INTRODUCTION

Welcome to The IMPACT Sales Training Library – your complete sales training meeting system with 52 weeks of ready-to-use training meeting content on 12 topics essential to recruiting and retention success. Now you can conduct daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly training meetings with your recruiting or retention teams without extensive preparation or huge amounts of time to research topics; but with immediate application.

The IMPACT Sales Training Library is a unique kit that gives you the flexibility to train your recruiters and retainers on the most practical, relevant topics – whether you have a team that works in one area or one that’s geographically dispersed. You can incorporate these lessons into your training meetings or use them as stand-alone training sessions with individual recruiters and retainers.

There are 12 major sales topics – from prospecting to closing the sale – in the IMPACT Sales Training Library system, and there are four unique lessons on each of the topics…plus four bonus lessons. So you have the option to:

Focus intensely on one topic and work through all four lessons on that topic before moving on to the next topic
Or cover one lesson from each of the 12 topics before starting the cycle over again
Or, you can jump around the system, picking and choosing what topics to focus on based on the challenges your team is facing.

Four lessons on 12 key topics, plus four bonus lessons, give you 52 sessions in total – which is why we call it the IMPACT Sales Training Library.

Here are five tips for success when using the IMPACT Sales Training Library:

First, always listen to the audio session yourself. It will take you no more than 10 to 15 minutes prior to each session. Important Note: The audio segments are the heart of the system. They form the foundation for what your recruiters or retainers will learn. You must listen to them attentively.
Second, review your Managers’ Meeting Guide so you know exactly what you need to do for each session. Also review the designated Sales Success Worksheet your recruiters or retainers are expected to fill out prior to coming to the session. Your Managers’ Meeting Guide for each topic tells you:
- Exactly what the format and structure of the meeting should be
- What the attendees are supposed to do to prepare
- What discussion questions will get the meeting started and keep the conversations focused on productive learning
Get involvement from your people. Don’t lecture – get them to participate.
Be sure to let a few of your recruiters or retainers lead some of the sessions. You’ll find we recommend this in several Managers’ Meeting Guides. We guarantee they will be thrilled to do so – at first they may act reluctant, but in the end they will be excited to do it. However, make sure you don’t throw them into delivering the program right before the meeting. Give them time to listen to the audio, go through the Managers’ Meeting guide and prepare – this is critical.
Think about turning some lessons into home study courses. It could be very helpful to have a newly hired recruiter or retainer listen to the audios and fill in the Sales Success Sheets. Then you can sit down with them to review the material on an individual basis. Role play with that person, discuss the issues – find out what they got most out of the lesson. Be sure to…
- Ask what questions they have
- Ask for their insights and
- Ask why the lesson is particularly important to them

Your role as a facilitator is to lead people through a series of learning exercises and make it a positive and productive training session every time. Always remember that you are not to see yourself as a teacher, lecturer, motivational speaker or expert. Instead, your job is to facilitate learning.

You don’t need to memorize each session to be an effective facilitator. The program is very “facilitator friendly” – meaning it is not difficult to lead. An interactive format has been chosen for this program, simply because people learn much better from involvement than they do from a lecture.

The most important learning principle you can remember is this: People are more apt to learn from what they do and experience rather than from what they only “hear.”

TheIMPACT Sales Training Librarysessions are loosely structured, yet still provide a high quality end result for the participants. Each session is intended to take 30 to 40 minutes and designed to move at a fairly rapid pace. Furthermore, if you are planning a full day of training, or multiple days of training, you can insert several IMPACT Sales Training Library sessions into your training schedule.

It’s also critical that you be knowledgeable about and committed to each of the sessions in the system. Be sure you’re adequately prepared for each lesson, but don’t be afraid to admit it to the participants when you don’t know the answer to some of their questions. In some cases, you can either follow-up later once you’ve had a chance to find the answer – or ask for volunteers from the group who’d like to research the topic. If it’s an opinion question that doesn’t necessarily have a definite answer, you have the perfect opportunity to invite the whole group to discuss it. Your team will learn far more from discussing and exploring a question than from listening to you espouse your wisdom.

