When we’re implementing our InSite Sales Performance Program, the training portion is (obviously) a crucial piece of the process. When conducting the training, we often draw analogies to sports and athletic endeavors.  

The reason for this is that successful sales performance has a lot in common with athletic endeavors. Both require an understanding of the game being played, the process for success and the skills to make it happen. Another important similarity is the need to practice. Constant, ongoing reinforcement of skills and process is crucial to successful outcomes, in both pursuits.

If you look at a successful golfer, you’ll see someone who hits thousands of balls each week in preparation for a tournament. Show me a strong hitter in baseball, and I’ll show you someone who’s working in the batting cage when no one else is there. Successful performers are always working on their craft.

This practice goes beyond training, and frankly it’s where I see a lot of multifamily operators drop the ball. They invest significant money, time and energy into creating formal training programs (on a variety of subjects) and then leave it to chance to determine how that training is consistently reinforced.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that the paradigm of successful selling is not natural to humans - and certainly not to leasing associates. Think about it. Humans are programmed to be self-focused. It’s why so many salespeople fall into what we like to call the “we do trap.” They fill their conversation with a whole bunch of “we do’s.”

Successfully selling, on the other hand, requires that you be focused on the other person. It requires empathy, active listening and the ability to ask valuable questions without knowing exactly what you’re going to say (because you need to understand where the other person is coming from and what they’re saying). Practicing this in a breakout session during a training program is not enough to make it stick.

An important concept in adult learning and change management is the implementation of what’s called spaced learning. Spaced learning requires taking big chunks of knowledge or skill development and breaking them into small pieces that are worked on consistently (and reinforced) over an extended period of time.  

This is precisely why we prepare specially designed follow-on exercises for the 90-days following the initial training session. This reinforces what was covered, allows leasing associates to experiment with the new skills and to learn from those experiences to continually improve.

Team meetings are a great place to integrate activities that reinforce important sales skills like questioning, maintaining conversations and active listening. Designing exercises that can be used in such a setting, not only make meetings more interesting, they also make your leasing associates more effective.

Of course, if you’re looking for some inspiration or a jump-start on creating such exercises, you can download our guide with sample exercises for your team.