I learn therefore I am

Professional training for real people

About ‘I learn therefore I am’

My name is Mark Raven and I’m the chief executive of academy.  I run the company with my two partners, Michael Wolf and Neil Bowman, and we are very hands-on.  We’ve built from two part-time employees in 1999 to 25 full-time employees in 2010 and we train 2,200 people a year in everything from customer service through to executive leadership.

I feel lucky to do what I do for a living.  Running a training company means I am indirectly helping hundreds of people a year; as they update or learn skills, they develop professionally and personally.  For me, that’s exciting stuff and certainly what gets me to my desk at eight every morning. Well, that and the coffee.

Naturally enough I spend a reasonable amount of time thinking about learning. I believe in learning. I learn at work and I learn in my spare time too (as I head towards the end of what’s been dubbed by my family as ‘the world’s longest MBA’).

So the purpose of this blog is to pose questions about learning and development, management training, leadership training, call centre training, customer service training, sales training, talent management and so on… to put out the occasional opinion, share interesting ideas, to learn from my readers and to have fun – something we at academy think all learning has to include. While I will mostly cover management training issues and trends, there will be the occasional more general topic.  Please feel free to suggest any topic you’d like to explore.

Relationship Of Financial Management to Other Organisational Services

The financial management of a company is the very core of business as it brings the past, present, and future together. Organisations that are poorly managed in the financial area impact every other department from marketing to credit and collections. All eyes in the company must turn to the numbers at some point and all financial managers must develop the ability to communicate essential financial information in a way that makes it useful for decision making.

The financial dynamics of an organisation can be complex and impact every function of a business. Marketing can only build a campaign based on an allotted budget. Managers can only give salary increases to staff if the company is earning enough profit. Obtaining organisational credit relies on sound financial performance. Adequately outfitting a business with appropriate levels of management, staff, and operating resources relies on the company being financially successful.

Presenting…the Finances!

When you think about presentation skills, it’s normal to first look to the sales department meeting with customers or the call centre taking client calls or even debt collectors contacting clients. But financial management also requires developing presentation skills because financial managers must be able to present relevant information that leads to sound decision making.

In fact, financial managers require business training on many levels in order to be effective integrators within the organisation.

  • Develop, interpret, and manage critical data
  • Identify relevant financial information which assists departmental managers with decision making related to staffing and other resource management
  • Identify areas where financial performance can be improved such as through increased debt collections
  • Identify financially high risk areas within organisation
  • Manage assets within company that leads to product or service improvements
  • Manage accounts to produce increased sales and collections
  • Develop cost savings measures
  • Identify financial resources available which enable organisation to pursue strategies supporting mission

Personnel working within the financial management areas are employed in a variety of positions ranging from executive officers to front line managers. The interesting aspect of financial management is that it can be position which focuses solely on financial issues or it can be a job function included in a larger job structure.

For example, an accountant working in the finance department may only work with financial data and reports. A debt collection department manager may use financial management skills to monitor results but also manages staff, communicates with customers, and serves as the contact point between his or her department and other organisational functions.

Organisationally Pervasive

For that reason, it is important to determine all organisational positions which can benefit from financial management training. It is an essential function that is pervasive. Managers can use the skills to look back to see what has been successful and unsuccessful; to the present to determine if current strategies are successful; and to the future to establish long term financial goals.

Good financial management is essential for quality customer service, strategic planning, credit management, and marketing success. Financial management provides a barometer for competitive status and customer satisfaction.

Role of Management in Building Sales Through Accounts Control

Management plays a critical role in building sales through accounts control. One of the best strategies which can be employed to increase the bottom line is to improve the quality of the effort put into the management of accounts. Quality accounts control is concerned with building a sales organisation around the customer’s needs as opposed to attempting to sell products or services which are developed independent of the customer.

This may sound fairly obvious in the reading, but becoming a customer focused business requires that everyone within the organisation commits to the vision of customer satisfaction. From the executive office to the line employee working in a call centre, there must be a mission driven focus on the customer. In other words, after any contact with your business, the customer should come away with a sense the company has a pervasive interest in the satisfaction of the customers’ desires and will do what is necessary to achieve that goal.

