Sales Coaching: A Sales Manager’s Manager’s Most Crucial Responsibility

Why is sales coaching important? Managers take part in sales coaching. Why? To train reps, boost performance, and knock out objectives. Never view sales coaching as a chore or a task. It’s a behavior based on helping others. When you coach, sales people learn how to self-evaluate their actions and strategies. Coaching also allows salespeople the opportunity to sharpen their problem-solving techniques. Next thing you know, the reps will be applying their skills. Better skills equals more sales revenue. Learning about coaching ideas for managers matters a great deal.

Here are the main goals you may want to have. Use these sales coaching tips:

-Test what works and what needs to change.

-Give helpful advice.

-Boost the level of expertise and skillset.

-Improvement of daily behavior.

-Get reps to become self-motivated.

-Make relationships stronger.

What’s the main goal of sales coaching? It’s to build a culture where workers stay motivated each day. They should want to grow, get success, and be responsible for every action the they take. Superb coaching is the catalyst for the improvement of the team and the company as a whole. There’s no more important of a role that a sales manager can play than being a coach.

How is Sales Coaching Counter-Intuitive?

Sales coaching can often be counter-intuitive. Why? The majority of managers believe that they’re coaching when they are not. There’s a difference between directing a rep what to do and coaching. Many managers end up doing the work themselves to save time. Sales managers like to get problems solved fast and do away with road bumps. This is often a short-term solution; yet, it’s not healthy for the long-term. Salespeople become less accountable. This is because they wait for managers to take care of issues. Being over-dependent on managers is a poor strategy. It prevenst future problems from getting solved. Managers must make an effort to build the confidence of their reps. This is why they must be conversation-changers and ask the right questions. Asking many questions will change the dynamics of how the salespeople are thinking. This will lead to independent problem-solving. The rep will figure out the best ways to boost his or her performance. When it comes to sales coaching, keep these three factors in mind:

1. Make sure that reps speak first, last, and most often.
2. Reduce the number of directives and ask more questions.
3. Be sure to identify every problem before coming up with a solution.

Coaching Matters

Not everyone can be a good sales manager. It takes a certain kind of person to handle all the responsibilities. A manager must be unique and willing to think outside the box. The average sales manager should understand one thing. I’s that boosting rep performance is a daily habit. Otherwise, goals will never get reached. A manager is incapable of knocking out a sales team goal. It requires the right techniques and strategies from everyone in that sales room. It’s great that a manager is willing to win deals for his or her reps. But the reps need to learn to win deals on their own. This is why developmental activities are so important. Reps need the opportunity to sharpen their skillset.

Sales Coaching Goals

Good sales behaviors matter. Here are the three main goals when it comes to being a good sales coach.

1. Get the reps to learn as fast as possible.
2. Alter the reps’ behavior in a positive manner.
3. Get better results.

All three of these goals are equal in importance. Once you knock out all three, it means you’re doing all you can to make your team the best that it can be. The problem here is many managers are too focused on results. This means they often neglect the necessary steps. This inhibits anticipated results from becoming a reality. Remember, coaching doesn’t have much to do with numbers. Coaching’s centered on relevant education and changing behavior. But don’t think numbers don’t matter at all. They serve as indicators. When you see numbers, you’ll see whether things are going well or not. They key here is that numbers are half of the big picture. What’s the other half? It should be clear by now. It’s learning and altering behavior. When you focus on both, you’re positioning the culture in your sales room to improve for the better. In order for the culture to be at its best, one must recognize the obstacles that are impeding success.

The Usual Sales Coaching Obstacles

Recognizing common obstacles in a sales room will speed up the coaching process. A coach is able to improve his or her own skills when a plan is in place to deal with obstacles. When coaching reps, managers should recognize the obstacles below:

1. Managers often struggle to see the big picture.
2. lt’s human nature for managers to tell reps what to do.
3. Managers can be very defensive about how they operate.
4. Many managers have never learned how to be a good coach.
5. Managers are often not as precise as they need to be.
6. Many managers are often in a struggle to get viewed as authentic.

What comes next? Understanding the differences between good sales coaches and bad ones.

Tips to Being a Good Sales Coach

-Keep in mind that there’s no golden rule when it comes to sales coaching. There are many different approaches. It’s all about experimenting until you find the approach that works best for you.

-Consider learning about directive coaching. This is when the coach gets viewed as an expert. He or she informs the reps of what the problem is and what the solution should be.

-Also consider studying developmental coaching. This is when the coach gets viewed more as a resource than an expert. He or she throws out questions to the reps. Why? So that the salespeople can discover the solutions to problems on their own.

-Developmental coaching is usually better than directive coaching. Why? Because asking questions and developing reps is the best way to train them. Next thing you know, the reps won’t be going to the manager for help as often as before.

-If you want to be a developmental coach, it’s best to alter how you interact with reps. It might be confusing to understand when to coach. Don’t panic. You’ll self-learn over time when coaching becomes needed.

When Should a Manager Coach?

It’s great to have a plan in place for when to coach. Yet, problems are going to occur that weren’t in your plans. This is why a manager must be aware of when to jump into coach-mode. Here are some situations in which becoming a coach is necessary:

-When going over pipelines

-Evaluating deals and opportunities

-Whenever a one-on-one meeting occurs

-During the planning process for customer meetings

-During debriefs

-Every time a team meeting gets held

Here are some situations in which informal coaching should take place:

-When it’s evident that something isn’t working or a rep is getting offtrack.

-When a rep’s actions have improved and the manager needs to ensure those actions continue.

-When the manager listens in on a rep interacting with customers.

-When the manager gets provided feedback from any type of source.

-Whenever a rep requests help in solving an issue.

-Whenever a follow-up is important to that progress can occur.

The most important notion is that managers must always be ready. As you know, a sales problem can occur at any second. This is why proactive coaching is so important. It allows behavior to get adjusted to prevent the problem from ever taking place again.

Always Stay Prepared

Being prepared is more than an action. It’s an attitude and mindset. Managers cannot be lazy. The should work hard every day to engage with their reps. Not to mention, they should focus part of their time on developing winning strategies. This will ensure the manager is always ready to ask reps the right questions. When you’re prepared, the transition into coaching mode becomes seamless. Don’t discouraged and think you don’t have enough time to plan. Five to fifteen minutes of planning each day will go a long way.

Assessments Matter

You can’t plan for the future until you have a grasp of what your team is capable of. Boosting performance requires identifying strengths and weaknesses. You’ll see how to improve once you see what isn’t working. Again, the key here is questioning and listening to your reps. Never assume asking one or two questions will be enough. Some reps are hesitant to come out of their shells. You’ve got to have a series of questions in place to test the situation. Staying focused and asking many questions will lead to success. It’s imperative to identify the root issues. It often takes many questions to figure out exactly what the root issue is. Or, sometimes there are many root issues creating a problem. This will prevent you from wasting time solving the wrong problem. The root issue is usually one, two, or all three of these:

-Lack of knowledge.

-Lack of skill or technique.

-Lack of motivation. (This doesn’t always mean the rep has a poor attitude.)

In Conclusion

Don’t get intimidated and think that you’re not capable of being a great sales coach. Effective sales coaching isn’t rocket science. All coaching a sales team takes is consistent effort. Use the information in this article, and you and your team will be on the right track to success. Be sure to browse Billions in the Bank’s website. It offers many more sales coaching techniques on how to be a great sales manager. Next thing you know, you’ll have more revenue in your pocket than ever before.