Have you had this happen in your training classes? It’s an easy trap to fall into.  You have all of this great information in your head and you just want to “tell” it to people.  The hard part is “telling” it in a way that sticks.

Effective training doesn’t just “check a box”.  For newly hired employees, training should be part of a comprehensive On-Boarding program. For tenured employees, ongoing training is an important part of career development.  Either way, training must be ENGAGING.  It’s simple:  Employees who are engaged in training learn more.  This means they perform better, which means they stay and you build bench strength.  Everyone’s happy!

Sounds easy, but it takes effort. I have learned some great ways to make training effective (and some fails along the way!).  Here are my Top Five Tips to help you make training more engaging:

1. TRAINING IS A PRIVILEGE: Employees shouldn’t feel like they “have to go to training” – they should be excited!  Personally invite attendees rather than just sending an outlook invitation. Give a pre-training assignment (shop a comp?) to get them invested. Day of training – greet them at the door!  Sounds simple, but how many training classes start with the trainer on the phone with IT because their laptop won’t cooperate with the projector?  Guilty!
2. TELL STORIES: If you’re in this industry, you have stories.  Some are even suitable for a training class! Stories bring training to life. Rather than tell them how to overcome a leasing objection, talk about a real life objection and how you overcame it.  Gives you credibility and they remember the technique.
3. INTERACTION: Benjamin Franklin said: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”  This can take many forms:

• Hands-on activities including role playing or entering fake guest cards into your platform. 
• Use polls to increase engagement. Poll Everywhere is an easy app and it’s free.
• Games! Use games to reinforce skills or that test what they have learned.  Kahoot is a fun platform that makes games similar to the trivia games you play in a bar.  (also free)

4. VIDEOS: Videos bring your training to life.  You can explain how to greet a prospect and determine their needs, but it is more meaningful to watch someone actually doing it.  I use actual employees in videos – they are flattered to be asked.  WeVideo is an easy app to use (again, free!) to edit videos.
5. FOLLOW UP: Most often missed, but really the most important.  They might appear engaged in training, but did they learn? You don’t know if you don’t follow up.  No matter how great the training, 100% of the content will never stick. Find the gaps as soon as possible after training. Some ways to follow up:

• Assign homework or a quiz after training.
• If your CRM has call recordings, listen to phone calls or review prospect emails.
• Call to ask how they are doing and offer support.
• Call their Manager to ask what they have observed.

Richard Branson says: “Train people well enough that they can leave.  Treat them well enough that they don’t want to.”  I hope these tips help you to provide training that “sticks” and that your employees become the envy of the industry!