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At Phoenix we always place a great emphasis on understanding exactly what it is our clients are trying to achieve.  This part of the training process is so valuable and yet it is so rarely done as effectively as it might.  At best, it involves a meeting with a selection of key stakeholders, whereupon broad objectives are agreed and content is designed around these.  In many cases it is simply based upon managerial observations and anecdotal feedback which does not always get to the root of the real development issues.  What’s more, the participants themselves are rarely involved in this process which is also not ideal.  By consulting with at least some of those who will actually be attending the training, you not only get a better chance of designing something relevant but also of establishing participant “buy-in”.

This is a particular concern when designing content for telephone sales workshops.  We are often told that the participants need help on a particular skill – for example, closing, negotiating or questioning.  No problem – we’ll design something around these and in many cases, what we design will work pretty effectively and provide the participants with some key tools and techniques that will improve their results.  But how much better could it have been, had we been able to do some real analysis and actually listen to the quality of calls that the participants have been making to their potential or existing clients.

Call recording equipment has been around for many years, however, it is expensive to install and has usually only been utilised at larger call centre operations.  Improved technology has however now made it very easy for any type of organisation to benefit from call recording and here at Phoenix, we have really begun to see just how useful it can be.  Phonecoach provide a very straightforward system which enables call recording simply by adding a prefix to the number dialled – there’s no hardware involved and all the recorded calls are automatically saved as MP3 files.

By being able to listen to exactly what is being said, by both sales person and customer, we are in a much better position to identify what’s working and what skills need further developing.  From a design point of view this “reality check” enables us to focus only on those areas that really need it, ensuring that the training is lean and extremely relevant.  Where appropriate, we can even use the recorded calls to illustrate key learning points during the training itself – which can also be very powerful for the participants.

For just £24 + vat, we can record up to 500 minutes of calls, which is usually enough to get a good selection of a team’s telephone sales activity over a week or so.  After some thorough analysis, we report our findings back to the client and only then, will we design a course based on what’s actually happening.  This ensures that any sloppy techniques can be instantly identified & addressed, leading to a direct impact on an individual’s sales performance. Which is, after all, exactly what any high quality sales training should do.

It read like this -

“I am working for the French Business Schools since 2004, and I am in charge of helping some French students to find a company based in London for their UNPAID Internships.

There is NO fees, NO expenses for your company as it is a TOTALLY UNPAID Internship (We are covering ALL the expenses, There is NO Costs, NO Expenses, NO Fees for your company).”

Having read it a couple more times and briefly mulled over the potential of employing a French student, my rather cautious nature kicked in and I quickly dismissed the whole idea.

A few days later, a colleague and I were reviewing a recent meeting with our online marketing consultants.  We had been told in no uncertain terms that we needed to undertake a major piece of analysis before we could begin to implement a truly effective campaign. Of course, this analysis called for the one thing we’re in really short supply of right now – our time.  However, as the prospect of late nights and a weekend spent in the office loomed, my thoughts returned to that email.

There were a few raised eyebrows when I put forward the idea at our weekly meeting and I must admit that I was as sceptical as anyone at first. However, having done a bit of research I begun to warm to the idea and a few days after having declared our interest, we arranged a telephone interview with our prospective intern – Ms Chéryl Bourjac.  Chéryl, who is originally from Guadeloupe, was in her second year at the ISC Business School in Paris and needed to spend six weeks working for a UK based company as part of her degree.

Although the conversation was brief, I felt thoroughly reassured by her enthusiasm and agreed there and then to offer a six week internship at Phoenix.

Chéryl has now been with us for two weeks and her assistance to all parts of the business has been invaluable.  She has already completed the first stage of the marketing analysis and has impressed us all with her strong work ethic and attention to detail.  At the same time, her English is improving quickly and I’m sure that she is learning a lot from working in a company like Phoenix.

Overall, I’m delighted that we agreed to the internship and I would certainly have no hesitation in doing so again.  I think that the scepticism we have for such placements probably stems from the concept of work experience which here in the UK has always been associated with surly school children showing little or no interest in the job.  In Europe, “Internships” are viewed as a key part of many College courses and provide a valuable experience for both parties – which is exactly how we both feel now.   If your company gets a similar opportunity, do please try it – if it’s anything like our experience, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how it works out.

