Professional Development and the Cycle of Learning

Continuous learning has always been a core professional requirement, and with the increased pace of change, learning continues to be a necessary requirement. Organizations need to encourage efficient learning that includes lasting behavior change by considering the requirements needed for people to learn new methods of completing tasks.Our most facile and greatest facility is the ability to learn and adapt, yet learning is predicated on exposure. A person learns primarily by observing peers and role models perform. If your professional staff is under-exposed to alternative ways of communication, production, conflict resolution, delegation, and management then how can you expect your organization to grow and compete in the global marketplace?Once leadership clarifies its vision and aligns its resource requirements to mid-range targets, a systemic training program can be designed. The best training programs mix peer groups, team activities, role models, and individual coaching. For analyzing and developing a professional training program, consider incorporating the following components into your system.Individual Learning PlanStrive to create learning environments for each professional. The best ones include matching tasks important to them, developing clear expectations, including oral, visual, and tactile styles of learning, and providing multiple opportunities to observe peers and role models.


ExposurePeople require exposure to new techniques and ideas. Exposure in professional settings take the form of workshops and professional discussion groups, availability of new tools, accessibility to new locations, and observational opportunity of role models and peer groups.PracticeOnce people are exposed to new techniques or ideas, they need a chance to practice unfamiliar techniques and behaviors. Professionals can practice with new and various assignments developing new products, and being part of different teams. For this stage of learning to become institutionalized, delegation needs to be part of the culture. The senior professionals must feel protected as they delegate responsibilities and tasks.MaintenanceWith learning new and unfamiliar methods, mistakes and failures are expected. Individual coaching helps professionals increase their insight into the process of learning. This stage of learning focuses on reducing seemingly insurmountable problems into smaller solvable issues, allows the person to build on small successes as he masters more complex techniques, and corrects difficult emotions as they arise, reframing problematic thinking and destructive behaviors.

Three Skills That Can Make You Rich

There are only three skills you really have to master to achieve the essence of all good marketing.Skill #1 is the ability to generate large numbers of the very best prospects for whatever you're selling. That takes considerable skill, though there are plenty of ways you can learn to do that and hone your skills, earning while you learn. Do your best to get them to pre-qualify themselves. Every decent marketplace has a vast audience who could potentially be giving you their money, so get them to identify themselves and come to you.Skill #2 is your ability to convert those prospects into first-time buyers and customers, earning as much money as you can as quickly as you can. You usually have to do that through a series of follow-ups; this process doesn't just happen overnight.Skill #3 is your ability to extract the most profit possible from each customer over the longest possible period of time. That may sound a little ruthless to you, since, as I'm pointing out, you're extracting profits from customers. Sounds like pulling teeth, doesn't it? But you're doing it with their permission, offering tremendous value in exchange for their money. You're not taking advantage of anybody without also having them take advantage of you. It's an even trade.When you get right down to it, It's all about creating value. That's the only thing that gets people to come back repeatedly. They have so many choices these days, and they can go anywhere for what they want. They don't need you, they don't need your company, they don't need your product or services. Therefore, you do have to go overboard and bend over backwards to attract them, which is what this skill set is all about.If I had to break marketing down into just three important skills, these would be the ones. Just like the primary colors -- red, yellow, and blue -- you can use these skills in various combinations to create an endless number of "hues." You can spend your entire life learning everything there is to learn about different aspects of marketing, but it really does boil down to these three things, and It's easy to see the importance of each individual part of this three-step process.But let me clarify one point. Some marketers think that just because someone has bought once or even twice, that makes them a customer. I don't agree. Before you can consider them a customer, they have to do business with you on a regular or semi-regular basis. Your ultimate goal is turn as many buyers as you can into loyal customers. Then you can get into the mathematics of what a customer is worth.


