Sales Progress Blog

Sales management is not always easy. We expect a lot out of salespeople because we want to succeed, and we always want to see better performance and increased profitability. Coaching is tough. Most of the time, sales managers delegate instructions and expect to see their employee’s automatically hit their goals and make their bottom line, but what we really need to be doing is coach. Business coaching is not just telling people what to do. It’s about asking and discovering. Sales managers need to sit down with employees and ask them to define their strengths and weaknesses. We need to clarify any issues that sales people have when it comes to selling. Once the issues have been discovered, managers need to define ways to enhance performance and help employees.
So, for example, if a sales rep has a tough time actively listening, then a sales manager needs to take the steps to fix this. Have your employee come back to you each week with two points of interest that they learned about their customers. This will force them to not only sit back and listen but it will also help them to engage with their client.
It is important to stop managing and start coaching. To get free coaching tools, download this free pointcast and learn our three step sales coaching methodology.

FREE Pointcast.

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It is not always easy to build and maintain a high performance inside sales team. Team members have to know their product inside and out, they must understand need based selling, and most importantly, they must have a desire to succeed every day. However, employees do not just learn these skills; it takes practice, and behind every great team, there is a manager that gave them the tools and them to achieve their bottom line.

The following are key attributes that should be impressed upon sales team members and managers:

-Always learn and practice. A true sales professional is someone that will practice and truly make a commitment to getting better at his or her craft.

-Needs based selling expertise. Inside sales professionals must have the ability to uncover customer needs and frustrations associated with the particular products or services being sold. It is imperative that a team member use….

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admin Sales Training Employee Coaching, Enhance Performance, learning strategies, sales, Sales Coaching Methodology, sales skills

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.

For free sales coaching advice or ideas, become a fan of Sales Progress on Facebook , simply post your question on the wall and get a personal responses from Tim.

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

Adding value cannot just be some directive we give people,  it takes time and practice to add value to customers.

Listen to this short audio file that reveals how to add value against the customer’s needs and not your own.

Listen Now: http://www.audioacrobat.com/sa/WVFQDCsT

Tim Hagen Sales Training Sales Coaching Methodology, Sales Manager, Sales Staff, training techniques

recently read a great and very short post from the blog of Seth Godin, titled
The relentless search for "tell me what to do". The post read:

If you’ve ever hired or managed or taught, you know the feeling.
People are just begging to be told what to do. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think the biggest one is: "If you tell me what to do, the responsibility for the outcome is yours, not mine. I’m safe."
When asked, resist.

We typically think of people NOT liking being told what to do, but think about your staff and fellow employees, and even yourself, how many times a week do we indirectly ask, “What should I be doing.”  We may say, “what tasks should I be completing today,” or “I have the following problem, how should I fix it?” but all in all we are saying, “tell me what to do.”

This frame of thinking not only becomes a way to push off responsibility as Seth suggested above, but it can also breed laziness and a lack of accountability.

Managers can use coaching techniques to get employees to come up with their own solutions to problems.  Use questions like, “What do you THINK you should do,” or “If you were me, what would you tell yourself to do.”  These questions allow for a dialog to open, and you can now lead your employee to a suitable solution they essentially came up with on their own.  When your employee owns the solutions they will work harder to make it work because it is their own butt on the line.  If you simply give them a solution, they can half-heartedly attempt it, and if it fails they can blame you.  Don’t play the blame game; make your staff responsible for their actions.

If you are an employee, and you have finished your work for the day, proactively seek additional projects you can work on.  Go above and beyond, but keep your manager in the loop to ensure you are not wasting time.

Shannon Gburzynski Sales Training business coaching, coaching, effective coaching, Leadership, Manager, sales coaching, Sales Coaching Methodology, Sales Manager

• Be Predictable:
  • Your team member will certainly have some reoccurring issues through out your coaching process, but if you run every meeting the same way, it will get stale, and the interest of you and the team member will take a dive.  Try to mix up where you meet, what time of day you meet, the order of things you discuss etc.