One of the areas where a business has a clear opportunity to manage its customer relations in order to build sales is through accounts control. This is true for all businesses including those responsible for debt collection.

In the Business of Quality

Accounts control is a management function that can play an important role in the integration of internal business functions. Within accounts lies the power to retain customers, increase revenue streams, integrate ancillary departments including finance and customer service, and improve overall company quality.

When accounts are managed from the quality perspective, it means a number of things.

  • Success measurements are well defined
  • Performance data is useful for decision making
  • Customer satisfaction drives management strategies
  • Staff have been properly trained

In most businesses, failure to manage accounts leads to lost revenue and poor customer service. But accounts control is much more than just reading some management reports and deciding which accounts require additional collection effort. It should be seen as a strategy for improving sales through effective structuring and communication.

For example, the manager responsible for controlling accounts is often responsible for a call centre or a particular department within a company responsible for debt collection. To effectively implement account control techniques in a way that promotes business quality requires:

  • Having well trained staff able to complete their job functions in a way that supports the company vision
  • Developing staff competencies in conflict resolution
  • Developing effective communication skills among staff within the department and between the department and the company
  • Providing high quality customer service
  • Being able to use information obtained through debt collection efforts to provide essential and ongoing feedback to company management

Accounts control is an essential function which touches on every other business function. It requires accurate report and data management, people management skills, communication skills, customer service skills, and an enormous amount of sensitivity. Poorly managed accounts usually lead to lost revenue and poor customer relations.

Proper management of accounts will increase collections, sales, and thus profits while contributing to the quality of the organisation.

Selling as a Component of a Marketing Plan

When you cut right to the chase, the point of marketing is to generate sales leading to income and eventually profits. Knowing this you would think all companies would focus on the interactions between company staff and customers because, as they say, customers are the lifeblood of the business. Without customers and sales, there is simply no business.

All too often organisations see selling as the responsibility of the sales department or the telemarketing centre, and everyone else working for the business is in a strictly supportive role. This is an unfortunate viewpoint that can limit the ability of the organisation to grow and thrive. Selling is an integral component of a marketing plan which covers everything from direct customer contact to customer service.

What is important to realise is the fact customer service is a function of every single department within the organisation. For example, in the finance or credit departments, employees frequently talk to customers on the phone or communicate through email concerning payments on accounts. How efficiently and productively the communication is handled can have a direct bearing on whether that customer ever does business with the company again.

From that perspective, the accounts receivable clerk is a sales person when she discusses a past due amount on a bill. Senior management are sales persons every time they attend a professional meeting. The examples could go on and on. Each contact a member of the organisation has outside the business is a form of a “sales call”.

Selling and Marketing Make Great Teamwork

Selling involves a number of marketing tactics.

  • Generating customer leads
  • Presentations
  • Promotions distribution
  • Customer research and surveys
  • Selling plans
  • Analysis of competitor demographics
  • Distribution of marketing materials
  • Sales lead and customer inquiries
  • Liaison between outside market niche and internal organisational departments

When you consider the entire selling function, it’s easy to see how it fits into an overall marketing plan. It’s also clear that the selling function is much broader than just asking someone to buy a product or service. Selling is a mixture of promotion, presentation, sale closing, and follow-up.

An organisation that takes a restricted view of selling as an independent function within the business most likely has never developed a comprehensive marketing plan. One of the goals of sales management training is and employee sales training is to broaden the viewpoint of the role of sales within a strategic marketing plan.

Successful selling offers a variety of useful and critical elements.

  • Serves as information link which communicates customer needs and desires to business
  • Assists with developing customer loyalty
  • Provides basis for effective promotional campaigns
  • Provides relevant and practical market information for successful organisational teams
  • Develops customer relationships that lead to repetitive sales
  • Promotes company integrity
  • Promotes high quality customer service
  • Provides market insight

Making sales is very different than selling as a marketing function. Though you can say selling is a component of marketing, it is a central element around which all other marketing functions revolve.

