Philip Morris Shares Secrets of Sales Training Success

Philip Morris Shares Secrets of Sales Training Success

Richmond, Va.-based tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris USA may be the most well-known cigarette company in the country, but that doesn’t mean there’s not room for improvement in its sales leadership training program, says Andy Lupo, director of national sales training. Over the past 18 months, the company has invested nearly $10 million revamping the system, and has established an annual $8 million budget for it. Its new get-on-board program, Foundations, designed for workers at every level at the company, exemplifies the new approach.

Naturally, Morris, an industry stalwart, had a system in place already; the problem was it didn’t reach out to the whole organization equally. While the previous system, Lupo explains, focused mainly on the 10 percent of employees who are new hires, “the whole premise behind the [new] system is everyone within the organization, regardless of tenure with the company, your promotable status—whether you’re high potential or well placed—you’re going to get continuous, consistent and connected, ongoing development in our system.”

With Foundations, each group of new or newly promoted employees has a program designed solely for its needs. For the entry-level position of territory sales manager, employees during their first week on the job receive training on leadership, skill development and the company’s corporate values, Lupo says. “It’s all about the fundamental, key skills they’re going to need to hit the ground running.” Participants are armed with the basics on sales skills, such as best practices in pitching to retailers.

The Foundations program, in a tinkered form, also exists for new unit managers as well as new senior account managers. “The unit managers’ Foundations program is all about people because these folks for the first time in their career are going to be leading five to six territory sales managers,” Lupo says. With that in mind, these employees are taught such skills as how to connect and engage their workers, how to identify behaviors and link them to development plans, how to set up an effective training day with employees, how to provide an effective written and oral feedback and how to build effective development plans “so when you’re not with them, they can focus on changing a behavior to improve a skill and drive a result,” Lupo points out.

For senior account managers, or those who are taking on accounts as big as, say, a Wal-Mart, Foundations provides a program steeped in training on issues such as strategic thinking, two-way business planning, or “game planning,” and financial acumen, including lessons on analyzing income statements, balance sheets and cash-flow information, Lupo says, namely “all of the high-level financial stuff they need to be able to understand when dealing with large customers,” he notes.

How to create a high performance coaching culture

How to create a high performance coaching culture

It's amazing what people can achieve with the right support. These fivepointers emphasize the fundamental role that HR can play in embedding acoaching culture to unlock untapped talent and potential.

1. Clarify drivers for change and get buy-in from senior managementTo make a compelling case for coaching, it's important that a coachingcompany work closely with HR and business leaders to identify areas in needof improvement, challenges, missed opportunities and hidden costs - forexample, costs associated with high staff turnover.

2. Agree relevant ROI measures that can be tracked from the outsetThese might be revenue/profit-focused or centered around retention levels,employee or customer satisfaction, as well as behavioral measures which canbe monitored through 360 degree assessments and employee health surveys.

3. Create a coaching vision and integrate coaching with strategic plansAsk senior management to think about when a coaching culture is in place.What results will be achieved? How will people feel? What difference will itmake to individuals and the bottom line? The greatest results are achievedwhen organizations commit to a long-term program and integrate the visionand key performance indicators into their strategic HR plans.

4. Communicate quick winsTry one-to-one coaching with a select group of individuals, or start with aregional pilot program. These activities can be publicized to gainengagement for a full coaching plan. Work with marketing and PR tocommunicate success stories, both internally and externally.

5. Sustain momentumSenior management need to walk the talk and continually inspire learning andgrowth. Look at creating programs that not only coach individuals but alsoteach them how to coach the people they manage. Progress should be assessedon an ongoing basis to help to ensure key objectives continue to be met.

Source: Carole Gaskell, Full Potential Group. For further information,please visit: http://www.fullpotentialgroup.com/

Live from Training 2006: Creativity and Strategic Thinking Enhanced

Live from Training 2006: Creativity and Strategic Thinking Enhanced

If the words "heterogeneous workforce" conjures images of staffers doomed to constantly butt heads rather than meet deadlines, Ann Herrmann-Nehdi, who led a Monday session at the Training 2006 Conference and Expo, wants to enlighten you. According to Hermann-Nehdi, CEO of Lake Lure, N.C.,-based learning research and development consultancy Herrmann International, diverse teams are not just the doable, accepted practice, but actually the way to go.

