How do you train a new hire?
Training a new hire is relatively easy, at least from a structure standpoint. Unfortunately most training programs I’ve seen aren’t structured. Many tend to wing it and train their canvassers spontaneously. Conducting your training this way is a recipe for disaster.
There are two main components to training new hires:
- A training agenda
- Classroom and field instruction
You first must have a training agenda; a daily, even hourly agenda. Know what you’re going to work on and when. It’s too important to your canvassing success, and that of your canvassers’, to train “by-the-seat-of-your-pants.”
Secondly, your training should combine both classroom and field instruction. There’s only so much a canvasser can absorb in the classroom. You have to get them out on the streets and let them practice what they’ve learned. It’s when they apply the principles and techniques they’ve learned that they will fully understand how and why they work. Besides, it will give the trainer instant feedback on the canvasser’s strengths and weaknesses.
A well planned training agenda will have your canvasser working on their own within 5 days.
Day 1 – Lessons and field observation
Day 2 – Lessons, more field observation, roll playing and feedback
Day 3 – Fewer lessons and more roll playing, more field observation and direction
Day 4 – New hire becomes less dependent on the trainer, performing in the field with observation from the trainer
Day 5 – In the field on their own
So where do you start? Take an hour, a half-hour, whatever it takes, and jot down the individual components of your canvassing process. Then take that and divide it into a structured, scheduled training program and you’ll have your agenda. You’ll have something from which you can consistently train. As you conduct more training your agenda will evolve and develop. Something by which your experienced canvassers can follow to ultimately create a consistent canvassing program. One you can measure, track, improve and grow.
But You Don’t Have An Experienced Canvasser!
All too often I’ve heard this. Companies have asked me, “Everyone’s new, how can we train if we don’t have that “experienced person?” It’s often this missing link that stops a company from moving forward, and in some cases, prevents the start of a canvassing program. In the coming articles I’ll show you how you can grow a successful canvassing program starting out with a group of inexperienced beginners.
Let’s put that aside for now. More important than having an experienced person to do your training is underestimating the significance of getting new hires the right training in their first week. No one in your company is going to get more rejection on a daily basis than your canvassers. If they aren’t trained quickly, properly and effectively they’re destined to fail; and you’ll burn through more unsuccessful canvassers than you can imagine, including those that could be superstars for your company.
It’s important to get them prepared and ready to go because if they’re not they’re going to get slapped around and beat down so hard there’s no way they’ll continue to canvass. If you prepare them on what to expect and how to handle it they’ll be ready for it and they can experience success early on. Without the proper training though they’ll get slaughtered out there.
Imagine a team going into this football season without the consistency of the proper training to get them ready. How much success do you think a football team would have without it? How would the players feel getting beat down each week by their opponents, not because they didn’t have the talent, but because they didn’t have the right preparation, direction and game-plan to overcome the competition.
In a way canvassing is a competition, it’s the canvassers versus the homeowners. Even though we’re not selling a product at the door we are selling for the appointment. It’s my belief that at every door a sale is made. Either the canvasser convinces the homeowner they need and want an appointment for an estimate, or the homeowner convinces the canvasser they don’t. It’s about preparedness.
If your canvassers are prepared with the right scripts and rebuttals they’ll be ready to handle the homeowners’ objections and return to the office with more appointments. When your canvassers close appointments early it’ll create enthusiasm, enthusiasm that will create momentum, and momentum that will generate success.
Next month I’ll teach you how to train new hires when you don’t have the “missing link”, an experienced person.
If you’d like to learn more about training you can call me for a brief, free phone consult. You can contact me directly at (216) 588-1337.