There Is No DNA That Delivers Great Sales Skills

Training is an important investment in the people who represent your organization and drive revenue. When you train people, it makes them more valuable to your organization and helps you retain them. We can’t expect that people will arrive at our firms and agencies already knowing what they need to know to excel in this often difficult career. There is no DNA that delivers great sales skills.

Today’s Employees Want to Learn and Grow in Their Careers

Today’s employees, especially millennials, fundamentally think about their jobs as an opportunity to learn and grow. Their strong desire for development is the greatest differentiator between them and all other generations in the workplace today. They seek development in career opportunities, and when it is not delivered, they look elsewhere.

Business Week reported that companies that don’t train their employees are three times more likely to lose them than companies that. Today’s progressive organizations realize the financial impact that training delivers to their bottom line.

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E-learning: A high-impact, cost-effective, efficient way to train, compared to classroom training:

– Requires 40 to 60 percent less training time
– Increases retention rates by 25 to 60 percent
– Delivers nearly five times more material
– Generates 26 percent more revenue per employee

Source: “Facts and Stats That Reveal the Power of eLearning”,
April 7, 2016, Shift eLearning.
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Close the Skills Gap with a Well-Developed Methodology

But effective training is so much more than just having course material. It’s about having a methodology to deliver the skills, knowledge and easy-to-understand explanations in a way that fits everyone’s busy lifestyle. Time is a limited commodity, so training must be delivered in bite-sized yet comprehensive and engaging pieces. Today’s professionals want short videos and podcasts that are easy to use, easy to understand and accessible on demand. This type of training can easily be a game-changer for busy, on-the-go people.

In our industry, there is a skill gap when it comes to agents and advisors, as well as those in leadership and support staff. Unfortunately, many organizations are attacking the problem the wrong way. There is a better approach that can actually solve the problem by providing competency-based learning. This type of learning gives people a voice in not only what they need, but in when and how they get it. Giving your team members access to everything they need, as individuals, is the only approach that intrinsically motivates a person to close the skill gap. This competency-based learning approach not only creates a real solution to the problem; it also ensures that organizations and practices are maximizing their investment in developing people. Are you ready to finally close skill gaps in your organization?

“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave
is not training them and having them stay.”
—Henry Ford

Differentiate Your Firm or Agency with Constantly Updated Training

Without a doubt, recruiting is a manager’s top priority in growing a firm or unit. Today, it’s almost impossible to differentiate yourself with products, underwriting or compensation. LIMRA tells us that millennials and female recruits are heavily swayed by the ongoing training and educational programs organizations offer, as well as the technology through which they will deliver the training.

It’s so much more than just having a Learning Management Platform (LMS); it’s about offering constantly updated content. The content not only needs to meet your firm’s training objectives; it also needs to deliver the resources, insights and knowledge that each team member wants, needs and can easily access at any time and from anywhere. Everyone has different needs and skill gaps. Offering a wide variety of customized training will help all your team members address their individual practice and client situations.

Here’s a fact that both beginners and seasoned pros need to remember: the better you understand all the concepts, ideas and products you sell, the better you can explain them to potential customers. That will ultimately lead to building stronger relationships, more opportunities to help and serve those in the community, and more referrals. All good stuff, you have to admit.