Everyone has a fond memory of a schoolteacher that they hold close to their heart. Maybe it was Mrs. Billingsley who taught you second grade and gave you your first taste of deer meat and exposed you to a whole world you never knew about. Maybe it was Mrs. Flanagan who taught you ninth grade English and told you that you should be a writer. Or maybe it was a gym teacher who saw you shooting hoops and told you to try out for the team and changed the trajectory of your life.

No matter what age or subject, all of these teachers had something in common. They reached out to you and made you see yourself as more than just a number passing through the halls. The feeling they gave you made as much of an impression on you as the words you used.

You also probably have a memory of a bad teacher, as well. It may be even more vivid than your impression of your good teacher. Maybe it was Miss Janus, the gym teacher who told you that you would never amount to anything. Or maybe it was your high school guidance counselor who accused you of plagiarism without having any proof.

Good or bad, the people who instruct us can have a huge impact on our lives.

When it comes time to hire someone to conduct training for sales leadership, you want to be sure you’re setting your managers up for success. A good trainer will have all the same skills as a good teacher. They will be patient, empathetic, and kind. They will be detail oriented and come in with a clear action plan. And they will make an impression that will be felt across your company for years to come.

When to Train

Your company probably already performs periodic training in-house. Training usually coincides with new product launches and are primarily to keep the sales staff and management knowledgeable about products and processes.

But if you’re only engaging in this kind of training, you’re missing out. Every year, science discovers something new about the human mind. If you want to stay on the cutting edge, your managers need to be kept up to date on the latest tools and techniques for managing people.

A good sales team is only as strong as its manager. Sure, one or two salespeople might have success on their own. But a good manager can make everyone function at a higher level, not just a select few. Take a look at the numbers. Maybe you could benefit from training.

Or perhaps you’ve noticed that your sales are dropping across the board. Perhaps your company leadership has already tried combatting this drop. Maybe they’ve investigated the product quality. Maybe they’ve set new quotas or offered new premiums to the sales team, and nothing has worked. Click here to learn more about training.

That is also a perfect time to invest in a dedicated professional to come talk to your leadership team about new, effective methods to help motivate and inspire.

Business in Literature

The great tome Moby Dick by Herman Melville has a lot to say about whaling and life on a boat. At over eight hundred pages, frankly, it has a lot to say about a lot of things. It is a book that is thought by many to be one of the greatest novels ever written. It is deep and informative and action-packed.

One of the observations made by the main character is just as true on an eighteenth-century whaling boat as it is in the modern business world. Ishmael at one point describes the power structure onboard.

Long before Carl Jung wrote about archetypes and introverts and extroverts and all manner of insights into the human mind, Melville understood these core truths. His character remarked in the novel about the different kinds of people who were best suited to be first mates and captains.

First mates had to have great people skills in order to do their job well. They were responsible for coordinating an entire crew. On a larger ship, that could mean hundreds of people. They came from all over the world and ranged in age from teenagers all the way up to senior citizens. Being able to communicate clearly with all those different people was a highly honed skill.

Captains needed an entirely different skill set. They were responsible for setting the course, securing the finances, and keeping the boat in good working order.

Many a first mate was promoted to captain only to find that their skillset was virtually useless. The leadership at these companies failed to see what skills were necessary and promoted through the ranks. This led to people like Captain McClusky who famously captained the H.M.S. Bounty into an ice floe near the Arctic circle. Through a series of poor decisions, McClusky damned his entire crew to death.

This is all to say that good leadership training can help your company from being left out in the cold, so to speak. Training can help your leadership team recognize the different types of personalities and give them the tools they need to tailor their message to each type. Click the link: https://www.today.com/health/personality-types-average-self-centered-role-model-or-reserved-t137902 to find out more about the four personality types and how to best work with them.

Training can help you maximize the human capital of your company.