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I’m often asked by potential customers, what exactly are the key differences between open and tailored training. This got me thinking that it might be useful to develop a quick reference guide that will help you make a more informed decision.

Open Courses

1. Open courses provide the participants with a brilliant overview of their chosen subject – whether it’s Introduction to Sales, Essential Management or Inspirational Leadership.
2. Open courses enable you to work alongside individuals from different industries but often with very similar concerns. They also provide you with great networking opportunities!
3. Open courses provide an off site learning environment to discuss openly challenges & concerns which in some cases individuals feel more open to talk about when not in the company of colleagues.
4. Open courses represent a highly cost effective solution where only one or two individuals require development in a particular area.
5. Open courses give individuals a new set of skills and the opportunity to practice them in a ‘safe’ environment and build their confidence to apply the newly learnt skills back in their own workplace.

Tailored Training

1. Tailored training provides you with a comprehensive training needs analysis conducted in advance of any events we deliver on your behalf.
2. Tailored training enables us to include a wide range of disciplines within a single given event.
3. Tailored training will meet a specific requirement through the unique design to match the objectives of the individual or group.
4. Tailored training offers the possibility to design a specific programme for the whole organisation where everyone will be involved, this enables lasting change which is encouraged and supported internally & externally.
5. Tailored training can be designed specifically to a given company and industry with a choice of ‘best fit’ Learning Consultant
6. Tailored Training allows more flexibility with training dates and location.

I hope this was useful and if you would like to discuss either option in more detail please get in touch and I will be delighted to help.

Over the last few years, coaching and mentoring have become much more widely used within the business world. As their popularity has grown however, so have the range of different definitions and understandings. In an attempt to clarify things, I have spoken to our Head of Learning – Martin le Comte and would like to share with you our definition of coaching and mentoring and how you it can benefit you, your team and organisation.

“Martin, please identify your definition of coaching and mentoring?”

Firstly, can I say that you are right – there is lots of current debate about coaching and mentoring and the distinctions have become blurred somewhat. My view is that mentoring encompasses a variety of development approaches dependant on the needs of the learner in question. An effective Mentor may use one or a number of the following skills to help the development of the individual being mentored including feedback, coaching, training, advice and guidance.

The mentor is frequently seen as a role model by the business or organisation for the individual being mentored and will often have specific and relevant task specific skills and knowledge in the same or similar area.

Coaching on the other hand is a specific skill. An individual coach will effectively use a series of questions to help and challenge the coachee. The questions will help the individual to explore ideas and options to help them to overcome a current challenge or obstacle that is affecting their performance.  Expert knowledge of the specific area is not required and is in fact often not desirable.

In summary, many people managers rightly use coaching skills to develop their people in their role. It is however important to remember that coaching   should be just one of the tools at their disposal rather than the only answer. The skill of the people manager is on identifying which of the tools they need to use dependant on the needs of the individual.

“How can you tell whether you should be using coaching or one of the other mentoring tools – feedback, coaching, training, advice and/or guidance?”

In my experience, the best and I might be bullish enough to suggest, the only sure fire way to identify which approach is the most appropriate is to be skilled in asking a couple of great questions initially and then almost more importantly, listen to the resulting response. The skilled people developer does not make assumptions about what is required instead they ask great questions to seek to understand what the individual needs.

Many people say that this is very similar to the start of a coaching dialogue and I would not disagree, however at this point coaching may or may not be the answer. Let me give you a practical example –

I’m a driver and have been driving for years but know nothing about what is going on under the bonnet. If I break down by the side of the road I don’t want or need someone to ask me what I think is wrong with it, I want them to ask me a couple of questions to ascertain what happened and then tell me exactly what to do. If they keep asking me to think about what could be wrong, I will get extremely frustrated and it will take me a hell of a long time to get home. When I do eventually get home I will think twice about taking my car out on long journeys in the future and I will certainly be changing my roadside assistance provider.  If the original roadside assistance provider had just asked me a couple of simple questions about my current knowledge and expertise and what had happened before I broke down, they would have quickly identified that my battery was flat and changed it there and then. They then would have advised me what to look out for in the future to avoid it happening again and what to do if it did happen again. I leave the roadside quickly happy with knowledge and expertise and more importantly I get home quickly.

I had a quote from a client recently about an inappropriate use of coaching, which I think highlights this point really well.

