Yesterday in Las Vegas, multiple HVAC Business Owners shared the same concern with me about investing in Customer Service Training:
“I think this would be absolutely amazing for us,” they said. “But…”
I waited with eager anticipation to hear their “but.”
“But I worry my team won’t care. They won’t embrace it. They’ll feel like I’m shoving training down their throats.”
“Ahh, yes…” I said. “You want to invest in training because you know they need it, but more than anything, you need it to be their idea.”
“Exactly.”
“Alright,” I said. “Here’s what you need to do…”
- Gather your team for a customary meeting and give everyone three sticky notes.
- Ask them “what three things do you feel will hold this team back from reaching its potential?” When you ask for problems, everyone has an opinion.
- Have them write their answers on the sticky notes and then post them on a whiteboard.
- Organize all the responses into groups.
With that, guess who just created your new training curriculum? YOUR TEAM DID.
Finally, ask them a classic “If I… will you…?” question:
“Alright team – If we can find and invest in a program to help us solve these problems, would you embrace that program?”
9 times out of 10, they will unanimously agree to it because it’s all based on their needs and wants, not yours. Everyone wins.
This is how we start training off with teams that are particularly resistant to change.
If your team resists training, it puts you at a massive disadvantage. You must find a way to overcome stubbornness.
If your team needs training but you just aren’t sure they’ll buy-in, we have been doing this for 13 years. We know how to break through people’s tough shells.
