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Sales Coaching

According to consulting firm McKinsey and Company, sales managers hold the 'pivotal job' in systematic skill improvement and development of a sales force. Effective behavior change among sales people must involve their front line managers taking on new roles as 'sales coaches'. Coaching helps managers acquire the skills to maximise the sales performance of their teams, sustaining and building upon what they learned individually.

The most effective step managers can take to ensure the professional development and job satisfaction of their team members is to provide effecting ongoing coaching. Coaching to develop strong selling skills should not be confused with management support to close the big deals. In fact, becoming identified as a super-closer is one of the most dangerous of traps a sales manager can fall into - it is tremendously time-consuming, and it diminishes the reps' sense of independence.

No matter how well an organisation trains its sales people, unless the training is followed up on the job, most of its effectiveness is lost. Studies in Xerox Corporation have proved that in the absence of follow-up coaching and reinforcement, 87% of the skills change brought about by even the best sales training is lost.

Just as sales people need good selling models, coaches also need models to guide their behavior. Coaching and reinforcement strategies are a critical part of any sales performance system. Coaching can help companies:

1. combat the problems of career stagnation
2. decrease turnover among top performers
3. provide front-line sales managers the knowledge and skills to:
   • Coach their staff to develop exceptional individual selling skills
   • Aid sales people in planning calls that achieve positive bottom-line results
   • Overcome coaching phobias and build team support for coaching and skill improvement
   • Provide feedback in a way that motivates and leads to positive change
   • Avoid barriers and traps that hinder coaching efforts and undermine sales goals
   • Optimise coaching time by erasing doubts about when to coach versus when to sell