“I had coaching from somebody but they never gave me any answers, which is what I actually needed, all they did was ask me lots of questions. It was a complete waste of time and I felt abandoned.”

“What are the biggest challenges you face when coaching and mentoring individuals?”

From my perspective most organisations will ask me and my colleagues at Phoenix for coaching when that might not be what they need at all. In the past I was sometimes reluctant to initially deviate from the process and try unsuccessfully to use coaching when that was clearly not what the individual wanted or needed. What’s the point in asking some open ended coaching questions when they really have no idea what the answer is…I’m sure you can imagine just how frustrating and unproductive that is for all involved!!

What I have learnt is that often when a client is asking you for some coaching, unless you asked to undertake contracted coaching, what they are actually asking you to do is help develop their people.  They are actually interested in the end result rather than the approach that you use.

Marina, as a final thought if you want some additional tips on how to successfully recognise the correct development approach, keep in mind 3 of Phoenix’s Golden Rules of Leadership

1. Know your people, know your people, know your people.

2. Treat people as they need to be treated.

3. Stop it, it’s not about you.

Written by Marina Wirkner, Sales Executive

This was no doubt partly due to the fact that we couldn’t really offer our clients anything along these lines, but more so due to my belief that this type of training was the very antithesis of everything that makes Phoenix special.

Our focus has always been on delivering practical, results based training where the emphasis is on what gets done differently once participants return to work, not on how many credits they have been awarded or what type of certificate they will receive.  In my experience, too much training is simply commissioned on the basis of what form of recognition the participants get.  Traditionally, this is meant to provide some form of motivation but if the training is not up to scratch, then no matter what they receive at the end, participant levels of engagement will still sink very quickly.

Having said all that, we have often wished for some kind of independent recognition for the quality of our delivery and content and who better to provide this than the Institute of Leadership & Management – the world’s best known accrediting body.

Through their endorsed award scheme, the ILM have provided us with the ideal solution.  Phoenix have been able to retain all the best aspects of our programmes’ content and delivery, whilst adding an assessment section that ensures the participants put into practice everything that they have learnt on the course.  In many ways, the additional assessment has really strengthened our offering and it fits perfectly with our results focussed training.  Now participants and their colleagues will see exactly how the learning has been used, as it has to be documented on a regular basis over a six week period.  A 500 word case study is also required which again will indicate the participants’ understanding of the content and how best to use it.

On successful completion of both the course and the assessment, participants are indeed awarded an ILM certificate however, for most participants this is only a subsidiary benefit.  The real prize is becoming a better manager and leader and being able to demonstrate this to their colleagues.

Phoenix currently deliver ILM Endorsed open courses in Essential Management Skills & Inspirational Leadership and are about to offer endorsed modular programmes in both Management & Leadership Skills.  Our unique approach, style of delivery and focus on results will remain as strong as ever, but with the ILM’s Endorsement our products are now even more attractive to a wide range of clients & participants across the world.

I will always believe that good training should be about improving performance and delivering results, but if you can achieve this and also provide participants with some kind of appropriate recognition then perhaps we have an ideal solution.

Written by Oliver Osmond – Sales Director

As I write this blog I feel slightly embarrassed that after nearly fifteen years of running my own business, today was the first time that I attended a networking event.  I have been to conferences and seminars but not an out and out networking event.  I have to say that I have always been a bit dismissive of the idea of going to such an event.  My impression of a networking event was of lots of people all selling their products and services at each other.  I now realise that networking events could be like that but also could offer a lot more to those who attend.

The event I attended was hosted by the Southwark Chamber of Commerce.  When we arrived we were greeted positively and encouraged to grab a cup of tea or coffee and “mingle”.  At this point I thought “here we go” small talk time and was quite pleased to discover that there didn’t appear to be anymore tea available so I quickly made myself busy seeking out some more.  However, once the tea had arrived and my fellow tea drinkers and I started to introduce ourselves and chat, I realised that it is the small talk that gets it all going.  Lots of people find small talk a little awkward, talking to those that you don’t know can often be difficult.  The networking event environment actually helps you here.  The fact that you don’t know anybody means that you have to dive in.  There appeared to be a collective sense of “well we’re here so we might as well talk”.  I suppose that is obvious and seasoned networkers would understand this.  After a short period we were invited into a dining room where breakfast was to be served.  A sit down breakfast, again not what I was expecting, I thought a bit of mingling, few cups of tea, breakfast with those who you came with and go!

