Ten Questions Leading to Impactful Lunch and Learn Topics

Lunch and Learn Topic Ideas

A Lunch and Learn is an easy way to encourage continuous leaning in your organization. These short informational sessions can provide quick training opportunities for your staff.  If you are thinking about adding Lunch & Learns to the list of educational options you offer in-house, consider the 10 questions below to get ideas for possible training topics.

1. Have your teams been trained, yet still seemed to fall short in some areas of team-building and collaboration?
2. Do you already have topics you would like to introduce to the team?
3. Is it important to reinforce your company values and business ethic policies?
4. What new products or additional services could you introduce to sales and service staff?  
5. Is there a new management strategy you want to educate staff on and gain buy-in for?
6. Did you do a big training event last year that you should do quick refresher for on one or more key components?
7. Is there a new technology tool in the company that several people need a basic introduction to instead of actual hands-on training? 
8. Are there advanced topics your technical staff members can learn as small snippets of information?
9. Does your leadership team want to learn new skills, however they do not feel they have the time to go to long training workshops?
10. Are your employees feeling stressed or burnt out and in need of solutions?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then a lunch and learn session may be the answer to getting the training out there quickly.  With all the new virtual meeting options out there, you can include remote attendees as well.  Just be sure you test the presentation and technology options before the lunch and learn starts.

For more tips on delivering Lunch & Learn training, see Learn At Lunch: A Great Team, Sales, and Management Training Option.

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Diamond Award Winners Two Years in a Row!

Wiley announced the winners of their product sales awards at the April 24-26, 2019 MindLab Conference in Denver, Colorado (more photos from event).  Among the Diamond-level winners were Roy Davis (owner of Davis Success Solutions) and wife, Mary Anne (owner of Peak Performance Solutions).  Since both Davis’ are certified/accredited facilitators for Everything DiSC and The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team training options, their separate training companies are able to collaborate on delivering training workshops and seminars to their various customers.  Both Roy and Mary Anne Davis are also asked to speak on DiSC, leadership, and team-building topics at many association luncheons or dinners.  Additionally, Mary Anne is sought out as a sales/marketing speaker.  Roy Davis is also a popular speaker for career development topics.

All award levels are based on sales of Everything DiSC and  The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team Wiley products lines.  The two highest awards Wiley gives are Diamond ($125K+ sales) and Emerald ($75K+ sales), which are celebrated at a special Authorized Partner evening of the MindLab event.  The Davis couple has won Diamond in 2018, 2017, 2015, and 2013.  They have won Emerald in 2016, 2014, and 2011.  Other Wiley awards levels include:  Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz (new in 2019), and Opal.  Many of the other awards have been won by Davis Success Solutions each year since Roy began his authorized partnership for the variety of DiSC profiles in 2005, shortly after staring his business in 2004.  The selection of Everything DiSC behavior profiles and associated reports includes:  363 for Leaders, , Management, Productive Conflict, Sales, Work of Leaders, and Workplace which can be for both personal and professional communication use.  The Davis’ began offering  The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team products and training in 2014 and PXT Select assessments and reports in 2017.

Working with Wiley to increase the training offerings of Davis Success Solutions and Peak Performance Solutions has been successful for both companies.  It has also been extremely beneficial to their clients as well.  Customer success stories have been published in Training and Development Magazine (an ATD publication) and as examples published by Wiley.  The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team success stories include AmerisourceBergen and City of Schertz.  Working with Southwest Business Corporation is an Everything DiSC success story.

Peak Performance Solutions has been in the training business since 1994.  Roy Davis and Mary Anne (Wihbey) Davis’ companies have been co- facilitating workshops since 2004 for synergistic success, before the two independent company owners married in 2010.  Each company has other training offerings, besides those based on Wiley products, which are unique based on their individual expertise.  As well as their standard course offerings, both companies also offer customized training in each of their areas of expertise designed to meet their varied client needs.  For training outside their scope of knowledge, each training company may contract with other experts that they collaborate with, in order to insure customers get the best options to fill specific skill gaps within the client’s organization.

Check out their company websites or contact Roy Davis at Davis Success Solutions or Mary Anne Davis at Peak Performance Solutions to find out how they may help you with your training needs.

What Training Do Sales Reps Really Need?

• “My sales manager told me I just need to make more calls.”
• “My sales manager takes 50% of my commission to come on a sales call
  with me and doesn’t close deals that I know I could.”
• “My company offers product training, but I cannot see
• m to get sales training.”

