L&D practitioners… do you think of yourself as a “salesperson”? Probably not. There’s a good chance you see yourself as a learning and development professional who cares deeply about helping unleash the full potential of your talent. And you are that. But you’re also a salesperson, promoting the programs that best align to your organizational strategy.
Here are some of the best ways we’ve seen our L&D partners use to really sell their program to the C-suite as well as line leaders.
1 Beware of Vanity Metrics
One of the things that we really have to be aware of when speaking to business leaders is to frame our results in the language of the business. Vanity metrics is a term used to describe outcomes that sound good but don’t’ actually mean anything. From a line perspective, business is actually very simple… You’re either making money or you’re spending money. Training and development needs to support expansion and/or savings of your top-line or your bottom-line. Here are some examples of some vanity metrics
- 100% of people would recommend this course
- 95% say they will action something they learned
- 92% say they increased their job satisfaction
- 90% increased their coaching skills
Looking for something that sells your programs? These are better:
- 93% retention rate of high potentials over 5-year period
- 64% rate of advancement of alumni (compared to non-attendees)
- $1,000,000+ in recruiting and executive coaching cost savings (over 3-year period)
2. Avoid Jargon
The second area to beware of is jargon. What are some of the words that we use as L&D professionals that are meaningless to line leaders? Here are a handful that come to mind:
- Competencies
- Learner outcomes
- Learning objectives
- Behavioural outcomes
- Assessment data
Instead, get rid of the jargon and talk about “felt pain” to make a more emotional connection. What will be different in the future? What will success look like a year from now? How will we know that this investment was worth the time, money and energy?
What will those questions open up for you? How will this help you with your business case or sale? When you touch upon solutions for pain points, you are selling people what they want to buy, not what you want to sell them.
3. Create a Compelling Story
As human beings we are very visual. Think back to the earliest communication – cave drawings. Today, we often rely on words convince others when we should be creating images. Overviews and/or materials on your leadership program should be visually eye-catching and a good read as well.
Bonus Tip: How to Dial Up Your Effectiveness
So, we’re now going to look at how you can up your impact as an internal salesperson by looking at what you can do to dial up your overall effectiveness by moving through levels 1 to 5.
Level 1 – Subject Matter Expert
You possess deep domain experience and perceived as being authentic, creditable and trustworthy. Though seen as a problem solver, your stakeholders still do not view you as critical to the business. They are willing to share certain information, but it is limited in scope.
Level 2 – Voice of Reason
Viewed as a critical thinker and creative problem solver sharing different perspectives. At this level, one can challenge others and offer alternatives. Still seen through the lens of your specialty and perceived as an educator.
Level 3 – Trusted Advisor
Perceived as one of the best in your field and the trusted. Earned the right to advise without hesitation. Helps you understand the ramifications of different options and teaches me new things.
Level 4 – Business Accelerator
Seen as a value creator and is someone who advances my business. Empowers me to achieve more and advocates on my behalf. At this level, your impact centres around revenue enhancement, risk or cost avoidance, ease of doing business, and organizational development contributions.
Level 5 – Indispensable Partner
Viewed as a relationship catalyst and consulted before any major decision is made. You are able to offer unexpected insights impacting the person and their business. Able to help the person see what can be and has access to a robust network that is called upon to deliver both business as well as personal assistance.
Where are you?
If you’re curious about how The Roundtable can help your organization develop a culture where leaders can move beyond their own teams to support each other through coaching and mentoring, let’s start a conversation.
