Focus Supplement 2 - Summer 2017 - 11

FRONT OF THE ROOM
Brian Lange

The Privilege of
Field Trainers
The field trainer
role is about being
'of service' to others.

o doubt about it: Serving as a field
trainer provides invaluable learning
experiences and enhances your own
self-awareness. Quite simply, it illuminates your
understanding of others - while learning more
about the dynamics of influence and the role of
behaviors. In the end, you also come to
understand that serving in the role is a
privilege.
I've been helping folks prepare to serve as
field trainers for many years, and I love the
wide-eyed sense of anticipation; the glimmer of
anxiety as they face some unknowns; and the
excitement at the prospect of helping others to
succeed. One of the first important lessons to
learn is that adding a new title to your business
card doesn't mean the role is about you: It's
about others. It's about being "of service" to
others. Establishing this tone is best done at the
very beginning of each coaching relationship:
instead of displaying a "Here's what I'll need
you to do..." vibe, it's more beneficial to
facilitate dialogue around, "How can we make
this work relationship as valuable as possible?
What do you need from me? What works for
you in terms of feedback?"
Field trainers are in a unique situation:
ey have a front-row seat with several sales
professionals and get to see how they face and
respond to similar challenges. e ability to
then curate these encounters and disseminate
them for others to consider is a special
opportunity.
Probably the most sincerely held
misperception at the beginning of the field
trainer journey is the idea that the trainer will

be able to "change" others with powerful
suggestions or influence them by showcasing
the trainer's exceptional selling skills. Change is
hard. Egos, judgments and power dynamics can
get in the way. Aristotle reminded us that,
"Influence works best when the other person
can decide for themselves." If field trainers use
that mantra as a guiding principle - they'll
give the space a person needs to really consider
the input-and then they own the decision to
change (vs. acquiesce to the trainer's advice).
is can result in a stronger willingness to
integrate the field trainer's input.
e role helps bring out the subtleties
involved in coaching others to succeed - and it
is also a great platform from which to learn if a
field trainer aspires to become a sales manager
someday. In fact, one of the great aspects of the
role is that it doesn't come with any real
"organizational power" - meaning you can't
likely sway someone to incorporate your
coaching because they "have to." Instead, it's
really a pure form of coaching: you have the
opportunity to influence behavior in a truly
consultative way.
While one of the challenges of the role lies in
having your own territory numbers in which
you are still fully responsible - the rewards can
be even more fulfilling when you take some of
your time to help others. I guarantee you'll
learn more about yourself - as well as gain
insights on other ways of working - and
experience the satisfaction of seeing others
improve. And that is what can make the role
such a memorable part of your career
evolution. ■

Brian Lange, blange@perim.com, is with Perim Consulting and serves as lead facilitator for LTEN PrimeTime! For
Trainers Core and Masters Workshops. Find blogs, tweets and more at Perim.com.

FOCUS | Field Sales Training 2017 | www.L-TEN.org

http://www.Perim.com http://www.L-TEN.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Supplement 2 - Summer 2017