Using Presentation Skills to Close a Sale

How do you measure whether a presentation is successful? This is not a riddle, because the answer is obvious. A successful presentation leads to a customer sale. The words “closed sale” hold a certain magic in the business world, because they mean a person or business has decided a product or service your company sells will meet a particular need.

But for the sales person there is also a personal success element that makes the words “closed sale” even more spectacular. But it can be a long difficult road from initial contact to the final agreement if the presentation is not handled correctly.

A sales presentation is obviously a method used to convince a prospective customer to become a buying customer. But presentation skills are used in a variety of circumstances.

• Telephone sales presentation
• Group presentation
• One on one personal selling

A sales presentation should not be considered as something that is always elaborate and time consuming. It may be a simple 3 minute conversation in a call centre with a customer trying to decide if a particular product will meet his or her needs. If the sales representative says the right things, the customer will purchase what is being offered. But if the representative is unprepared or uninformative, the prospect will probably go to a competitor to buy what is needed.

Customer Rapport

Developing presentation skills to close a sale is best achieved through sales training led by a qualified professional. By accessing specialised training using work-specific situations including workshops and even role playing, it is possible to develop presentation skills which teach staff how to successfully close sales at a higher rate.

Effective sales presentations require a lot more than reading prepared telephone scripts or flashing computerised displays on a wall. The presentation must have certain characteristics which are adaptive to the situation. The presentation should have the following features:

  • Informative
  • Offers customer based solutions to a need
  • Adaptive to situation
  • Establishes rapport with customer
  • Well prepared without looking or sounding as if it is a recording
  • Contains information consistent with company mission
  • Tailored to audience

Of course, presentation skills training includes more than presentation content preparation. The information in the material must be conveyed in a way that leads to a closed sale, conflict resolution, or meets any other intention. An excellent presentation requires the development of techniques which lead to audience commitment.

Coaching staff in how to use presentation skills to close a sale is a marketing strategy for increasing sales and profits, but it also gives staff the confidence to do their job well. With each closed sale comes renewed confidence leading to improved on-the-job performance and morale.

The Beginning to End of Presentations

Presentation skills are tools employees and managers can use in a variety of situations. Closing a sale often requires much more than just describing a product or service.

  • Being able to respond authoritatively to customer questions in a way that resolves concerns
  • Satisfying difficult customers
  • Creating an environment which promotes customer satisfaction with the company
  • Providing effective personal contact or telephone service
  • Developing listening skills in order to better understand customer needs
  • Developing questioning and responding techniques

Closing a sale is often the most difficult step in the selling process. Presentation skills include developing all the abilities needed to take initial contact with a customer through to the final sale.

Developing Telemarketing Skills

Anyone can get on a phone and read a sales script…right? Unfortunately that is a tremendously oversimplified approach to one of the most powerful marketing tools available to a company. Telemarketing is a comprehensive concept which addresses call centre activities and every phone call between employees and customers.

In other words, telemarketing is a marketing concept that encompasses customer service and customer relationships in order to build a market responsive company. Telemarketing concepts applied properly can lead to increased sales, increased customer retention, a steady influx of new customers, and more profits.

Companies that approach telemarketing as strictly cold calling sales are missing an opportunity to use the contacts as a foundation for building a strong marketing program.

Yes, it’s true that anyone can get on a phone and read a sales script. But if the employee has no commitment to the company vision, the call will be simply a telephone call and not a marketing call. This is an important distinction and it takes call centre training and sales coaching that begin with a foundation composed of the mission of the company.

Marketing Working Harder

A marketing program has many components and telemarketing can be one of the most important because it is an opportunity for direct and personalised contact with an existing or potential customer. It’s an opportunity the company needs to take full advantage of so that the most marketing force is exerted.

