Sales Progress Blog

Below are a few coaching tips to increase the learning opportunities when riding along with sales reps for observation:

• Always debrief at the end of the day or in the car on the way to the next appointment, and most importantly be absolutely sure the client is out of earshot.  It can be very discouraging and detrimental to a potential deal for a client to hear you critiquing and coaching the rep.
• There will certainly be things you will uncover that your rep must work on.  However, don’t lay them all out on the table at once as this could be overwhelming.  Present only 2-3 ideas or potential areas of improvement, and make notes of others to be brought up at a later date.  Bringing up 16 issues is a good way to get your rep to go on the defensive and shut down.  Plus, realistically even the quickest learners can only effectively work on a few issues at a time while producing real results.

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Tim Hagen Sales Management, Sales Training effective coaching, Employee Coaching, employee coaching tips, learning opportunities

There are THOUSANDS of books out there on selling and customer service skills, use them as a part of your coaching or training initiatives for access to great and inexpensive information.  Have your team read 1 book a week, and require them to apply one new thing they learned from the book everyday.  This one new thing could be a specific skill or technique, or even just a new attitude or way of looking at things.

Ask them to give you weekly reports on what they implemented, what worked and what didn’t.  This interactive learning strategy could be done in two different ways. You could have members of your team read different books and then share the useful information with each other in group coaching sessions, OR have the group read the same books and let them discuss what specific things worked or didn’t work for each individual. Reading different books means the team can gather the useful information of multiple books in the time it takes to read one, while reading the same book then sharing with the group opens other team members up to new ways of looking at the same information they might have otherwise missed. Either is a successful solution.

Tim Hagen Sales Management, Sales Training active learning strategy, coaching or training intitiative, employee growth and development, Group coaching, Learning strategy

As coaches, managers, and employees we have certainly come across the occasional (or regular) recruit with a bad attitude.  They don’t want to be a team player, they complain about policy, other people, management, and in general make a work atmosphere uncomfortable.  These bad apples can certainly spoil the entire bunch if not dealt with, but how do you deal with these types of people successfully?

With Communication , the corner stone to any successful employee coaching program.  When dealing with an employee with a bad attitude try this coaching method to get them out of their funk.

1. Set up a coaching meeting.  Whether it’s lunch, coffee, or a request for them to come to your office, set up designated time for both of you to meet and discuss performance.
2. Confront the issue head on, in a non-confrontational way by asking questions.   Sometimes employees are unaware of the impression they are giving off, so simply bringing their behavior to their attention may be a quick fix to the problem.  For example:
   1. “ George, we brought you to our company because we liked your skill set and because we believe you make a great addition to our team.  You excepted the position along with its pay, responsibilities, and existing team, now you seem to be not quite satisfied with the situation, is there something your frustrated with that we could discuss?”
   2. “George, yesterday after the new policy was presented, you got up quickly and left the room seemingly upset.  What do you think the impression was of other team members in regards to that reaction?”
3. Once you have confronted the issue, have them elaborate on what may be upsetting them, by asking A LOT of questions.
   1. “ Could you elaborate on that issue a little more….”
   2. “ Help me understand…”
   3. “ On a scale of 1-10 how serious of an issue is this for you…”
4. Lastly, work on a solution together, the below questions are great for starting off the conversation.
   1. “ What do you think would help us improve this situation…”
   2. “ What do you need, and what role can I play in solving this issue…”
   3. “ What do you think should be done…”

Coaching employees with bad attitudes is imperative to keeping a happy and productive team.  For more free information and specific ways to coach employees with bad attitudes please join us for a FREE Lunch n’ Learn: Coaching employees with bad attitudes on May 25, 2010.  There are still a few spots open, sign up now.

Tim Hagen Sales Training bad attitudes, coaches, coaching employees, coaching method, successful employee coaching program

Years ago I was walking through a client site, it was strangely quiet and all the manager’s office doors were shut.  I asked a manager, “What’s going on around here, why is everyone so quiet today?”  He responded by explaining that all the managers were busy doing their yearly reviews of their staff, and that they were due to HR by the end of the day.  While this may be a typical scenario, it left me thinking, “How unfair?”