An important point to remember is that when facilitators concern themselves more with how well they’re doing as presenters, than how the participants are engaging and learning, the less likely it is the participants will get the most from the program. To help you improve your facilitation skills, here are some tips to follow:

Learn the material in each session
Listen to each audio session prior to the session
Mentally review how you will conduct each session
Place yourself in the position of the participants to understand what you would want the outcome of the program to be if you were in the audience
In addition, you should have several extra manuals available for attendees who forget theirs. This way they can take notes during the program
You absolutely must have your Managers Meeting Guide. The Guide gives you the outline for the program and discussion starters. It tells you what you need to say and what you need to do for each session.
We also recommend you have a flip-chart or whiteboard and markers available for recording notes.
Consider bringing masking tape so you can put things up on the wall. Plus, be sure to have any specific student materials that you’re going to need as samples, examples or tools that relate to the topic.
Always arrive at the meeting site early. This way you can locate and organize your supplies and arrange the training room in a way that allows participants to see, hear and be comfortable during the course.

During each session you will have time to share some of your own personal experiences. Important Note: When sharing your own experiences, avoid becoming judgmental, lecturing or editorializing. Instead, concentrate on being brief and be sure what you’re saying aligns with the point being made at that particular time in the lesson.

As you become more familiar with the flow of the sessions, you may want to go off on slight tangents, or you may want to integrate your own ideas into that lesson. That’s fine; however, don’t allow yourself to get too far off the content or the time frames provided. In short, the best advice is to adhere to the format, time schedule and outline.

Now, some tips for your meetings:

Do your best to maintain a positive atmosphere at all times. Criticism and other negative responses by participants – or to participants – about any issue will only take away from the success of the session. You should expect only the best from yourself and the other participants.
Listening is a key factor in the success of each session. You should not dictate information or play the role of authoritarian. These behaviors simply harm the end results of the program. Also, be sure not to act defensive when listening to a participant’s opinion.
Leave sarcasm or put-downs out of your training meetings. If you wish to use humor, use the type that pokes fun at yourself. Most people don’t enjoy being the focus of a joke in front of a group – particularly a group of their peers. Positive reinforcement is invaluable in keeping people’s attention and respect – place emphasis on the good things people do or say. This will ensure your presentation is well received.
Carefully analyze the content of group discussions. Always ask yourself if the dialogue is on target and productive. If you feel it’s not, guide participants back toward the subject at hand. Furthermore, while professional disagreement is fine, you should attempt to avoid arguments between participants.
Another key element to success is to do your best to prevent participants from discussing any item for too long a time. The format for the lessons is intended to move quickly and designed so participants do not have all the time they want for discussion. It has been proven that this type of format will improve learning and interest – it’s called the ‘Zargonic Effect’ because participants do not have enough time to conclude their discussions. Therefore, they are more likely to pursue them outside of the program or perhaps during breaks.

You may be nervous at first, but the more familiar you are with information the better your team’s perception will be of you as a leader. Here are a dozen ways to be an effective facilitator:

Project a confident but not superior manner: If you look as if you’re nervous or upset, they will likely feel uncomfortable – remember, they’re going to follow your lead.
Dress for impact: Your dress and appearance should set the standard for your team. When you look sharp, it communicates that these training sessions are important – that they’re critical, they’re essential and they’re professionally oriented to help them become better at what they do.
Smile and be genuinely friendly: People like to have a friendly, positive learning experience. They may not even want to be in there in the first place, so keep it upbeat by wearing a smile.
Be organized: Be prepared – study the material ahead of time.
Personalize the instructions and the questions: Start by using people’s names. For example:
- “That was a very good comment, Sergeant Jones,” or
- “That was an excellent addition to what we’re talking about, Susan.”
- It’s extremely important to be personal and positive with your comments – you want to encourage people to be able to give their ideas and opinions.
Maintain good eye contact: You’ll notice the lessons don’t appear as scripts to read aloud. We’re not interested in you using the exact words or phraseology you find in the materials – instead you should engage your team in real discussion, and that requires you to maintain good eye contact with everyone. Therefore, make sure you’re able to discuss each topic without the need to keep your eyes glued to your materials.
Don’t be afraid to use humour: However, remember what was noted earlier – make sure the humor is not aimed at someone who can’t handle it. The safest thing to do is aim it at yourself.
Always stand up any time you speak or supervise exercises or activities: Now why is that? If you’re sitting down it looks casual – it looks as if you’re not working hard at it. I don’t care if you’ve got three people in the group – stand up. It lends a sense of propriety and professionalism, and it also says you are there working to help them get better.
Don’t eat or drink during the sessions: A glass of water to keep your throat from getting too dry is acceptable. However, your goal is to make this a formal and professional environment.
Handle questions well: But don’t be afraid to say: “I don’t know.” But be sure to add: “I’ll find out.”
Avoid barriers to learning: Now what are those barriers?
- A bad location
- A room that’s too small, too large, too hot or too cold
- Visual distractions, background noise or interruptions – and yes, turn off the cell phones
Give more than the participants expect:
- Involve them – personalize the stories. Above all, do your best to kindle interest:
- Ask questions and write responses on the flip chart or white board
- Lead discussions with genuine enthusiasm – get everyone involved

Remember, The IMPACT Sales Training Library is based on targeted information that has already propelled many, many people to new career plateaus. Gaining knowledge is one thing; however, the real value comes when you use that knowledge on the job. Here are four ways to apply the IMPACT Sales Training Library in the field.