It’s easy to see that simply having someone reading from a script and not prepared to really promote the company can be counterproductive. In fact a poorly handled telemarketing call can result in lost business far beyond the potential customer on the other end of the line. People network with friends and families and can just as easily badmouth a business as they can promote it.

Telemarketing should be viewed as a chance to make the company marketing program work harder and longer but also in a more personal manner. So it’s critical that telemarketing skills be developed and honed so that the most benefit is achieved by the personal contact made with consumers or other businesses.

For example, a telemarketing call can try to promote a single product or service. But what if the contact indicates they are interested in a different type of product? Does the salesperson just say, “Sorry, we don’t sell that particular item.” or does he or she say, “It just so happens our company can offer you a different product that meets your needs.”? After the first response the call ends. After the alternative response the call may continue and lead to the sale of a company product even if not the one originally promoted.

In other words, a “no, thanks” can possibly be turned into a “let’s talk more about your company”. This is power marketing.

Skills That Work

Developing effective telemarketing skills takes training in order to get maximum results. A qualified trainer can provide valuable resources for developing selling skills using the company vision as the starting point.

  • Develop effective sales approaches using the telephone
  • Learn how to handle conflict
  • Master turning a rejection into a sale
  • Learn how to manage calls in a way that creates a sense of outstanding service quality
  • Motivate salespeople within the organisation
  • Learn how to develop rapport with potential customer
  • Develop cultural sensitivities
  • Develop sales closing skills

These are just a few of the telemarketing skills which can build a solid and successful sales program that supports a comprehensive marketing program. The skills learned for application in a call centre are the same skills which should be used whenever a customer contact is made on the telephone.

The call does not have to originate in a telemarketing department to be a marketing tool. Throughout the company there are managers and staff on the phone with potential and existing customers all day long. They just need to recognize the amazing opportunities.

How to Promote Teamwork Within an Organisation

It’s easy to assign people to a particular team, but how do you actually get those people to operate as a team that works towards a common goal? Volumes could be written on this subject simply because each team creates its own unique dynamics. Channelling those dynamics in a way that leads to success in meeting goals is a challenge best met through team development activities.

How do you build an effective team? It begins by building team member participation in the vision of the company which is then moulded into team participation. A team member must feel committed, empowered and able to use a particular expertise in a way that promotes team goals.

Promoting teamwork within an organisation requires that certain critical issues be addressed first in order to give members the information and desire to commit to the team. One of the biggest problems organisations experience with teams is the inability of team members to understand how the success of the team will play an important role in the success of the company.

Teamwork is promoted by developing the following.

  • Clear understanding of the mission of the company
  • Mutual trust between team members
  • Open communication between team members
  • Open communication between team and organisational management
  • Development of creative thinking skills
  • Development of coordinated action plan with common goals
  • Development of mutually acceptable team conflict resolution practices

For a team to be effective, it must be empowered to achieve its goals. One of the most common mistakes a company makes is creating a team which is discouraged from presenting new ideas or approaches to achieve goals.

Promoting Teamwork Through Dialogue

In essence, teamwork is developed through effective dialogue. Open dialogue is how teams learn about the company mission, resolve conflict, communicate within the organisation, and communicate with customers. Learning how to dialogue in a way that promotes the vision of the company is critical. Looking at it from another angle, if managers and staff are unable to communicate in a productive manner, it will be almost impossible to build a team.

Teams within an organisation can take several forms and dialogue is important to them all. Teams can be department teams, special project teams, or the organisation as a whole. It doesn’t matter what team you want to develop, promoting teamwork begins with team members learning how to effectively communicate.

One of the main complaints heard within an organisation is, “This company doesn’t care what I think.” The employee may say, “My manager never listens to me.” Another frequently heard statement is the following: “I tried to tell them it wouldn’t work.” Upon consideration it’s easy to see each of these statements addresses lack of good dialogue between members of the organisation.

Many companies choose to add communication skills training to their organisation for this reason. Effective communication transmits reliable information and includes feedback given in a non-threatening manner. It is open dialogue that enables a company to develop the skills and environment needed for successful teamwork.

