Why bother with training people?

by Mike Buckley-Jones

Business Development Centre Manager at Perth College

“Management is easy! It’s about making people do what you want them to do, and if they don’t get it right you just hit them with a bigger stick until they do.”

“Motivation – that’s just about paying people more. The more you pay them, the harder they’ll work”.

“Training – that’s a waste of time and money – if I spend money training them, then they’ll just leave and get a better job somewhere else”

Maybe you agree – maybe you don’t. Suppose I could show you a way of growing your sales by 70%, would you be interested? And with the right attitude to management, motivation and helping people to develop (rather than just “training” them!) then that sort of growth is possible.

Let’s look at the facts. Research shows that the way to really motivate people is to take an interest in them, agree specific goals with them, recognise their achievements and make sure they have the skills to reach and exceed those goals.

I didn’t mention money there did I? Yes, money is important, especially if you are working with people in a sales environment – after all, you’ll have a selection and recruitment policy designed to find people motivated by results. Won’t you? But as long as the payment system recognises results, you’ll find that motivating people by recognising their achievements and making them feel special is a really powerful technique.

And funnily enough, people who feel valued will stay rather than look for another job. It’s much more effective to retain and develop your existing people. It costs up to five times more to get a new customer than get more business from existing ones, and that’s true of your most valuable resource, your people!

Your part as a manager is crucial – you support, coach and develop your staff and a key part of doing that is to make sure they buy-in to the idea of going on a development course, and then work with them afterwards to help them put their new skills into practise.

Want proof? Some sales development work I did with a major sales company in Newcastle produced a 70% increase in business because the manager followed that advice. His staff retention was 100%.