Top sales managers coach to grow and develop their salespeople through effective conversations. They believe that coaching drives positive behavioral change and keeps their sales team optimized for performance – their minds are set to win, their skills fine-tuned, they take responsibility for their results and they are committed to execute. Here are some quick tips to help a sales manager develop into a super coach…
Invest the time
Sales managers should invest at least half their time coaching. A lack of coaching is the number one reason why sales managers don’t get results – both from themselves and their sales teams.
Ask don’t tell
Performance coaches take an Ask approach. Instead of telling your salespeople what to do, ask them meaningful questions. This allows the salesperson to go through their own thought process to create their own solutions, which gains their buy-in and increases their engagement.
Have a growth mindset
When debriefing with your salespeople utilize models such as Win/Learn/Change and GROW to motivate and challenge the constraints of their existing mindsets. This supports positive conversations and helps them to consider new ways of working and to question their perceptions of what is possible.
Be customer-centric
Your coaching should relate to your own customer-centric sales process and the skills it requires, ensuring that your salespeople can execute those skills, and are effective in each part of the process.
Invest in the right tools and resources
Having the right tools and frameworks on hand is a real asset. A good coaching course can provide these including coaching tool-kits for sales managers to run effective coaching sessions with their own salespeople.
Be accountable
Sales coaching requires the discipline and routine to consistently hold your salespeople accountable to agreed actions and outcomes. The best way to achieve that is to incorporate a regular coaching session into your sales meetings and one-on-ones.
Learn from the best
Learn from those who have been there and done it. Real-world experience far outweighs any theoretical knowledge. It’s very important to query a sales trainer’s credentials and coaching ability.