Here were managers busy trying to finish up reports that could very well determine raises, promotions, firings, bonuses, etc, with nothing more than their memories.  An entire year of performance wrapped up into one sheet of paper.  How could that possibly accurately reflect the performance and skills of someone from the entire past year?

Next my worries wondered to the process after these reviews.  After they were handed in and used to determine the fate of these subordinates, who was rating the management?  Shouldn’t management be held responsible for helping those with weak reviews get better?  They were given the power to judge them, without a responsibility to do anything about it.  It seemed  unfair, and completely useless in terms of helping the company grow.  What a waste of time, trying to remember months or even a whole year worth of tasks, projects, accomplishments, and errors.

That eerie experience solidified my passion and belief in employee coaching and my belief that the typical employee review should be banned from every company.  Typical reviews focus on your weaknesses, and because they are so objective they often leave employees thinking, “The boss doesn’t like me,” not “The boss is right, I should work on that.”   An honest, straightforward, and conversational relationship that focuses on results (not personal qualities) should replace all one-sided manager dominated employee assessments.  One step further from that, all managers should be held accountable for the success of their employees, not just the pointing out of their weaknesses.

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Tim Hagen Sales Management, Sales Training coaching culture, employee assessment, Employee Coaching, employee coaching program, employee performance review

Sign up to receive this free 5 video introduction to a business coaching program, and learn specific ways to begin coaching and developing your employees.

Day 1: Why acknowledging employees

Day 2: Benefits of Asking questions vs. telling

Day 3: The key to success is practice

Day 4: Reinforcing effort- How and why you should.

Day 5: Celebrate your successes

Videos will be delivered daily for 5 days after sign up via email.  For more information on creating coaching programs download our whitepaper : Creating a coaching culture.

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Coaching and mentoring a children’s basketball team and coaching adults in a business environment should not be all that different.  In order to successfully coach both children and adults we must reward effort, and allow pupils to learn from their mistakes.  Just telling them what they are doing wrong and then walking away in either situation won’t work. Typically it’s easiest to just reprimand, but then you must ask yourself, have I driven performance?

Tim Hagen Sales Training business coach, business coaching tools, coaching and mentoring, coaching skills, sales management training course

A recent research study shows that 1 in 4 employees have a strong sense of how their job contributes to their company’s goals.  With that said, 75% of your employees could be working under the impression that their job doesn’t matter.  That’s 75% of your people who don’t take an active and proactive role in what they do because they don’t believe it affects the bottom line.

EVERY position affects the bottom line!  If your employees don’t know this they could be working against the goals of your executive team, wasting time and supplies, working without commitment, and or just doing the bare minimum needed to get by.

Why do these people fail to see their impact?  Lack of communication and appreciation for what they do.

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Tim Hagen Sales Training business management, Employee Coaching, employee commitment, Leadership

Over the next 10 years, Gen X-ers will be needed to take over the positions left behind by the baby boomer generation.  While this seems like an obvious statement, what is not obvious is what companies should be doing to prepare this new generation, or even how to keep them around long enough to fill the positions that will be opening.Recent reports point to GenX-ers as being the first group who will jump ship as the economy strengthens.

This new generation of workers consider themselves fast trackers, and they feel frustrated and stuck in their careers as they wait for the baby boomers to retire.  This frustration is leading to a lack of engagement again pointing to the realization that they will be looking to move on and find new business opportunities.  What are you doing to keep or attract this next generation of young professionals?A strong employee coaching program can help in the fight to keep, attract, and prepare this generation.  Like we said above they are fast –trackers, and even if you can’t provide them with quick promotions or pay increases you can give them a bit of your time, increasing their skills and or responsibilities.  This generation historically chooses amenities like working close to home or flexible work schedules over higher salaries anyways, adding to the point that they can be enticed by other things than money.  Keep this generation from feeling frustrated by engaging with them, praising their efforts and generally letting them know they are not being completely overshadowed and forgotten by their baby boomer counterparts.