Above are just a few comments I heard from Sales Representatives in the past week.  These are people who are hungry for success in sales. My life is sales and training.

I have had a passion for  sales and training for 30 plus years. I was fortunate to receive

incredible sales training and sales coaching.   We did a survey of a large sales group and it showed that 53% of the sales people had not been to any type of sales training in over 5 years!

That is like not sending your professional sports players to training camp. A small investment of time and money will yield more sales, a confident attitude, and improved customer relations! You want all of that, right?

Four leading experts agree that the following are keys to success: prospecting, building rapport, call management, active listening, communicating effectively, questioning, time management, showing value, managing objections, closing techniques, and maintaining customer relationships.  Only one expert said “product knowledge.”

Here are a few expert reference articles:

• 14 Sales Skills Every Sales Rep Must Master
• 11 Sales Meeting Topics Your Sales Reps Really, Really Want
• 10 Essential Selling Skills Every Sales Rep Needs
• 10 Essential Sales Training Topics for New Sales Reps

Ok, that is what the experts say – what about actual sales reps?  At Peak Performance Solutions, we did a pre-training survey of 79 sales people to see if their needs matched our training plan for their department.  Their highest desires were to learn how to: build/maintain customer relationships, manage objections/concerns, prospecting, understand customer needs, ask questions, follow a sales process, and understand customer personality styles.  Less than a fourth of the respondents also included: communicate value, time management, presentation skills, and meeting management.

Please note continuous learning should start with onboarding and live training.  Then the continuous part could be computer tutorials, reading books, keynote speakers, off-site seminars, and short concentrated workshops in single topic areas.

So if you want to increase sales immediately, here are a few quick tips for sales training opportunities.

1. The Basics of Sales: Like a professional ball player, your reps need to get brilliant at the basics. They need to learn the art of engagement and have a purpose for every step of the sale.
2. Questioning without Interrogating: Selling is not telling and there is an art to asking questions to get the answers to need, want, budget, buying motives and decision makers without interrogating. We practice the Socratic Method that stimulates critical thinking in a way that helps a client uncover their own need without being talked at.
3. Body Language: It is amazing to me how many cues are lost in translation. If I am going to be a master communicator, then I would surely think it important to read what the clients are “saying” or not saying.

Leadership Lessons Learned

We surveyed 77 random managers who went through our Executive Excellence Workshops (customized Leadership Academy to clients) in the same year.  We asked many questions about what they learned and found most useful. We were looking to see if they could take the learning from the classroom to the workplace. The results of two questions are below and we hope you find this of value as you plan your own leadership training.

For the question “Have you noticed a difference in your workplace since the training?”  88% of respondents said YES!

Then for the question “What key changes have you implemented since your leadership training sessions?”   Below are their replies:

• Try to listen better = 73%
• Compliment people = 68%
• Manage employees based on DiSC Style = 44%
• Solicit other opinions when solving problems = 42%
• Contact HR for advice or assistance = 40%
• Make decisions more cautiously = 38%
• Give people candid feedback = 34%
• Try to look at changes positively = 36%
• Use behavior based interviewing = 23%
• Think about the laws when making hiring, de-hiring or promotions = 22%

I believe some of the percentages listed above were low because many of the managers were already doing that key, so it was not a change for them.  However, it was gratifying to see the leadership lessons were learned and implemented by so many in the year after their training.

Eliminating the Blind Spot from your View

I have been reminded time and time again; that an obstruction in our view can hurt us and more importantly it may hurt others.  This hit home when a distracted driver drove straight into our two-day-old car this December, missing my door by an inch and totaling it.  I am reminded of this type of blind spot every time I hear someone complain about: their bad manager, their incapable employee, or that they did not get the promotion they deserved.  While distracted driving causes auto accidents, those drivers do not wake up in the morning saying “I am going to go out and cause an accident today.” Nor do most preoccupied managers intend on hurting their employees.

You see, we all have our blind spots. A blind spot can be detrimental but because it is blocked from site, we do not see what others can see that is sitting right in front of us. We may never fully realize the pain we are causing others by lack of clarity of our own shortcomings.  Studies keep revealing employee engagement lingers at about 33%. Bringing the blind spot into a clear view takes effort.  By not trying to see what our own blind spot is we go around (without a clue) repeating behaviors that are inflicting pain and even damage to co-workers every day and even on ourselves.

