Benchmark Business Group

Invest In Your Team

September 7, 2021

In many financial service agencies, there’s a belief that the office must be open M-F and often from 8 AM to 5 PM. This makes it difficult to allow the entire team to meet and/or train together. Often training is held in moments that can be scraped together in between clients. And meetings are either not held or held with members of the team leaving to help clients.

Customer service is important. However, training and ensuring that your team has the information they need to excel at their job is customer service. If your team doesn’t have time to train or practice, it means that they are practicing on your clients. If your team members are trying to attend meetings in between calls it means they are distracted and not fully able to participate in meetings.

Imagine where your team would be if they were able to train without interruption for an hour a week? Or even two hours a month? Or how much easier it would be to stay on the same plan, or to strategize, if meetings weren’t constantly being interrupted?

There are ways to create meeting or training time outside of regular office hours. You could have the team get together for breakfast before the day starts or simply have them stay late for an hour. However, for many offices this not only creates overtime, but becomes hard to keep consistent, because of your team member’s commitments outside of work. Consider the dynamics of your teams’ personal lives and the overtime dollars as you assess adding work hours for training.

This week, we’re challenging you to consider creating time that your business closes the door to focus on training and communicating without interruptions. Consider these tips to help you get started:

  • While carving out time weekly is a great idea, it’s okay to start with once a month or every other week and work up to weekly training time.
  • Let your clients know in advance. Send out emails, texts, Facebook messages a few weeks in advanced letting clients know so they don’t expect to find you open.
  • Create positioning that allows your clients to see this as a benefit for them. You’re investing in the team so that they can provide the best service and knowledge for the clients.
  • Make it fun! This is a great time not only to improve your team’s skills and communication, but to help with team building.
  • Encourage your team to take ownership by asking them to take turns leading the meetings and or trainings.
  • Resource your home office/vendors to access training and resources so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. 
  • Don’t skip or cancel this time. It sends the message that it’s not important and it is.

Remember, your clients will adjust to the hours that you set. They’ll adjust to having your office closed if it’s not too unexpected. And while your competition may not close for training, your ability to invest in your team is what will allow your team to set your agency apart from others. It’s time to challenge the status quo and make your teams training and communication an important part of your business.

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