"Heterogeneous groups are capable of significantly greater creative output than unbalanced or homogeneous groups," Herrmann-Nehdi emphasized, citing four major creative approaches that she said you should be able to recognize among your workers. Those driven by purpose look at work from a "factual, rigorous, research, analytical, financial" perspective; possibility-driven employees are "holistic, playful, intuitive, visionary, experimental;" those attracted to process are "disciplined and organized and primarily interested in capturing, verifying and planning;" while workers who are mainly drawn to the "people" aspect of any project tend to like the "interpersonal, aesthetic, spiritual, sensual and tactile."

If your group of seemingly disparate workers isn't functioning well, it's probably due much more to the problem-solving strategy you're employing than to their differences, if Hermann-Nehdi is to be believed. The researcher has developed tools, or project management approaches, that might put an apparently insurmountable task into proper perspective. "Sometimes our subconscious knows more than we do," she pointed out. Getting in touch with that hidden realm of handy solutions, she explained, can begin by asking yourself questions such as, "What does the 'the problem' look like" and "What does 'the problem' feel like?" After that, she advised writing down any thoughts you have and drawing a picture of 'the problem' in its current state and then another of it solved. When this process is complete, she said to share it by describing it to another person.

Similarly, ideas that seem "crazy" shouldn't be discounted and forgotten. While impossible to implement in their current state, many of these ideas have potential for use in the brainstorming process, Hermann-Nehdi said. Your team, she suggested, might sometimes have luck using an exercise she calls "Magic Wand Thinking."

"Ask, 'What if I had a magic wand and were able to solve this problem with no constraints on what the solution might look like or how off the wall it might be, what would the solution look like?' " To do this, ask yourself what's tempting about the idea, what it's lacking and what you need to change about it to make it work.

For more information, visit www.hbdi.com.

Wells Fargo Grosses Millions After Sales Training

Wells Fargo Grosses Millions After Sales Training

San Francisco-based bank Wells Fargo & Co. may be one of the country's largest financial institutions, but the company doesn't rest on its laurels. Through a program known as Planet Wholesale, sales partners are provided with training sessions to learn abut products in other departments and cross-sell them. Attendees of these sessions generated 462 cross-sells and $5.5 million in revenue.

SPRING FEVER

SPRING FEVER

By: Dr. Donald E. Wetmore

You develop your jam packed “to do” list the night before. You awake tothe new day ready to conquer the world. But the sun is shining after along winter. It warms your soul. The birds are singing and the freshscent of new flowers breaking ground is all around you.

Ouch! You just got bit by the spring fever bug and all the ambition ofyour plans from the night before go out the window as you proceed tofill your day with unimportant stuff like shuffling piles of paper anddusting your desk again and again. Sound familiar?

It should because it happens to all of us from time to time.When you get bit by the spring fever bug, one of two things will happen.
First, you may give in to it, blow off the day and then feel guiltyabout it.
Or second, you will give in to it, blow off the day and feelgood about it. Either way, you’re going to give in to it.
What to do, then? Give into it, blow off the day and feel good about it.

The spring fever bug bites you for a reason. You are not some robot or machine. You need an occasional break from the stresses of highperformance. Give in to it. Blow off the day.

Now, if you have made commitments to others about getting something donetoday then you have to honor that obligation and let the spring feverbug come back another day. But most of the things you have to do canprobably be pushed off to another day. Give into it. Blow off the day.Think about this.

Will your overall productive output for the year begreatly diminished because you took a goof off day in April? One daylost out of 365? Probably not.

When you get the bite, give in to it. Use the day to recharge yourbatteries while taking time out to literally smell the flowers aroundyou.
But what if every day you get bit by the spring fever bug? Then you’vegot a problem. But every now and again? Take advantage of it. Youroverall productivity will be enhanced in the long run.