By continually coaching them you are simultaneously preparing them for their future promotions while keeping them engaged enough in the company to stick around till those opportunities are available.  If there is no light (or promotion) at the end of the tunnel, you will loose their interest and their work for your company.  Take the time now and reap the benefits of this talented workforce later.

Tim Hagen Sales Training business opportunities, coaching program, employee engagement

1. Have your team warm up: athletes do why shouldn’t they?  Do one quick role-play with a fellow team member or have them call their own voicemail and do a practice run of their sales pitch.
2. 30 second rule: when coaching your employees you should never be talking for more than 30 seconds at a time.  Longer than that and you are not listening enough.
3. Employees should NEVER just read a book or article.  Have employees summarize important facts they learned and have them email you how they will incorporate what they learned into their day to day routine.  Check back a month later and see if they stuck to it, if they did congratulate them, if they didn’t, get them back on track.
4. Turn off distractions.  Our minds are over loaded everyday.  Turn off your computer screen and cell phone for the duration of the coaching session, this will ensure you really hear everything that you need to.
5. Have a daily coaching check.  Each day at noon you should have done at least one thing to improve your staff, from a simple good job Sue to a full blown coaching session.  If by noon you haven’t completed this task make sure you build it in to your day.  Text messages, emails, and voicemails can count, so no more excuses.
6. Get more out of them: ask “How so”  “Can you tell me a little bit more about that,” or “can you give me an example?”
7. LISTEN! A great quote by Stephen Covey: Most people do not listen with an intent to understand.  Most people listen with an intent to reply.”  Make sure this isn’t you.
8. Have your employees help each other.  In a group coaching session have them throw difficult objections or dismissal comments at each other.  Reward the team member that comes up with the best rebuttals.
9. Have fun, coaching should create fun for your employees, not be a dismal task.

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Tim Hagen Sales Training business coach, management skills, Sales Coaching Methodology, sales coaching program, sales coaching techniques, Sales Training

Trade shows can be a very successful lead generation tool, often though they are not as successful as they could be because companies don’t prepare enough.  To effectively prepare for a successful trade show you must role-play and practice your skills, and then follow up after the event.

Leading up to the event you must have your team practice their skills.  Working a trade show is different than working a typical sales call, while the talking points may be the same the process is slightly different. Trade shows are full of businesses all competing for the attention of the same prospects over the same time period, it’s easy for a prospect to become bombarded by too many companies, so it’s vital that you are on your game.  Some companies may practice their elevator pitch for people already at their booth, but rarely do they practice how they will get people to stop and talk to them in the first place.

Role-playing will be your most successful route.  Have your staff practice pulling people in as they walk by as well as their elevator pitch once people are in the booth.  Being able to effectively pull people in will be just as important as keeping their attention once they stop, so practicing both will be very important to your success.

Pulling people in and keeping their attention is like a live prospecting call, and prospecting can be a difficult skill to master.  Have your sales team practice 1-2 times per week over the few weeks leading up to the event.  To get the most out of the practice have your staff score each other or offer specific feedback to the other team member.  Two heads are always better than one, so by collaborating and offering up feedback your team will come up with better tactics than if they just made them up on the fly once at the event.

Second FOLLOW UP .  I recently read an article that said on average 80% of leads from trade shows are never followed up on.  If you don’t go into the show with a follow up plan already in place, you will be less likely to get around to it later.  Many times leads are forgotten about till months later and by then your prospect has probably lost their initial interest.  Come up with a follow up plan and communicate it to your leads during the show.  For example: " Thanks Mr. Smith for stopping by our booth, look for a call from myself or my partner next week  with more details on the special we are offering and how it can help your company do xyz ."  Your prospect may be contacted by dozens of other exhibitors from the event the following week, but by warning them you will be reaching out they will be expecting to hear from you and will be more likely to respond back.

Practice and follow up are two easy and FREE tools to ensure that your trade show experience is a successful one.  Make sure you take advantage of them.

Tim Hagen Sales Training business opportunities, Enhance Performance, free sales training, lead generation, lead nurturing, networking, prospecting, sales skills, Sales Staff, sales techniques