Start Blowing Your Own Horn!

 

By Kendra Lee, President, KLA Group   Training organizations aren't always valued as highly as they should be. Self promote. Blow your own horn. These are good phrases to keep in mind if you want sponsors and the business to recognize the value of your services and support your training team's initiatives. There are tactful ways to be a "self promoter":

• Advertise. Share news about your programs, and who they're helping within the company, in the company newsletter. Share business objectives, programs implemented, and results achieved.
   
• Measure business results from your sales training, then promote them throughout the company. A recent "Finding Referrals" class we ran for a sponsor focused on growing the business through referrals resulted in a 315% increase in referral follow-up calls within 8 weeks. The sponsoring executive was ecstatic and promoted it widely.
   
• Ask to speak briefly at sales team meetings to share the positive results you're achieving with the team's peers while clarifying the work your organization performs.
   
• Promote upcoming training throughout the company so key targets know it's available. As an example, my firm created a "Sales Hunting School" for a single division of Hewlett Packard. Other divisions with similar skill needs heard about it and choose to tailor it for their sales reps. The original class is being leveraged across the company, and the sponsoring division received credit for filling a company-wide need.
   
• Follow through with your sponsor after delivery. Share evaluations, participant comments, and recommended next steps that help drive desired business results. Offer assistance where you can.

Kendra Lee is author of "Selling Against the Goal" and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group helps companies rapidly penetrate new markets, break into new accounts and shorten time to revenue with new products in the Small & Medium Business (SMB) segment. Ms. Lee is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and association events. For more information, contact the company at +1 303.741.6636 or info@klagroup.com or visit www.klagroup.com.

KLA publishes an industry-leading online newsletter. To subscribe and get a free Quota Gap Calculator ($18.95 value) visit www.klagroup.com. For information on sales training, call 303-741-6636.