hit each objective during their shopper calls, but when we go back and listen, we can hear what was left out. I hear all the time, “but I have it memorized….I have done this a million times.” It has sometimes been a while since they placed the script in front of them while fielding calls. Having the script in front of you is like running; you wouldn’t head out the door to run without your shoes, would you? Why would you take a call without your script?
That’s the interesting thing about training. You can’t just use the weights (or script) once or twice and keep that same muscle mass (knowledge). You have to use it daily, and work at it to get better at it.
So this week I encourage you–if you have implemented a script or follow-up program or process in your center, and have fallen away from using it, to start again and pick it back up! Just like it’s never too late for me to perfect my handwriting, it’s never too late for you to start over and flex your sales skills.
