Why you should send your Risk and BC Managers on sales training

Risk and BC Managers are sales people. In fact they generally have stalls right next to one another in the “Antique Governance Bazaar”.

They are attempting to sell themselves and their approaches every working day.

Are you achieving your Risk/BC sales targets?

Alex Fullick posted a great example of why we need sales skills on his Stoneroad’s blog. Alex has generated a list of the various excuses people offer for why they should not test their BC/DR plans.

If you have any real experience in the field you will have encountered pretty much all of the excuses on Alex’s list. In fact I think I have heard them all of them the same day at one point!

I commented on the post about the need for real Executive commitment to overcome the reluctance, but later realised that the issue was perhaps more fundamental.

The Risk/BC Manager is trying to get these folks to buy into their ideas and approaches. Conducting an exercise or test is another part of the ‘buying insurance’ aspect of risk management.

We need to train these folks to sell this risk management ‘insurance’ better.

A quiz

• Do you know what an ‘Objection’ is in sales?
• Do you have the tools/techniques to deal with ‘Objections’?
• Do you know the difference between ‘Resistance’ and ‘Objection’?

We tend to rely on policy and compliance to implement Risk and BC activities.

What a surprise when they are seen as just that – compliance and tick-box tasks.

We need to provide training in sales techniques to our people.

When we get the ‘Objections’ like the ones on Alex’s list, then we have equipped people with the best way to handle them.

Sales training will explain the difference between ‘Pushback’ (which I suspect to be less effective for these objections) and ‘Reframing” (which you may find helpful) as techniques to deal with ‘Objections’.

When we are taking the sales perspective we will also be aware when we are talking to a ‘Decision Maker’ or an ‘Influencer’ and pitch our message and efforts accordingly.

This training, plus some other inter-personal skills training, will hopefully enable the Risk/BC practitioner to recognise the signs of ‘Resistance’ and deal with them – before they become ‘Objections’.

Back in December 2009 I posted about the need for New Skills in the BCM space – sales training was not inlcuded there but maybe it should be.

Your thoughts?