Let's say you own a restaurant and someone eats there once a week, every week. If that customer has been with you for five years, that means they've visited your restaurant at least 250 times. In 10 years it would be 500 times, possibly more. Multiply that by their average purchase, and you'll get some idea of the value of that customer. Depending on what they buy and how often, the value can be much higher than you ever thought possible -- which should make you realize that your ultimate goal must be to turn your leads into long-time, highly appreciated, and very active buyers.These three skills really are the foundation of a successful business, and you have to learn how to master them all. The big payoff is the third skill. Skill #2 helps you recover your initial marketing costs, but the real profits come from reselling to your existing customers. Your business will grow based on your ability to do more business with people who already have a relationship with you -- people who know and like you.Not to dehumanize anyone, but think of your existing customer base as a big bucket. There's a funnel coming into it that all your new prospects are pouring into. Unfortunately, the funnel lets only a few people through -- and your bucket has a hole in it, caused by customers leaving the market, moving, passing away, or just having less money to spend. Whatever the case, your bucket is leaking, so you want to continuously use your front-end marketing methods to attract new customers to fill the funnel, which dribbles in new customers -- all the while continuing to do more business with the customers already in the bucket. You need to be sure that the bucket is constantly full.If you don't keep doing new customer acquisition, you'll stop having new people drop into your bucket. If that happens, the bucket will eventually run dry just from attrition. If you don't continue doing business with your existing customers, you'll lose them because they'll leave. So it's important to do all three of those things effectively. Learn them and practice them often, because they'll be the lifeblood of your business.Does that sound simple? Good, because it is. But that doesn't mean it's easy. No, it takes some serious work. Burn this process into your memory. Start practicing the principles I've shared with you in this article, and you'll never lack for money.

Play To Win At YOUR Level

So you say you're not afraid to succeed? Really?"That's preposterous!" you say. "We are keeping up with the competition and we're not losing money. Our inventory is at a manageable level and customers aren't complaining TOO much. We expect strong sales growth, and if we don't have the right salespeople today to deliver it, we will find those that will."That's great, but you didn't answer the question. In fact, the answers are more negative than positive.Of course no company will admit that they are afraid of success, at least not at the executive level. Success does not have to mean growth, as long as your goal is not to grow. There are companies designed that way, and they rightfully consider themselves as being successful. Staying true to themselves, these companies move along very nicely. Though the market has changed, there is always going to be a customer base for these companies. These companies play to win at their level, because their definition of winning is clearly communicated to the employee base and everyone is on board with the plan. Conservative inside and out, "station to station baseball", if you will. It works.The other end of the spectrum sees companies with progressive leadership, open to new ideas to meet and exceed their customers' REAL needs. Sales expectations are high, but the resources and inventory are in place to support the effort. These companies play to win at their level. They swing for home runs and know that the occasional strike out will happen. At the end of the day, though, these companies succeed because they have adjusted to the market. Swings and misses are quickly forgotten when a solid connection is made. There was a baseball commercial a few years ago - "Chicks dig the long ball." Progressive leadership does as well. It works.


Where companies get in trouble, though, is when they are in "No Man's Land" without realizing it. Nobody wants to be here. This is where companies who suffer from split personalities live - conservative in the Board Room with unrealistic sales expectations, for example. Imagine the singles hitter swinging for the fences every time. He's changed his identity without being prepared. He thinks he can hit home runs but refuses to admit that he lacks the power. What happens next? He's out of the league because this formula doesn't work.This happens in business too. If YOUR Company is of a conservative nature, that needs to be communicated to everyone. Sales expectations should reflect that as well. Just because most sales teams are remote from headquarters does not mean that they aren't aware of the internal mindset. To think otherwise is insulting. To dream up plans for growth without the internal commitment to support it is to be afraid of success. The effort is futile. Worse, it hurts brands.Engage YOUR salespeople on what is important to their customers, because THEIR customers are YOUR customers. As obvious as that thought should be, some companies would rather test their salesforce on meaningless trivia instead of wanting to REALLY understand what the market is saying. This doesn't stop with the sales team, it affects all departments. It's just that the sales division is the easiest target.If YOUR Company is not enjoying the sales success that you think it should, perhaps your corporate objectives are not being clearly communicated to the entire organization. Contact Brand Performance today to learn how we can help with coaching on various levels, from executive, to management, to sales.