Tag Archives: Sales coaching

What a topic! It brings me to the five steps that can help any person become a better coach of those who s/he is responsible for in terms of their performance. The five steps are embedded in the acronym: T.O.P.I.C. At my first management skills development school as a budding manager, way back when, one of the speakers focused on what he considered the formula for success in management and leadership. The formula around which he crafted his comments was: Talent X Environment = Productivity

His experience as an author and researcher in productivity matters confirmed certain key elements had to be in place for high productivity to flourish. His name, by the way, was Dr. Donald Clifton. The first element, Talent, had to do with having a system that would find and confirm top notch talent. In other words, high productivity cannot be achieved without talented people being in place to perform the necessary tasks involved. But, Dr. Clifton’s research repeatedly confirmed that even talented people could fail miserably, if not also offered an Environment that nurtures their talent. It’s like former President Dwight Eisenhower is reputed to have said: “You don’t lead people by beating them over the head. That’s assault…not leadership.” The point of that quote here is that for productivity to flourish, the work environment has to be positive and supportive. It has to allow people the opportunity to appropriately fail or make mistakes and not receive brutal, unfair punishment in return.

There are a lot of things that go into creating an environment that leads to high productivity. Things like a sense of purpose, vision and mission; a culture of trust, mutual respect and commitment; ongoing training and development…just to name a few. It is those latter couple of points that brings me to a business coaching model. A great manager/leader builds trust, mutual respect, commitment and ongoing training/development through being highly skilled at coaching people to apply their talent in the most productive way. To do that requires the skillful application of a 5 step model: T.O.P.I.C.

The “T” in the acronym literally is the first letter in the word, Topic, which is the first step in the model. The coach is always charged with starting any coaching conversation with clarity. People can’t be their most receptive to a leader’s need to coach unless there is clarity in the direction or purpose of the conversation. So, it is the manager’s responsibility to open the coaching conversation by referring to the “Topic” of specific performance for which the discussion is about.

An example of what a sales manager might say when launching into a coaching conversation with a sales representative might help here. It could go something like this: “Charlie, I would like to talk with you about your latest sales call.” A culture of trust, mutual respect and commitment demands that the manager deliver that line in a totally neutral tone of voice. It can’t be shouted or stated in a condescending way. It has to be neutral in tone, specific in topic and connote a sense of sincere interest in the person being coached. In that way, it allows the person about to be coached to not assume a defensive posture and closed mind. It is my opinion that seldom does defensiveness lead to openness. The greatest achievements are the result of someone being open to alternatives and change!

Having referred to the “Topic” of the discussion we are now at the second step in the model. It can be the hardest step for most people in leadership roles because we can be led into a “quick fix” mentality driven by our years of experience and the all-knowing attitude that experience can sometimes bring. We know what needs to be done and we’re more than happy to TELL the other person the solution to the productivity issue!!

Oh contraire! Great coaches resist the “quick fix” attack and follow the second step in this 5 step business coaching model. It’s a two word step that involves soliciting the “Observations/Opinions” of the person being coached. In other words in step two, allow the person being coached to express their observations or opinions about their performance.

And, the great coach follows a specific model to evoke those observations/opinions. First, is to take a positive approach to getting feedback from the person being coached. In the sales situation noted above it might sound like this: “Tell me what you thought you did well during the call?” It’s important here for the coach to keep the response focused on what went well. There seems to be a tendency more often than not for people to want to immediately digress to the negative…to talk about what they didn’t do. Great coaches don’t allow that to happen at this point. It is important here to have the person affirm their self-worth through focusing on what they did well. So, allow them to go on and on with what they think they did well even if you don’t agree with it. There will be time later for your thoughts.

Once the person has expressed their opinions on what they did well, then comes a critical responsibility of the coach. That responsibility is to encourage the person to look within by asking something like: “Is there anything you would change in how the call was handled?” Here again, the manager is still getting the “Observations/Opinions” of the person being coached. The only thing the manager should be doing at this point is encouraging the other person to speak. If anything is being said by the manager at this point it is to question for clarification and understanding, not to launch into a tirade of the manager’s perspective. The power of this approach is a greater sense of the coach as a person who is genuinely interested in the other person’s thoughts and feelings. It creates a powerful environment for personal growth and development for both parties to the coaching conversation.

Then, should come the step most less effective coaches do first. They offer their personal perspective on the performance issue in question with great confidence, enthusiasm and even sometimes with an arrogance of certainty! This assertiveness and insensitivity totally shuts down a collaborative conversation that could result in personal growth and greater productivity for the person being coached. Great leaders don’t assert their will on those they lead. They compel those they lead to want to follow the leader’s will. Big difference! Big change in performance results! Great leaders do that by recognizing leadership is not being out in front of the group with a great big title. It’s being right in the middle of the group with a great big heart!

So, in step three of the model, the coach offers his or her “Personal Perspective” on the individual’s performance. The model that is most effective in offering the coaches perspective is similar to that which is followed when encouraging the Observations/Opinions of the person being coached. That means the coach should first share his or her thoughts on what the person did well. Continuing with our example of a sales coaching situation, the coach might say something like: “As I reflect on your actions during that sales call, I am impressed with how you helped the prospective client understand the issues of concern they faced and how your product could specifically eliminate those issues. You demonstrated great empathy, knowledge and skill at helping the prospective client make the right decision. You should feel very good about that!” In this phase of this step, the coach should be reinforcing the behaviors s/he wants the sales representative to replicate during every sales call. The comments should be very specific as to the actions the sales representative modeled during the conversation and always focus on the positive.

