Business Tools Blog

Every July we start to think about football training camp.  Elite, highly skilled athletes, who’ve been honing their craft since they were 8 years old start four weeks of intensive practice designed to  improve their ability to play football.  My 13 year old son attended FBU (football university) this summer and will be attending 2 more football camps in July.  If you want to play sports, attending camps and learning from coaches is just part of the game.

Here’s the question.  When was the last time you went to a training program?  Do you have a coach?

Unless you are a CPA, the answer is probably not in a long time.  After all, we know what we are doing, right? What on earth could we learn … isn’t training once we reach this level, just a waste of time?

I’m being sarcastic.  Training is an ongoing process.  Sales training and management training are probably the most important professional training processes.  Having a coach is equally important.  Many times you don’t know what you are doing wrong or where you can improve, without new ideas and open feedback channel.

For example, my daughter debates.  The way her coaches help her improve is by recording her when she speaks and then offering feedback after she watches the video.  For sales people, recording their sales pitch and then getting feedback seems like a no-brainer.  But I wonder how many take advantage of this simple method to improve their results.