As my colleague, James and I entered the dining room, I decided that there was no point sitting next to him, so I headed to the other end of the table and found myself sitting at the head of the table, a chair others had avoided I think.  First good decision:  don’t sit next to your colleague, it is comfortable but limits your networking options.  I found myself next to a guy called Tony and a lady called Chica without going into detail, they worked for very different organisations.  I soon got into the swing of introducing myself to others around my end of the table but the Chair of the Chamber of Commerce also asked everyone to formally introduce themselves in turn to everyone round the table.  People took their chance to make a good impression and it gave everyone a chance to identify who they might want to have a chat with at some point.  The Chair of the Chamber welcomed us all and reminded us of what the Chamber was all about and it made me start to think about other benefits of this type of event.

The dining room created a very open environment that encouraged conversation and the attendees were taking their chance.  Chica and I did have a chat about training and our roles in the organisations we worked in but actually the bulk of our conversation was about the changing face of South London.  Tony gave me some ideas about how we might go about printing up some training documents and manuals, which was food for thought at the very least.  OK, I didn’t make the deal of the century, James seems to have made more progress in that department.

I did leave with the feeling that I would certainly attend such an event again and felt that somewhere along the line these conversations and contacts will lead to something.  That something may be some training being sold but it also might mean when I do need some printing, some financial advice, a new business property or a self portrait for my office, I might know just the person to contact.  So I now view these events as not just about promoting what we do, they are also about finding out what others do and how they do it.  Overall, I think the message is “don’t underestimate the networking event”.  Make the most of them not only as way of promoting your business but as a way of creating a support network to draw upon.

Foot note:  one day after this event somebody booked onto one of our Introduction to Sales courses as a direct result of a conversation had at the event.  So I am now even keener on networking events!

Written by Bill Osmond – MD

As a relationship manager at Phoenix, I am often consulted (or even challenged!) by clients about how to measure the effects of the training they commission – a perfectly natural wish, because they have generally identified an area to improve in their organisation or business, and they want to be sure that improvement has taken place.

With that in mind, I thought I would put down my own personal thoughts on how training can be evaluated effectively, in order to check that the time & budget being spent on training are producing the desired returns at every level: organisational, departmental, team and individual.

Inevitably there is a balance to be struck when evaluating the benefits of soft-skills training.  On the one hand, the more time and resources invested, particularly up front in benchmarking of criteria, the more reliable the evaluation becomes.  However, on the other hand, there is a point at which the returns on this extra investment are outweighed by other priorities – as there is too great a ‘cost’ in carrying it out.  Remember also that even the most rigorous and ‘scientific’ evaluation will produce results which in the opinion of many commentators are indicative and evidential rather than solidly proven in the soft-skills context – there are simply too many variable factors at work in most organizations for the effects of training to be measurable in terms of a quantifiable number or percentage.  For this reason, I advocate measurement of training through the observation and benchmarking of behaviours above all else, as I believe this is the truest test of whether learning is effective over the mid- to long-term.

With positive cooperation from participants, evaluation processes can even contribute to the fixing and application of new learning, rather than simply measuring it; another reason to evaluate wherever possible.

It may be that the depth and scope of evaluation varies from course to course, depending on the topic or the group; but a workable ‘full’ evaluation would consist of the following:

1. Benchmarking of participants’ behaviour in relation to the course topic, at some point pre-training.  “Where are they now?”  This can be established through assessment centres, 360-degree feedback, through the Personal Review process, or simply by self-scoring.  Phoenix are able to help with the preparation or implementation of these as required.
2. What are the objectives for the training, in the light of step 1?  What will success look like (i.e. expressed as behavioural change)?
3. TRAINING TAKES PLACE
4. Post-course feedback forms check that participants appreciated the training, and that their initial response to it was positive.  It is important for a culture of learning that training be enjoyable, and that participants return from courses inspired and energised by it, and advocating it to others.
5. The next step is for line management to de-brief participants, make an initial check that objectives as expressed before the course have been addressed, and to review any new objectives that have been set as a result of the course.
6. Next, at a period of between 3 to 6 months, behaviours in relation to the course topic should be re-assessed, preferably by the same method as before the training, in order to ascertain that positive change has occurred.  This is the most important stage of all, since it provides the evidence that participants are using what they learned.  In some cases it may be appropriate simply to ask participants to self-report what they are doing differently as time goes by – but in others, something more objective, such as 360s, will be preferable.
7. Finally, it is important to recognise that even the most high impact training needs to be supported internally, and the right behaviours and practices reinforced positively by line managers and the overall culture of the organisation.  If the prevalent culture is at odds with the training messages, the status quo will erode the changes.  In line with this, it is useful to recognise that the best messages bear repeating, and thus we would recommend that all training be followed up by refresher workshops of a similar nature within a 12-month period.