Customer Service Can Differentiate a Company in a Competitive Environment

Customer service is a lot more than just giving service.  That may sound odd at first, but customer service is not just an act of doing something a customer has requested.  True service is a marketing strategy which can differentiate a company in a competitive environment.  It is a way to create quality within the company which leads to new customers and higher customer retention.

When you talk about customer service, it may be tempting to focus primarily only on what has been defined in your company manual.  As a manager, you teach your staff the procedures and then spend your time insuring they are followed.  The problem is this is not quality service which necessarily benefits the customer or the company.

You can think of it in this manner.  Your manual may dictate when a customer can return a product and how the staff is to handle the request.  But simply processing the return of the product does not necessarily tell you why the customer wants to return it, how the product could be enhanced so the customer would not want to return it, nor whether the customer was satisfied with the return process.

In a successful company, customer service is much more than a set of actions.  It is a focus on the customer and what the customer wants in the way of service.  In other words, the customer defines customer service.  This looks at customer service from the viewpoint of the customer and not from management.  Customer service desires should flow upward to the company and then downward as a management response to customer needs.

Service Brands a Company

Branding a company is a process whereby the company name, image, products, and service are differentiated in the minds of existing and potential customers.  Many people choose a business based on brand recognition because they have found reliability and quality in what the company has to offer on all levels from product offerings to customer service.

High quality customer service enhances company branding.  It is amazing how many businesses lose customers because one employee in the call centre was having a bad day and failed to give good service.  It is also amazing how often companies fail to gather critical information from customers which can be used to enhance current service levels.  The customer does not forget when treated poorly or made to feel as if needs are not important, and in fact will share their experience and feelings with friends and family.  In their minds the brand becomes associated with poor customer service even if the product is of the highest quality.

In a competitive environment, providing true customer service can be the defining strategy which differentiates the company.  True or high quality customer service is a lot more than just implementing procedures.  Customer service training teaches staff how to listen to customers, extract the customer’s real needs during contact, convert those needs into management information for decision making purposes, and implement service tactics which meet those needs.  It is an ongoing cycle that begins and ends with the customer.

Quality Customer Relationships

Businesses need an influx of new customers on a regular basis and high customer retention in order to be successful.  In the best of times it is customer service which often becomes the deciding factor when someone is trying to decide between one company and its competitors.  In difficult economic times, offering quality customer service can actually be the company feature which leads to its very survival.

Excellent customer service includes the following.

  • Creates a customer sense of ownership in or commitment to the company
  • Inspires confidence in the company, its products, and its ability to meet customer needs
  • Identifies customer needs or requirements
  • Reflects company commitment to meeting customer needs

Through business training, company staff can learn how to integrate the concepts of exceptional customer service within the business structure.  This training can lead to more satisfied customers, improved branding, and a company better able to differentiate itself in a highly competitive environment.

In other words, customer service creates customer relationships so people return again and again.

The Importance of Understanding Conflict Resolution

Conflict exists throughout environments of all kinds. In the workplace, no matter how much you attempt to avoid it, if you work with people the chances are you will have to deal with conflict at some point. People coming from different viewpoints and experiences, and having different perceptions, are not going to agree all the time.

Here is the interesting fact about conflict. Some people see it as completely negative while others respond as if conflict is an obstacle that actually presents new opportunities for improvement. The two views of conflict are worlds apart which means the responses to the conflict will be just as different.

Unfortunately, viewing conflict as only an impediment usually results in dictator type responses on the part of management. And anyone who has worked for a manager who issues dictates without getting input knows that style of management frequently generates even more conflict. The truth is that your view of conflict drives your response to it and has a direct bearing on how well the conflict is resolved.

Developing Great Leaders Able to Resolve Obstacles

As a manager, it is important to understand conflict and conflict resolution. This is an oversimplified statement, because unresolved conflict has literally caused projects to fail and even businesses to implode. The way conflict is resolved often defines the business information flow, creates leaders, and becomes an integral component of the corporate culture.

