by Stacey Pyrzanowski, Sales-Link, Inc.
Whether you are a recent college graduate, or someone in their current career seeking a change, learning a new job will be hard! Although training and coaching may be available, someone new to a company can still feel lost. The important thing is to keep your eye on the goal.
Everyone has a different pace and background. Sometimes, the person responsible for training may only know a part of the process. Unfortunately, that was the situation I experienced when I started my new job. Fortunately, I found that it was helpful to have documented processes and procedures available that I could read and refer to.
A full-cycle training process is necessary so people can see from beginning to end, in order to get the full concept of what needs to happen, when and why. Training with a mentor should be top priority, especially for a beginner. Their knowledge and guidance are imperative for one to fully understand how to do the job correctly. With that said, as a new employee, I found that first watching, then doing the tasks myself while being guided by my mentor, made a huge difference in my training and retention of information. There is a saying, “Watch one, do one, teach one” …I find this is a valuable phrase to live by to quickly learn a new task.
“I find that as a mentor, my passion and excitement for the job really helps the trainee get more connected with what our mission is,” says Susan Walsh, Founder and CEO of Sales-Link Inc. Susan has published numerous blogs about lead generation and sales, and one in particular that I found useful is on sales processes.
Once I had a better understanding of my job responsibilities, my next step was to form a daily routine. A sample checklist for a Business Development Assistant includes:
· Reading daily news
· Scheduling mail campaigns
· Reviewing bounce rates
· Reviewing click lists for follow-on action
· Refreshing mail campaign builders
· Updating and reviewing the “Do Not Contact” (DNC) list
· Assessing weekly calls with the Call Center
· Targeting specific companies
· Using InMail via LinkedIn
· Following up on calls/emails
I found that once I had a checklist in place, and I applied it routinely, my job flowed smoothly, and I felt less overwhelmed.
A lot of lessons have been learned so far, and every day is an opportunity to learn more. Setting goals is another way to grow in the business, and to assure one’s own success. For example, in my next phase of training, my goal is to sit in on a meeting with a client to learn more about the client’s perspective. It would also be helpful to tour a clinical trial lab to observe the atmosphere and daily operations, so I can articulate more of what our clients do for their customers. With my continued willingness to learn with my mentor, I am certain I will grow in my position to Business Development.