I challenge you to have the courage in the coming year to identify your blind spot, the thing that may be holding you back from: moving into that next position, hitting your next big goal, or making it a better workplace for those around you. How can you do this?  Below are five Quick Tips for Identifying your Blind Spots.

5 tips for identifying your blind spots

1. Ask people who will tell you what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear.
2. Get a 360 Feedback process that gives you concrete strategies for self – improvement.
3. Learn to accept feedback – maybe you are hearing it, but are you really listening?
4. Identify patterns and trends in working relationships – you might find that the common theme has a finger pointing back to you.
5. Hire a coach or find an accountability partner, someone who can help you see it and then be aware when it may be impacting you or your work relationships.

Clarity allows for clear vision and alignment in your life.  Seeing the whole picture will open new doors and increase employee engagement in your work-space.

You can find our scheduled training events on our website.  If you need other training or coaching to help you achieve your new goals, please let us know if we can help.

Employee Engagement and Motivation – It Is Not Too Late

The year is winding down.  You begin to think employee morale does not matter because everyone is in a holiday mood anyway and not really concentrating on work.

It is never too late or too early to promote employee engagement.  Marketing Innovators white papers on employee engagement says Companies that commit to engaging their employees increase customer satisfaction by 54% plus companies that foster high morale outperform their competitors by about 20%.

Efforts to increase motivation now may be short-lived, but remember it is a long-term commitment to achieve long-term benefits for your business.

“Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.”  – Anne Mulcahy

A Gallup poll of USA workplaces indicated 51% employees are disengaged from their work; only 33% of employees are effectively engaged in their work but only 21% of those are motivated to do outstanding work.

What are some ways you can boost motivation and engagement?  Check out 9 Motivational Ideas to Increase Employee Engagement.  (BTW: We offer training and solutions that can help with #6 and #9.)

If the above statistics were not bad to get you considering motivation and engagement goals for next year, check out the many statistical links in the Access Perks blog.

Yes – We Got It! Everything DiSC Workplace Facilitator Certification

Everything DiSC Workplace map

For years now, Peak Performance Solutions has been offering DiSC training for our client companies directly to their employees.  Some of our clients have expressed an interest in having their own people trained to be Everything DiSC Workplace facilitators.  For that reason, for the past few years, we have offered training on-line or in in the Wiley-Minneapolis Office to our clients.  Now we can bring the training directly to your location!  Below are short descriptions of the three different options for Everything DiSC Workplace Facilitator Certification.

The on-line training is designed with busy schedules in mind.   Everything DiSC Workplace Certification on-line offers the flexibility of self-paced learning, paired with live webinar sessions led by expert trainers.   You can find out more about this option from our on-line flyer.  To check out the schedule for on-line training, visit our website

The new 2-day Everything DiSC Workplace Certification facilitated learning option of live in-person at your location is a by request only.  You can review the on-site flyer for a little information and check out the agenda too.  Then contact us to find out more and plan dates if you are interested.  Training Includes:

• Personalized Everything DiSC Workplace profile
• Certificate of Completion upon completion of course and practical exam
• Everything DiSC facilitation kit of your choice
• Learning portal for pre-work, post-exam and reinforcement tips as you begin your training.

If you prefer to combine on-line with travel plus spend at least 2-days in Minneapolis, then the live in-person Everything DiSC Workplace Certification training at the Wiley-Minneapolis Office may fit this desire.   This training agenda is the same as the “at your location” training above. The schedule for this off-site training is also on our website under the on-line dates.

Everything DiSC Workplace Facil Kit

All Everything DiSC Workplace Certification training options should help facilitators:

• Gain foundational knowledge about Everything DiSC and the research behind it
• Experience the Everything DiSC Workplace assessment and apply the personalized profile results to real-world scenarios
• Increase confidence and competence in delivering Everything DiSC Workplace sessions
• Develop experience using the Everything DiSC Workplace Facilitation Kit with small groups
• Learn to keep Everything DiSC alive within the organization by creating a culture of DiSC with MyEverythingDiSC.com

Other facilitator accreditation we currently have available is on The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team.  You can find the training schedule and links to flyer on the Peak Performance Solutions website.  If you do not know what this program is, visit our blog for an overview of the program, a 2-part outline of the 5 behaviors, and a list of available reports.