All businesses experience conflict on different levels. Conflict can exist within a particular project or department, or it can exist between company units. There is conflict between employees and conflict between management and employees. There is conflict between the company staff and customers. There is conflict between the employees of a business and its vendors. Conflict also arises between a business and the local government over issues like taxes and regulations.

You notice that most conflict is connected to interpersonal relationships though. That is the conflict which can be the most difficult to resolve, and true resolution is not possible unless the conflict is recognized as an opportunity for improvement.

It is important to understand conflict resolution, because conflict left to fester can lead to lower sales, poor customer service and fewer profits. For example, an employee in the customer service call centre dissatisfied with company responses to customer complaints may fail to report calls accurately out of the belief it is a waste of time. An employee in the credit department believing work flows are not productive, but has no voice in the matter, might begin to violate company policies. A project with responsible departments in conflict may lead to project failure as goals are not met.

A manager has to recognize the conflict; identify the true sources of the conflict; and then begin a process of conflict resolution. Effective conflict resolution by a leader will have certain features.

  • Recognizes an immediate crisis may only be a symptom of a more serious problem
  • Accepts conflict as energising for the company and a chance to improve employee, management, department, and company performance
  • Does not use “blame” as a tactic but focuses on the systemic causes of the conflict
  • Compromise is always included as a method of resolution except in rare cases where a forceful and unpopular decision must be made for the benefit of the company

Managing conflict means finding resolution. Effective leaders will embrace conflict as an opportunity to improve workflows, productivity, customer service, and company performance. That is why management training and leadership coaching always include conflict resolution as a strategy for success.

Transformation Through Training

Words can be very powerful as everyone knows. They have moved nations to war and encouraged the discouraged. Words can also be transformational and that is the purpose of the words used in a company training program. The words are meant to transform company managers and staff into leaders who can help insure the success of the company.

These are not just buzz words which are meant to be read and forgotten. The transformational words used in a training session lead to the development of additional effective word use throughout the organization. Managers learn to use words to empower staff. Staff use words to create customer loyalty.

The flow of words through the organization can move departments to be cooperative or they can create divisiveness. Words can inspire employees or wound customers. The assembly of words can create a highly effective organisation able to handle change in a productive way.

Business training uses words that inspire individuals to develop their talents, makes strategic planning possible, addresses complex customer issues, and improves overall company productivity. The best words spoken are spoken right in the business too. On-site training only makes sense, because people can learn and implement training concepts in the company where current fortunes lie and future possibilities are developed.

A Corporate Culture of Success

Training employees in their place of business makes it possible to not only develop the skills of managers and staff, but it clearly establishes a corporate culture of success. When a company proves it values the abilities of its organizational members to create a profitable result by encouraging training and education, personnel are motivated to do what it takes to support the corporate mission through personal leadership skills.

On-site training offers many benefits over off-site training. For example, the training is cost effective and makes it possible for a greater number of personnel to participate. Mini-training and self-paced training provide all the opportunities needed to gain the right information. It is much easier to use situational training which teaches managers and staff hands-on decision making techniques. The participants are able to more easily apply learning to their particular working positions.

In Australia, the government is such a big supporter of training that company personnel can get accredited non-traditional training which leads to certificates of success or degrees. The instructors can structure the training session in a way that is the least disruptive to the business and yet the most effective for participants and the organisation itself.

In other words, training personnel will result in personal and business success. Personnel training can lead to new behaviours which enable a company to improve its ability to compete through customer service.

Training Leaders

The ultimate goal of training is to create leaders. This does not mean there will be only “bosses” and no “followers”. It means personnel get the tools they need in the way of training and education to make the right decisions no matter what job they are performing. The right decision is the one that supports the mission of the company.

Today’s workplace is a highly stressful environment. By providing regular training to managers and staff, you can change that environment to one that is ready to meet those stresses in a productive manner leading to improved sales and profitability.

The right words can make all the difference in the customer world.