Sales and Sales Management Blog

Coaching Sales People to Success
By Steven Rosen, MBA

One of the most overused terms in sales management is sales coaching. Yet sales coaching is one the least understood activities that sales managers do. Many sales executives and managers talk about the importance of coaching salespeople and only a few truly understand what it is and how to effectively do it.

Most sales executives that I speak with agree that sales coaching is an essential  component of driving sales performance. Studies show that sales coaching alone contributes to a 19% increase in sales. How many companies would love to get another 20% more sales in this economy?

For the purposes of this discussion, here is the foundation for defining sales coaching and illustrating how sales managers can coach sales people to success. 

1. What is the role of the sales manager?
Sales organizations struggle with a fundamental question: What is the role of the front-line sales manager? Many sales executives define it  as driving sales results or “bringing in the numbers.” This is true, but the real question is how to do that. In my view the role of the front-line sales manager is selecting, developing and retaining top sales performers. If they are effective in this role they are truly maximising sales performance and results will come.

2. What is sales coaching?
Developing top performing salespeople comes from effective sales coaching. This is a dynamic process that is shared between a sales manager and a sales rep. It is specific to the individual salesperson and happens in the field: I coach sales managers in a simple four-step process for, in turn, coaching salespeople to success:

ü  Step 1: Observing, self awareness and diagnosing

ü  Step 2: Gaining a commitment to skills/behaviors to focus on

ü  Step 3: Developing a plan of action for improvement

ü  Step 4: Closing the accountability loop 

3. What does success look like?
You have all heard the adage:

“You fish for a man and he can eat for a day”

Or

“You teach a man to fish and he can eat for a lifetime”.

The sales coach adage is some what different:

“You help a sales rep close a sale and he gets a commission”

Or

“You coach a sales rep to get better at closing and he gets rich”.

Coaching is different then teaching. Coaching is a process of developing individuals and incorporates self-discovery and self-improvement. Success in coaching is about developing your salespeople into top performers.

Success: One Step at a Time:
As a sales manager if you are able to develop just one important skill area from a 2 out of 10 to an 8 out of 10 in one year, I believe you have made that rep a better salesperson. Sometimes we try to do too much and end up having little or no impact. Self-discovery, self-awareness and self-improvement take time. With so much going on the key to coaching salespeople for success is to focus on just one skill/behaviour at a time.

I spend a good portion of my time working with sales managers and sales executives. In conversations with sales managers I will ask them who their bottom two salespeople are.  Then I ask, “What is the one skill/behaviour that will have the greatest impact on his/her success.”

The next set of questions I ask the sales manager is “Who are your top two salespeople” and then “What is the one skill/behaviour that will have the greatest impact on his/her success. “

Working with tenured sales managers who have been coaching the same salespeople for years, I will ask them “What is the skill/behaviour that will have the greatest impact on each of their salespeople.” I will also query to see how long this has been the case. If the same skill/behaviour has not improved over several years the question is, how good is the coach?

The point is, as a sales manager you should be focused on improving the skills/behaviors of all your reps. If you can make your top sales reps better, what happens? If you can improve the performance of your bottom performers, what happens?

 The key in coaching your salespeople to success is developing each of them to be the best they can be!

Steven Rosen, MBA is a sales management expert who helps companies transform sales managers into great sales coaches. Steven’s works with sales executives to; hire top performing sales reps and managers, develop their team into top sales managers and achieve greater personal and professional success.  He is the CEO of STAR Results, author of many articles in the areas of sales management coaching and sales management training. He is a member of Top Sales Experts. Steven’s mission is to inspire sales leaders, managers and sales people to achieve their full potential. He can be reached at steven@starresults.com or 905-737-4548.