Tim Holmes – Account Director, Phoenix Training

With the ever increasing reliance on email, there is a feeling that sales people are forgetting the basics of actually getting on the phone and selling.  Not too many years ago, sales departments were alive with the general hubbub of chatter and “sales noise”.  Nowadays I find myself walking through sales departments and being struck by a wall of silence, only broken by the click of the keyboard.  The big problem is that email although hugely convenient, does not sell!  The telephone conversation should always make more progress.

What is stopping sales people from using the phone? Firstly, as I mentioned, convenience; it is easier to send an email to a client than phone them and still feel like you are working hard.  First tip:  if you are about to write an email to a client, ask yourself the question “could I phone instead?”  Inevitably the answer will be yes.

Sales people get themselves into to what could be referred to as “avoidance focus” behaviour.  This is where they have got themselves into what is effectively a rut.  Their expectation is low and so their phone calls lack impact and that leads to failure so they start to talk themselves out of making calls because they don’t like the result.  To get out of this rut, the sales person has to start developing “approach focus behaviours”.

To do this, try these ideas:

1)    Start making calls early in the day and in doing so get some momentum going.  You will feel much more positive about your day generally if you have made twenty five calls by ten o’clock.

2)    Set yourself targets.  Can you call ten potential clients by the end of the day?  Can you find out a new need from your existing client base?  Sales people tend to respond better under pressure.  When the deadline is not upon you, you need to create your own pressure.

3)    If you have a successful call, don’t rest on your laurels and have a celebratory cup of tea, make five more off the back of that success and momentum.

4)    Equally if you make a call that does not get the desired result, do not sit and mull it over and become depressed by you lack of progress.  Analyse the call, try to identify areas or techniques that you could improve and call someone else.

5)    Don’t be put off by an abrupt or rude response.  People react in all sorts of ways for all sorts of reasons.  It is almost always not personal and should not be taken as such.

6)    Turn your email off for a day and concentrate solely on telephone sales.  Email by its nature is not an “urgent” tool.  If people need to get in contact they can call you.  Likewise if people don’t want to respond to you they don’t have to if you send an email.  Admittedly they don’t have to take your call but it is harder to turn down.

7)    Make sure you have an objective for your call.  Think about how you can gain attention quickly.  Do not sound like you have made fifty calls that day (even though you might have)

8)    Variety can help to maintain momentum.  Call different types of clients, present different products (if relevant), mix up your calling pattern to maintain impact.

9)    Back yourself!  Have belief in your ability to make the call and get the result.  Use techniques and objectives to create interest and engagement.

10)   Positive, imaginative and creative telephone sales can be extremely effective, certainly more effective than a stream of emails.  Think about what sort of impression you are making on your client if you phone them and ask them not if they got your proposal but whether they could see how it would benefit them and if they had any questions.  Sales is all about impact, the telephone call does that far more effectively than the email.

Bill Osmond – MD of Phoenix Training

As Phoenix continue to grow steadily, having recently taken on another full time trainer, we decided that now would be a good time to review our existing office and training space and explore the possibility of moving into somewhere larger.

The recession has led to a surplus of office space in central London and we thought that there would be a good chance of securing a long term lease at a bargain price.  What’s more, we were sure that London’s lettings agents would be falling over themselves to convince us of the value of their properties and how they would be just ideal for a training company with our particular needs.  Sadly, our experience of the latter could not have been more different.

Now, I know estate agents are an easy target but I can assure you that this isn’t yet another dig at the profession as a whole.  It is however designed to expose the lack of basic sales skills that those we met displayed, and to reinforce how critical it is to have the core skills in place before you can even hope to sell in today’s tough markets.

