I am a student at heart.
My Mom was an elementary school teacher for 32 years with two master’s degrees. I am sure this is why I value education. I, too, have two masters degrees and continue to try and expand my knowledge.
Every year I engage in training, coaching, and masterminds all to upgrade my skills. My husband pokes fun and says I should be “improved” by now! My goal in each of these programs is to find the “one” tactic, tool, or a person who will help me move the needle in my business and support my clients better to give them an advantage in their agency.
Cheryl and I have been completing market research to prepare for our fall offerings to craft a program that is “just the right fit, right now.” We have been interviewing owners of agencies, and it has been so fun to connect and, of course, enlightening (more on that another day).
One of the discussion questions was how they evaluate if a “program” was for them or their team. Because at one point or another, we have all taken programs that disappointed us.
I want to share with you a $28,500 program that disappointed me and how I make decisions on which programs to take after that experience.
In 2017, I wanted to create an online program that would serve Home Care Sales, Home Health Marketera, and Hospice Liaisons. I wanted to create this fantastic experience for the sales reps, which would make them thrilled to complete the next section. This would become the industry standard for new hires and experienced representatives to needed a refresher or teams who wanted to be on the same page.
I was introduced to an online course developer who had a course that was very successful. She promised a lot, but her program was rigid. She didn’t have any flexibility in her program or consulting. She was not personable, and she didn’t relate well to me or my business. She was great on video, where she could script everything but not in person. She was not able to generalize her business and make it applicable to my business.
At the time, I was SUPER frustrated.
Maybe you have been in this position – your expectations were one thing, but the outcome was another. I spent 12 mos in her program. It was rough. So rough and so many people did not get the result they wanted, she offered another 12 months for free! I know she tried. It just didn’t work.
At the time, I was mad and sad that I spent all that time AND money AND precious hrs away from my family.
But I can say now I am grateful for that experience. It made me appreciate our clients more – the trust they put in us when they allow us to “be on their team” through training and consulting.
When we develop our programs, we are very cognizant of the expectation and the tremendous drive to deliver value.
From the experience with her, we have created a framework for working with clients that I would like to share with you so that you can use it to evaluate your next training program.
S E O (not the web stuff, but that is how you can remember it!)
Success: How will you know if this program is successful?
Experience: Are the instructors actively engaged in your business line (working “inside” a HH, Hospice, or In-Home Care)
One: What is the one thing you want to “learn”?
I bet you want to know about the online program that we created. It’s a High-Performance Sales Academy. In 2017, we offered it as the first industry-specific online sales process program.
It gives you the exact steps to take to move an account through the sales process to deliver you the 1st referral and support your referral sources throughout your relationship with them.
Giving you a repeatable process, so you NEVER miss a referral opportunity again! We continue to evolve the program to reflect the current landscape.
We have upgraded the High-Performance Sales Academy experience and all our programs on our learning system HomeCareSalesPro™ to drive performance and course completion!
Want to discover how you can win Achievement Badges and Ranks?
Impact more lives!
Do well while doing good!
Go, do great things!
Melanie
