Do You Coach to Win?
Whether you are a salesperson or a sales manager, you should take advantage of sales coaching. Once a salesperson understands that sales coaching can help them to make more money and have more fun, it’s inevitable that they’ll want to introduce their sales manager or sales trainer to the concept too. Then it’s up to these potential coaches to decide if they are willing to seriously commit to coaching for their salespeople. That’s where the salesperson’s commitment comes into play – can the salesperson show the manager or trainer that they will do whatever it takes? – because that’s the first big step in getting help.
Sales management consists of everything the sales manager does to develop and grow an effective sales force, including…..
- Briefing and debriefing
- Growing salespeople and making them stronger every week
- Being able to motivate salespeople – and keep them motivated
- Holding salespeople accountable
- Finding, hiring, and keeping top performers
The sales manager carries out these functions in various forums, including sales meeting, sales training, the field, and sales coaching sessions. Coaching sessions differ from the other activities in that the focus of coaching is on combining technique reinforcement with one-on-one motivational interaction.
Coaching can be performed by either the sales manager or a trainer, although the sales manager must make the final decision as to the length and frequency of each type session. My own experience has been that each salesperson should receive an hour per week of coaching, in a one-on-one meeting run by the sale manager. When using a trainer as your coach, the frequency will probably decrease because of the level of expertise of that trainer.
Some of the areas that should be covered in the coaching sessions are:
ATIVITY. This includes the quantity and results of dials, walk-ins, contacts, appointment booked, face-to-faces, referrals, and introductions. The coach motivates the salesperson to improve in the necessary areas, as measured against pre-established goals.
GOAL SETTING. The coach may permit the salesperson to reduce some of the goals if the salesperson is having trouble achieving them, in an effort to build self-confidence. The goals then would be increased over time to steadily grow the salesperson to higher levels of performance.
DEBRIEFING AND BRIEFING. Debriefs are discussions about the meetings and telephone calls the salesperson made with customers and prospects in the week prior to the coaching session. Briefing is when the coach goes on to ask the salesperson what their next steps will be and how they would handle any scheduled follow-up. If necessary, the coach would work with the salesperson to modify those plans.
SALESPEOPLE’S SELF-ESTEEM. It’s important that the salesperson is receiving sale training to work on strategy, technique, and behavior. Take the case of a salesperson who just learned that when he approaches a small company in his industry, he should always call on the Chief Executive. Naturally it takes self-confidence to do this: therefore, it is key that the coach complement the training by helping to build the salesperson’s self-esteem. Otherwise the salesperson will avoid doing what they do not feel comfortable or capable of doing well. Provided that the salesperson demonstrates commitment, the training and coaching will grow the salesperson to the point where he is performing effortlessly in pressure situations.
FUTURE COACHING SESSIONS. I recommend that sales coaching sessions always be planned out at least four weeks in advance. Sometimes it makes sense to have several shorter sessions each week. Take the case of the salesperson who is having difficulty achieving prospecting goals. Daily sessions of fifteen minutes would put light pressure on the person to achieve his daily goals. This would force the salesperson to avoid putting off his prospecting chores until the next day; after all, procrastination is one of the salesperson’s worst enemies. Daily sessions would also serve to re-inspire that rookie salesperson who is getting beaten up in the field.
If you are a sales manager, you’re undoubtedly running some sales meetings, but probably not coaching sessions. If you plan to start, congratulations! If not, ask yourself this question: If I could find the time and knew how to run quality coaching sessions, would it make a substantial difference in the results I am getting with my sales force?
If your answer is “yes,” then what’s stopping you? Start coaching!!