Huh? That’s probably exactly what you’re saying when you read the title of this blog. After all, what the heck is a calculus question doing here?
Hang in there, because I’m actually going to make an important point that relates to how you need to train your sales and management teams.
Depending on your age, you studied calculus in high school math for 2 or 3 years. You had math class most every day of the school year. You did homework. Studied for tests. Wrote exams. In fact, if you were asked what the answer was to the title of this blog, you would have laughed because the answer is so easy! (I’ll give you the answer at the bottom of this blog in case you’ve forgotten)
What’s the point? Well, you knew the answer back then, but likely not now. What happened along the way? You see, our mind is a very wonderful and complex thing, with lots and lots of escape routes for information and skills to disappear into. The things that ‘stick’ with us are the things we continue to work at. Just like studying anything for a long time in school, the same holds true for any training you’re doing with your sales and management teams.
If your training programs resemble ‘one and done’ type of events, meaning you attend / read / watch / listen and then never revisit it, then you’re in trouble if you actually think the training is going to work. Trying to cram information into someone’s brain and expecting them to remember it, let alone use it, requires a systematic approach to reinforcing the learning (think of daily classes, homework and exams).
One day workshops, webinars and self-directed manuals all have a role to play in training. Just don’t ever think for one minute that you’re anywhere close to actually doing effective training. For training to work, you need a comprehensive and never-ending system that gets integrated into the daily lives of your stores.
Training isn’t an event. It’s a culture. It’s a system. It’s what drives results when it’s done right.
(The answer by the way is 8x)
If you want to learn more about how to make your training actually work (please don’t ask me about anymore calculus questions, because that’s the only one I know!), just give me a call.
We’re here to help.
