Train For Success

Henry Ford is quoted as saying, “The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay!”

Before we talk about the value of meetings, let’s start by asking, are you actually conducting regular training? If you are, congratulations, and if you’re not… START!

Let’s be honest, nobody likes meetings, including the person responsible for putting the meetings together.  Creating good, productive training sessions, especially on a regular basis, is not easy.

While regular training meetings are not an absolute must to running a profitable business, most successful business owners will tell you that without them, you’ll never be as successful as you can be!  Regardless of whether your team consists of 2 or 3 people, or 20, 30, or more, having structured training meetings at least monthly is suggested.  More is better, but only IF they are good meetings and not redundant and useless.

There are a few key elements to conducting more productive meetings so that your employees get more out of them, and to help you make them more enjoyable.

One of the most important rules to follow, regardless if it’s in person or via video, is to lighten up. One of the main reasons that meetings are so unpopular is they are no fun. Make them fun and entertaining!

The irony is that properly planned and focused training meetings can be one of the most productive, unifying, and motivating uses of everyone’s time in your organization.

Your people are one of the most valuable marketing assets you have, yet many businesses treat employee meetings with these resources as necessary evils rather than opportunities to enhance productivity.

Properly planned training will achieve four major objectives for you:

1.) Communication

• Planning to always communicate something new, or re-profiling old subjects to make them appear new at every meeting, dramatically reduces staff boredom and encourages enthusiastic attendance.

2.) Knowledge

• Your best people are hungry for knowledge and your investment in their education makes their jobs more rewarding. Better-trained people generate more sales and contribute to higher customer satisfaction levels.

3.) Motivation

• Your regular employee meeting is also the ideal place to consistently reinforce and promote your company’s vision or mission.

4.) Entertainment…. yes, that’s right, Entertainment!

• Last, but not least. . . Entertain! Our Do’s and Don’ts of Employee Meetings reveal ways to make your meetings more productive and entertaining. Communicating with a client, customer, team, or your own kids is ineffective if your presentation is boring.

So, are sales/training meetings worth it? The answer is yes IF they are productive!