• Talk too much.
  • Effective coaching sessions are not training sessions.  You’re a manager, not a trainer or consultant so don’t run your meetings as such. (Typically workshop style training doesn’t work well anyways).  Sessions should be about getting the team member to open up about their top issues, and you guiding them to a suitable solution.  If you are talking the whole time how will you know what their issues are?  To get to the root of issues requires LISTENING not TALKING!
• Not have a plan
  • While we do recommend mixing things up to keep interest and participation up, you must have a plan about what needs to be accomplished during that meeting.  If you aren’t sure what you’re trying to accomplish, how will your team member?  Do you want to discuss issues covered last week?  Is there a particular skill you see them struggling with that you would like to bring to their attention?  Is there something they did you want to congratulate them on?  What’s covered is really up to you, but whatever it is make sure you have a plan written down so you make sure you hit all your topics.

Shannon Gburzynski Sales Training coaching, effective coaching, Enhance Performance, management leadership training, Manager, Sales Coaching Methodology, Sales Manager, Sales Staff

1. An inability to teach.

Being able to sell ice to an Eskimo is great, but once your in that management role those skills can render useless unless you are able to pass them on to your team.  Managers are often promoted because of their superior skill, but are rarely trained how to effectively train their staff and pass on their skills.

How can I combat this? If your company doesn’t offer training for mangers, you should take it upon yourself to find some. Read books on coaching or managing effectively, take a vacation day and attend a workshop (even if it’s at your own expense),  or take online courses over your lunch break.  Your investment will be worth it when your team excels, as this will reflect positively on you and your ability to lead and develop your team.

2. They lose touch with reality

Becoming a manager doesn’t mean your done spending time in the field.  It’s true that with management status comes more responsibilities that have less to do with everyday selling, but you can’t lose touch of your selling reality.  As a manager your biggest asset to your team is to know what’s going on in the field, on a day to day basis.

How can I combat this? Ride along with your staff as often as is possible, continue to call on customers even if it is just to check in, and spend time with your staff discussing obstacles or difficult customers and coaching reps to overcome them.

3. They want to be everyone’s friend.

We all want to be liked, it’s human nature. HOWEVER along with your increase in pay and responsibility came the expectation that you are no longer just one of the group.  It is often difficult to step into that leadership role, especially when a manager is promoted from with-in.

How can I combat this? It is still important to build rapport with your team, but relationships should shift into one of coach and team member.  Set clear expectations and roles for your team, and stick to them.  When responsibilities and roles are clearly defined there is no room for confusion; this will make portraying your role as leader easy. By sticking to these expectations,there will be no blurring the lines of your authority.

Did we miss anything?  Tell us what you think the top reasons sales managers fail are.

Shannon Gburzynski Sales Training business coaching, coaching, effective coaching, employee training, Enhance Performance, goals, management leadership training, Manager, Results, sales, Sales Coaching Methodology, Sales Manager, Sales Staff, Skills, training and development, training reinforcement

We constantly talk about the importance of coaching, and tips or strategies to do it better, but why should we incorporate coaching into our organization anyways?

Here are the top 7 reasons why your organization needs to coach it’s employees.

1. Employee Retention, research proves coaching increases employee retention, which therefore decreases hiring costs.
2. Managers who get close to employees work can solve real world challenges.  A manager’s knowledge is one of the best resources an organization can have, coaching allows managers to have insight into their employees work allowing them to apply their knowledge specifically to real world issues.
3. Coaching creates better succession planning due to internal talent growth.
4. Coaching creates an organizational energy of growth and learning.
5. Programs build coaches within all leadership circles.  The more coaches an organization has, the more “performance-improving” employees it will have.
6. Business requires employees to constantly grow and develop new skill sets.  Organizations with managers who are coaching create a competitive edge because they become more adaptable to needed change and growth.
7. Employees who experience a continuous increase in skills and work performance actually become more open to change and challenges.  This, in itself, is enough to start an organization wide coaching initiative.

If you would like more information on coaching your employees, attend our Free Breakfast Presentation: Why Coaching Builds Business Success , or email Tim Hagen at Tim@salesprogress .com for more information.

Tim Hagen Sales Training business coaching, coaching, effective coaching, Leadership, management leadership training, Manager, sales coaching, Sales Coaching Methodology, Sales Manager, workplace training