Go on joint calls with recruiters and retainers: See if they’re using the skill sets they have been taught. We’ve maintained for many years that you can’t manage a recruiting or retention force from behind a desk anyway, so you need to go out on the joint calls.
Never miss an opportunity to Curb-Side Coach: Curb-Side Coaching means that as soon as you’re out of sight and earshot of the lead, applicant, or unit member, start reviewing the call with your recruiter or retainer… and the secret here is to ask questions relative to:
- What they did
- Why they did it; and
- How well they think they did it
Look for the specific behaviors you’ve talked about in each of the sessions: Don’t just go in there and look for something blindly – look for the specific behaviors. This way, you can recognize and reward things they did well.
Debrief and remind your team to apply information from previous sessions: You could say: “Okay, last week we talked about effective questioning techniques, and you’ve told me you remember these three points – let’s make sure we use those today during the sales appointment.”

Change can be difficult for some people to accept. With the IMPACT Sales Training Library, you’re probably changing the way you train. It’s important that you get “buy in” from both your new and experienced personnel, superstars or rookies.
Expect some resistance from them – whether they are experienced or new to the job, particularly if you’ve not held regular, ongoing, meaningful sales training sessions as part of your regular training meetings.

You – as the manager – know who needs what training the most. When you actively observe and manage your team, you learn what their challenges are. Therefore, you must make sure those individuals attend the sessions where they get the knowledge they need to become better at their profession. With experienced recruiters and retainers, you’re going to find this is a tremendous cultural change – it might be tough to instil, especially if your team has never been part of either a learning culture or an accountability culture.

You need to show them why it is to their advantage to get better! For example:

What they have to gain and
Why they will be more successful

You will find that your experienced people, frankly, will love this more than anyone else, as long as it doesn’t become painstaking or boring. The lessons will reinforce what they already know – and people love to have what they already know substantiated. They may learn things that can help them do even better:

Maybe they recruit or retain more people
Maybe they place more people into critical AFSCs
Maybe they get more referrals

You may want to have them deliver programs on subjects where they are very knowledgeable. For example, if you know someone who is a good prospector – have them deliver the ‘Prospecting’ session. If you know they are particularly good at ‘Questioning Skills’ – have them deliver that lesson. It then becomes a big deal for those people because they’re being recognized for what they’re excellent at doing,

Hold all of your people accountable for attending the sessions. Document attendance and the training delivered. As part of this program, we have provided pre-prepared Air Force Form 623A’s that outlines each lesson. All you have to do is sign, date and place the 623A into the training records.

Remember – there might be some experienced people who are looking for you to falter at this training initiative. The worst thing you can do is to hold a couple of sessions and then stop, because now they can say: “See, this is another Air National Guard program that didn’t last.”

Decide ahead of time when and how often you’ll hold training meetings. Announce the schedule to your team and make clear your expectations for attendance — then stick to it. Doing so will communicate your commitment to the program and send the message that it’s an important priority for your entire team.

Now what about you’re your selling system? First, make sure all your people are using the correct sales model. For the Air National Guard, that model is the IMPACT Selling System, and you should use the IMPACT Sales Training Library to enhance IMPACT training and usage. The IMPACT Sales Training Library is a supplemental, advanced selling strategies program. Therefore, don’t just think that you can use the IMPACT Sales Training Library for all of your training. You must constantly reinforce the fundamental principles and strategies you learned in your basic IMPACT training classes.

You’ll be pleased to know that the IMPACT Sales Training Library is divided into segments that will fit right into IMPACT. After all, your people need to:

Position themselves (Lessons 5, 6, 7, and 8)
Prospect (Lessons 9, 10, 11, and 12)
Pre-Call Plan (Lessons 13, 14, 15, and 16)
Get appointments (Lessons 17, 18, 19, and 20)
Ask questions (Lessons 21, 22, 23, and 14)
Make presentations (Lessons 25, 26, 27, and 28)
Sell value (Lessons 37, 38, 39, and 40)
Ask people to commit (Lessons 41, 42, 43, and 44)

Here are some thoughts on managing your people during the training. Don’t put Rookies on the spot by asking questions they can’t answer confidently. And don’t have them lead sessions – that’s for the veterans on your team, not for the inexperienced. You may also want to consider using the sessions as one-on-one training for your rookies. You can even use the lessons as homework for individualized, personalized learning.

