COACHING
Coaching :
It ’ s An Ongoing Process
Teams win championships , not coaches or star players . What are you doing to build each salesperson into a stronger performer and a more valuable contributor to your sales team ?
Our goal here is to enhance your effectiveness as a builder of strong salespeople . You can coach them to success !
Our job as sales leaders is not to grow sales — our job is to grow salespeople . And then it ’ s their job to grow sales .
While it is true that our success is ultimately measured on sales levels , we personally aren ’ t going to make that happen . Our job , then , is to help salespeople be better at what they do . We need to coach them .
By coaching , we are talking about field coaching : hands-on and in competitive situations . Like the impact a basketball coach has during the game rather than
“ NOTHING IN THE WORLD
CAN TAKE THE PLACE OF PERSISTENCE . TALENT WILL NOT ; NOTHING IS MORE COMMON THAN UNSUCCESSFUL MEN
WITH TALENT . GENIUS WILL NOT ; UNREWARDED GENIUS IS ALMOST A PROVERB . EDUCATION WILL NOT ; THE
WORLD IS FULL OF EDUCATED DERELICTS . PERSISTENCE AND DETERMINATION
ALONE ARE OMNIPOTENT .”
- CALVIN COOLIDGE after the contest .
While the “ after the game ” sales meeting is important , it ’ s working in the field with salespeople that provides us our greatest opportunity for coaching . Here are three kinds of field calls a sales leader can make with salespeople :
1 ) Training call - Here the sales manager takes the lead during the call to show how it should be done . Other than being introduced to the prospect or client , the salesperson is essentially a silent observer . After demonstrating “ how-to ,” the sales leader debriefs the salesperson after each call . “ What went right ” and “ What went wrong ” are thoroughly discussed so that the salesperson can see the dynamics involved .
2 ) Joint call - A sales manager and salesperson both participate in these calls . Each person contributes appropriately . Often these calls are used in reestablishing a relationship or introducing the sales leader to customers .
Joint calls also are effective for gathering information about market activity , the competition , and customer wants and needs . How well your company is meeting those needs can be ascertained on a joint call .
3 ) Coaching call - In these instances , the sales leader plays the role of an observer and the salesperson conducts the call . The introduction of the manager usually should be done in a low-key manner . If he or she is unknown to the prospect , simply introduce the manager as an associate of the salesperson .
On coaching calls , the sales manager learns the most about how a salesperson performs on his or her day-to-day calls . As a result , it is where the sales leader can offer the most help . But that is true only if the coaching call is conducted properly . Often that is tough for the sales leader to do . Even if the sales person is “ blowing
20