On arriving at the first potential office, we were left hanging around for 15 minutes before the agent finally arrived.  We’re all late on occasions and there may well have been a good reason, but the very least we could have expected was a call to manage our expectations.  Every week, I’m amazed by sales people who think that it is acceptable to turn up ten, fifteen or even thirty minutes late without so much as a phone call.  It’s not, and in most cases you’ve lost the sale before you’ve even begun.

Nevertheless, we’re still keen buyers so, on this occasion, the agent’s transgression will be forgotten if he can really convince us of how this office space will work for us.  On first inspection, it all looks pretty good – modern, stylish and in a great location – but we just couldn’t visualise where the training room would go, mainly because the whole space was still a shell.  We turn to the expert for inspiration, but he’s actually walked away to the other side of the space to take a mobile phone call, and is merrily chatting away oblivious to us!  The moment is lost.  On finally regaining his attention, his answers lack conviction and we’re left totally unconvinced by the potential of the office.  On reflection, the phone incident, though scarcely believable, was hopefully a never to be repeated mistake; however, from a sales perspective, the lack of expertise was even more worrying and is actually very common indeed.  If you’re going to sell anything – property, software, pharmaceuticals, even training services – you must know all there is to know about your product or service and be able to relate this knowledge to your customer.

Despite our initial experience, we were still in the market for a new office, so headed off to view another couple of options with high hopes.  Both agents were on time which was a good start and both had properties with real potential and yet, once again, simple mistakes were made that resulted in the collapse of the sale.  At the first, we were left abandoned in the office whilst the agent enjoyed some banter with the builders over the road!  With no one to ask about the details, how could we be expected to commit?  Just like our mobile phone friend, they demonstrated an unbelievable lack of interest in us.

The next and final viewing was going well, until the agent admitted that the landlord was not interested in the property as a whole and that he doubted he’d be willing to modernize the 1970’s décor in the common areas.  Now honesty is a real virtue, but by creating a picture of uncertainty and possible conflict with the landlord, he immediately lost us.  Potential customers want assurances and certainty before they commit, not vagueness and ambiguity.

You may think that I’ve exaggerated things here, but I can assure you these experiences are very real indeed and I’m sure they are repeated in sales situations in many different markets.  One final thing that struck me with all three agents, was that not one of them even asked us what we actually did – maybe they already knew, but it is this lack of basic questioning and interest in our business that meant we were never going to commit.    Maybe we just got a bad bunch who have got lazy, simply used to taking orders rather than actually selling, but in the current climate a return to the basics would go a long way to winning more business.

We’ve now given up the search for a new office, instead looking for a larger space at our current Leathermarket site run by Workspace.  What’s more, we’ve recently run some training events for their site managers to make sure that they properly engage with the customers and create a fantastic picture of what the office will look like once they’ve moved in. After all, it’s this image that will create the real desire in the customer to move in.  Simple but effective.

Oliver Osmond – Sales Director, Phoenix Training

Image by baby-tooth via Flickr

One of the real secrets of business success is the ability to be well organised. Don’t be fooled by those that say it’s possible to achieve great things in business without being organised. The best leaders and those who leverage the effects of others to best effect are those who are best organised. So here are some top tips to ensure that you are organised to maximize the effect you have in business.

• Separate tasks by importance and timescale. Those tasks which are both important and urgent should always be done first and before those tasks which are simply important or simply urgent.
• Use your diary to schedule tasks as well as meetings. Most people just use a diary for meetings but the best use it to also schedule those urgent and important tasks and ensure that they get done.
• Set clear goals. Without these, how will you know when you have succeeded? The goals should be clear, unambiguous and visible. Take a moment each day to reinforce the goals you have and also to make sure that each task you complete moves you closer to achieving at least one goal. If you take an action that does not move you closer to achieving a goal then ask yourself why you took such action. It’s probable that you have wasted effort.
• Schedule quiet time. Depending on when you perform your best work, early or late in the day, and ensure that you are in the office before or after most people. This is quiet time which makes it the most valuable time to do important work. There are likely to be no interruptions, phones ringing or emergencies that demand your attention. Use this time wisely.

If you follow the above four points consistently and regularly then you find that you have more time which in turn will mean more opportunity to make a difference to your business.