When I say the words “Cross Training” most will immediately picture a man or woman training at a gym. That would be accurate, but you may be surprised that it has its place in canvassing, show and event marketing. Before I go there…
Think about cross training, in the athletic sense, in the traditional sense, it’s about the athlete training in sports other than the one that the athlete competes in. The definition is important for your perspective on where I’m going in this article. The key is “training in something other than the area of your primary responsibility”. With that said, bringing this full circle and back to you, your position and your responsibility to your crew.
Improving both organizational success and team performance through cross training is a leadership tool supervisor and managers often overlook. Cross training your marketers will increase their motivation and performance, and provides a significant cost savings to your department and company.
Proof – does it work? It does! For my client James Hardie, I helped build this model and launched it in a campaign we rolled out two years ago. The result? It surpassed the traditional standards of anything done before.
If the largest fiber cement siding manufacturer in the world can see and experience the value and benefit of doing face-to-face marketing, you should too. If it’s right for them, it’s right for you. Therefore you’re in the right place. Let’s begin.
You’ve heard me talk about this before. There are 3 aspects to training your marketers. Mindset, skill set and get off your assets (take action). From the big picture view; the 30,000 foot view, cross training your marketers improves conditioning, just as it does for their athletic counterparts.
Additionally it will get people out of a rut or kick-start the newbie’s. For the veterans you have to get them out of doing the same things over and over and over again. Most managers revert back to roll playing and the rah-rah sessions. You know after awhile it doesn’t work, but it’s the only thing they do, with the hopes that the ‘message’ finally sinks in and kicks them in the butt with motivation… that isn’t going to happen and everyone knows it, because they don’t know what else to do… until now.
The bigger, long term problem is the injury to the marketer. No one feels worse about non-performance than the marketer themselves. For the athlete, cross training is one of the best ways they can prevent injuries. Injuries to the athlete can be career ending. ‘Career injury’ to your marketers is no less important than the ‘career injury’ to the pro or amateur athlete. In reality, it’s more important to your marketers than the athlete because an athlete has a limited time in which he or she can earn their living; your marketers have a greater longevity.
I wish I could take credit for creating this idea, but this is exactly how I learned the business when I started as a 19 year old college student looking for a means for food and beer money. For more than 20+ years, it’s been a career and made it possible for me to create the Canvass King movement and help so many others who were like myself at 19, a wet-behind-the-ears novice.
The full discussion of implementing cross training your marketers would take more time and space than I have available here. However, you need to walk away with a way to create quick implementation. Don’t misunderstand me, it’s important and we can have a longer conversation on the subject if you choose, but here I want to give you things to get you thinking. Here are 6 areas to consider implementing this:
- Motivation
- Cross-departmental training
- Cost savings
- Eliminates department rivalries
- Fresh eyes on an old problem
- Identifies leaders
I’ll leave you with a profound statement. The prospects aren’t as smart as most give them credit for. This is an important point. It’s dangerous for your people to think prospects are smarter than they are; it’s false intimidation. When I was new to canvassing in the home improvement industry (at 19-years old) and then into in-home sales at age 20, I thought that people who owned a home were smarter than me and what I found out is that 9 out of 10 people knew far less than me; even as a novice. I quickly lost that intimidation and became more than worthy to have a conversation with those homeowners… my prospects. This is happening in your department, right now. I’ve given you some tools here to fix this.
My call to action to you is to start somewhere. Identify one department that you can cross-train into another department. Watch and observe and then follow up.
(You can hear the entire context of this discussion from my Silver Level Telecoaching call #022515 – go to http://www.canvassking.com/SilverProgram.html)
The ultimate benefit to the marketer for cross training them is increased confidence and self-image.
Committed to your marketing success,
Chris Thompson