Train Them or Brain Them?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Hands-on managers seem to take one of two paths with sales staff: train them or brain them.

Training them involves some sort of coaching. Encouraging them to learn and apply. It costs time and money. But, how long do staff retain and use what they have learned? How do you maintain standards after training?

Braining them* involves using scripts. Encouraging them not to learn and not to apply any developing skills. (*”Braining them” means metaphorically hitting them on the head with a club.) This path is cheap to set up and easy to manage. But, what happens when your sales staff stop thinking for themselves? You may have dumbed down your entire sales effort and lost good staff in the process.

For managers who are not hands-on, there is a third, most expensive way. They let their sales staff learn from personal experience. This takes the longest and is littered with loss. The hands-off manager will bear the cost of every hard-earned experience.

By the time your staff are flying, they will probably up and fly away.

So, let’s imagine a better set up.

Imagine your sales staff receive mentoring support with every message they send or receive, 24/7. Imagine that advice is directed to their specific needs and it deals directly with their current prospect or customer. Imagine it is instant and costs far less than the extra profits your staff generate. Imagine that you spend your time and energy making progress rather than picking up the pieces.

See for yourself if the solution you need has been found.