How to Train People and Make It Work!

As a Professional Sales Trainer, prospective clients often ask me, "I sent my people to a one day, or two day seminar and nothing changed. We had no improvement or change in them at all. Why?" If this has happened to you, you are probably asking "why" no change in my people or me either. Well if you are asking this, it's not uncommon. The answer to why no change is simple. You didn't involve them or yourself in what we call "ongoing, repetitive, reinforcement of the subject material."

  All studies show people learn gradually through repetitive reinforcement. Studies don't even need to tell us this. We know it's true deep down inside. Think about that reinforcement statement. . Do most of us complete our early school years or even a college degree in one day? Does a doctor or lawyer go to medical school or law school for just one day? Does a plumber or electrician learn his trade in one day? Would you want any professional to assist you that hasn't had "continual" education and reinforcement in their chosen field? Hopefully the answer is a resounding no! I wouldn't want a doctor operating on me that tells me he/she has had no further training since medical school 20 years ago. Ongoing, gradual, incremental reinforcement and repetition are what makes training work.

 Regular, spaced repetition is a retentive method of learning a subject by listening to it through a gradual, ongoing, repetitive fashion. Studies show that when you are exposed to an idea one time, after one day you have forgotten 50% of it, after two days you have forgotten 75% of it, and the percentage continues to decrease until after sixteen (16) days, it is estimated that you only retain about 2% of that original idea. You may have experienced this with listening to the news. Do you listen to the news or read a newspaper on a regular basis?

 Researchers say that listening to a subject once per day, for six consecutive days, results in 62% retention of the subject for 15 years up to life.  We are really talking about long-term development and not just short-term training. Long term development creates permanent, long lasting change.

To illustrate this, complete the phrase: "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese…pickles, onions on a…………." Were you able to complete this without even thinking? How many of you made a conscious effort to memorize what is on a McDonald's Big Mac? It was through repetition that we learned this and we use the same concept in our sales and management training programs.

Another example of this would be the multiplication table.

How much is four times five?

Eight times three?

Six times four?

 Did you have any trouble with answering these questions? Did you have to get a calculator out and use it to do the math? Probably not and the reason is you had ongoing, repetitive, reinforcement of the multiplication tables for years in school. How long has it been since you studied the multiplication tables? If you're like me, years. However, you still remember them…probably up to the multiples of 10 or 12. That is the point. You learned the multiplication tables through repetition.

 If you have ever watched the Olympics and observed the skill that many of these athletes display is inspiring. How did they do it? Well no doubt, many have some basic, inherent talent. But all of them go to "regular" repetitive, reinforcement coaching to be the best at their sport. They didn't sign up for a one -day class on how to win a gold medal.

 In the Sales Training business, all too often I see companies send their salespeople to a one or two day training without follow-up reinforcement. No wonder people's behaviors and beliefs never change and sales don't increase. We all know that one-day trainings don't change people, nor does it create any ownership of the subject matter. But in our fast paced, microwave world, we want instant success and instant knowledge "now."

 So you want your sales to increase on a permanent basis? Not a spike in sales after the one-day seminar and then back to where you were at before the seminar. Stop attending the one-day seminars that you know in your heart never works and never changes people, without the commitment to have it reinforced. Start now with what all studies prove that people learn gradually, incrementally, through ongoing, reinforcement training. That is what makes the subject matter stick and that is how to train people and make it work!

Gary Harvey is the founder and president of Achievement Dynamics, LLC, a high performance sales training, coaching and consulting company. His firm is consistently rated by the Sandler Training as one of the top 10 training centers in the world. He has been awarded the David H. Sandler Award by Sandler Training, the highest award by Sandler Training given to the top Sandler trainer worldwide. He can be reached at 303-741-5200, or gary@achievemoresales.com .

Email address: gary@achievemoresales.com