Sales Sysytems Development, Inc.™ Training Programs
“Group Training & Communication Skills” (Train-the-Trainer™)

Seminar Goals:

The broad-scale goals of the four-day seminar program are to develop and strengthen the formal teaching and group communication knowledge and skills of participants in preparing and conducting sales meetings and training sessions. The specific focus of the program will be directed toward enabling a client to develop an internal capability to perform formal product knowledge, selling and merchandising training sessions for their salespeople.

Specific Learning Objectives:

As a result of participating in the seminar, sales managers should be able to demonstrate knowledge, understanding and, in certain specific skill oriented areas, an initial level of competency as follows:

1. Know how to apply a six-step systematic group communication process to prepare and conduct an effective meeting or training workshop.
2. Be able to prepare better meetings in less time.
3. Develop the ability to use the four key competencies of an effective meeting leader and trainer.
4. Understand the needs and characteristics of groups and how they should be accommodated.
5. Be able to demonstrate a high level of concern for both the content of the presentation and situation of the group.
6. Use three methods for establishing the relevance of the meeting or training sessions, thus achieving initial group motivation relative to the topic.
7. Know the methods and techniques for sustaining group attention, interest and motivation throughout a meeting or training workshop.
8. Be able to use the four principles of information organization to prepare and deliver a meeting or training program.
9. Utilize the guidelines for organizing and structuring group and individual activities to change pace and increase retention and learning.
10. Learn and develop meeting and group facilitation skills.
    1. Determine the appropriate mix of communication techniques applicable to specific content segments and learning objectives.
    2. Follow the criteria for effective selection and use of visual aids in meetings and training workshops — specifically PowerPoint™ and use of spontaneous flip charts.
11. Generate participation and manage group discussions through use of:
    1. The four methods for directing questions to the group, and
    2. The types of questions to initiate and develop discussion.
12. Know when and how to test/evaluate comprehension.
13. Know how to position and structure effective role-plays as well as manage constructive critiques of performance.

Structure

The “Group Training & Communication Skills” seminar is a four-day workshop. The first three days are devoted to having the group learn — through lecture, self discovery and segment practice application activities — the meeting and training workshop preparation and delivery process, concepts, principles and techniques. The four-day format incorporates extensive use of video throughout to enhance the quality of feedback for participants. The final day is directed toward having the participants “put it all together” by having each person, in appropriate size groups, conduct a one hour sales meeting or training session. The one-hour workshop conducted by each participant is to be video taped and structured critique sheets are completed by each group member to provide maximum candid feedback. There are also in-depth evening assignments and practice exercises on each of the first three nights. Evening assignments are all directed toward preparation and practice of specific training segments that relate to the one-hour meeting or training workshop to be conducted on the final day.

Participants are able to compare the day-one video tapes of their pre-assignment presentations to their performance on day-four to see the dramatic skill development achieved during the training program.

A few sample pages from the “Group Training & Communication Skills” Participant Workbook (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader version 6.0 or better)