What about Superstars? They MUST participate! They cannot skip out on the training. Also, don’t allow anyone to leave the training sessions every time they get a phone call or email message, unless it’s a legitimate emergency. You need to make it clear that training is a requirement for everybody in your organization. Emphasize to them they are in fact role models for:

New and inexperienced recruiters or retainers and
Other recruiters or retainers who are not doing as well as they are

You want your superstars to be strong internal advocates for the IMPACT Sales Training Library. Let them know you would like them to communicate to everyone else on the team how important it is for them to master and learn these skills. By the same token, you’ll find it’s the Superstars who will eventually like this process the most because it confirms how they became good. The other strategy – which was alluded to earlier – is to have them facilitate sessions. Give them areas, or assignments, where they’re extremely passionate or particularly competent or well-versed. Don’t put them into a position of delivering a session where they don’t know much, because they don’t want to look bad in front of their peers.

Now, with resistant people, you’re going to have to go in and sit down and say: “Look, this is the way it is …” Moreover, if you’ve got a situation where people have not been held accountable for training, this is a great way to hold them responsible. Make sure they attend the sessions and get something out of it. Tell them:

Why it’s to their advantage to attend
What they’re going to get
What they’re going to deliver

Let’s conclude by investing a few minutes discussing the ten biggest mistakes that you need to avoid when using the IMPACT Sales Training Library:

Not preparing, or giving the appearance of not being prepared: When you’re not ready, it communicates to the attendees that you don’t think the training is that important or difficult, therefore, you’re going to skate through this process. Realistically, you can probably prepare a lesson in somewhere around 30 to 45 minutes, and that includes the time listening to a 10 or 15 minute audio.
Not integrating the lessons into your team’s everyday selling experience: In other words, not discussing the material, not making it part of the culture, not using it as part of the ANG ‘nomenclature’ and not referring back to relevant sessions when your team faces a real-world recruiting or retention challenge.
Starting late: When you start late it communicates something negative. You punish those who are there on time, you reward the late-comers, and you send the message that other things they do are more important than what you have to say or do.
Going overtime: End each session exactly when you said you would, otherwise you’re communicating that you’re not going to stick to the allotted time and people will start to dread the next meeting.
Not following the lesson plan or following the lesson plan too tightly: Keep your meetings focused on the subject matter, but don’t approach them like you’re reading a lecture from a script. Try to get everyone involved in a real discussion of the material.
Allowing people to get by without listening to each audio lesson: The heart of this program is the audio lessons – they are a powerful way to dispense information. The audios allow your team to take advantage of another way of learning and absorbing information that doesn’t require them to spend time reading – and it automatically builds their listening skills which are essential for selling. The way the program is designed, your team won’t get much out of the worksheets or the discussions unless they use them to apply and build on the information in the audio lessons. Make sure your team realizes that an arrangement like, “Okay, Sergeant Jones, you listen to it this time and Sergeant Smith, you listen to it next time” is not acceptable.
Re-scheduling or cancelling: If you decide to cancel or postpone a meeting, there had better be a very good reason for doing so. Try your best to conduct the training meetings once you schedule them.
Not holding training meetings systematically: In other words, if you’re going to have one a week, one a month or one a quarter, that’s the schedule you need to stick to. It can’t be sporadic, it can’t be inconsistent. Priorities are determined by actions, not by what someone says. So make sure that you have a consistent, steady training schedule.
Saying: “I’m not used to doing this”: It makes you look weak. Another mistake is apologizing for the time it takes. Quite frankly, training could be the most valuable time that anyone ever invests!
Not giving the sessions the importance they deserve: Perhaps the biggest mistake you can make is quitting before you start to see some sort of results. The material that people learn, they absorb and apply in a gradient way. What that means is it’s not a sudden change – it occurs gradually over time. And if you stop doing it, you give up on it – you say it’s not important – if you quit … you’ve wasted all of your time and all of their energy. These are mistakes that you ABSOLUTELY must avoid.

In summary, the IMPACT Sales Training Library is a powerful training tool. Combined with the IMPACT Selling System, your toolkit is full of options to help make you and your team the best possible recruiting or retention team they can be. Good luck!