Once the above aspect of this step of the coaching model is completed the natural flow of the conversation should move to the areas of growth opportunities for the person being coached. The verbalization of this part of the coaching conversation should, again, be neutral in tone and collaborative in spirit. An example: “One opportunity I see that would allow you to become even more effective is to delve even deeper into the prospective client’s situation by asking more open-ended questions. This will allow the prospect to share insights that could broaden your ability to be even more helpful to them through the solutions you provide.” The coach, having offered his/her “Personal Perspective” as suggested above, has positioned the coaching conversation as a positive and collaborative opportunity for personal growth for the person being coached.

Now, the coaching conversation can become even more powerful in delivering improved performance through the next step in the model: “Involvement.” During this step, the parties to the coaching conversation become involved in a collaborative approach to problem solving to improve the performance. The coach might start this part of the conversation by saying: “What do you think are some ways that would help you to hone your skills at asking open-ended questions?” The conversation would continue in a collaborative, neutral and focused way until agreement has been reached on appropriate actions that should be taken to reinforce the skills needing development. Once agreement is reached then the next step of the coaching model is “Confirmation.” The parties to the coaching conversation develop and confirm action steps necessary to implement the solutions to any performance issues. It is this step that assigns accountability and provides an affirmation of the coach’s belief in the person being coached. A coach that does not lead his/her people to understand their specific accountabilities for personal growth and development is a leader that will achieve mediocre results at best. It is my opinion that mediocre leader is an oxymoron.

Continuing our example from above, this part of the conversation could go like this: “So, based on our conversation we have agreed to the following action steps to help you in honing your skills at asking open-ended questions. First, you will develop a list of twenty open-ended questions that might typically be used in your sales conversations. You and I will then collaborate on refining your list of questions so that the language is exactly what you want so you can feel comfortable in asking the questions of a prospective client. Following that discussion we will work together in a series of role-playing sessions where you can practice your use of the questions. Then, I will accompany you on three sales calls where you use your new skills and provide you immediate feedback following each conversation. We will then determine any additional developmental steps that may be needed, if any. Is that your understanding of our plan?”

Having reached a clear understanding of the results of the “Confirmation” phase of the coaching conversation, it is extremely important that the person being coached be left with a sense of being affirmed by the coach. The coach’s comment could be as simple as: “I believe you are already a very effective sales representative and the actions to which we have agreed will help you grow to an even higher level. It is my pleasure working with you.” Following the business coaching model outlined above will allow for the “Environment” part of the formula of success in management to be its most inspirational. It will lead to the T.O.P.I.C. of discussion around the water cooler being positive, uplifting and highly productive.

I help people and organizations “Profit Through Performance.” As an author, consultant, coach, speaker, and trainer my areas of expertise are performance improvement solutions and great leadership. In that regard, I offer expert business solutions in time management, strategic communications skills and success principles.

Author of Life’s Ride or Fall…You Make the Call: Thoughts, Stories, Lessons Learned and Actionable Ideas to Help Create the Ride of Your Life! Available at AuthorHouse.com, Amazon.com and other fine booksellers.

Professional member of the National Speakers Association, Florida Speakers Association and the Global Speakers Federation. Past President of the Florida Speakers Association. Florida Speakers Association 2008 Member of the Year.

Visit the links below to find out how I can help you or your organization.

Website: http://www.garygreenfield.com

My blog: [http://blog.garygreenfield.com]

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Do I Need an Insurance Sales Coach?

September 10, 2008 Husnal Kaur

There are different views as to whether a sales person requires a sales coach.

They are people who have doubts if a coach can be of much help to improve performance of an insurance agent. Yes, there are many agents who are self starters and self motivators. They are fuelled by their burning desire to go extra miles in order to succeed in their business. Many insurance agents succeed through their hard work. They put a lot of efforts in their business. They reach out to as many people as they can.

However, if you are looking for a breakthrough in your performance, you need someone to challenge your thoughts so that you can form a new belief system that will change your performance . You need someone to tell you your blind spots so that you can see more clearly what is preventing from going beyond your perceived limitation. You need someone to hold up the mirror and give you an honest reflection so that you can see your whole new self.

These jobs are best performed by a coach. You need a coach to systematically guide you to overcome road blocks and conquer obstacles on your journey to greater success. A good coach will be able to use his practical experience to help you discover your performance gap and achieve breakthrough.

Yes, you have the choice to buy a book to learn how to enhance your performance. However, what you learn from the book, though may be helpful, is meant for the majority of the readers. The book will not be able to provide you with advice that is unique to your situations. Everybody has different levels of strengths, weaknesses and potentials. You need a personal coach to design an improvement system specifically for you.

A coach is another pair of eyes that tell you things you don’t see yourself. A coach provides you with insight, objective critique and actionable feedback from an outside vantage point. You need a coach to combat your greatest enemy i.e. complacency. We are creatures of habit. We tend not to look for alternatives and we choose to do things that we can do without giving much thought. We need a coach to shake us off from the chair, take us out of our comfort zone.

If you are already in your peak performance, do you still need a coach?

The answer is “Yes” if you are not contented with what you have achieved and always looking for ways to perfect your skills. Even tip-top athletes like Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps use coaches. They need coaches for one simple reason. They need a breakthrough to bring themselves to the next level. In order to do so, they need experienced coaches to tell them what else they can do to push the limits.

A good coach places his interest before yours. His success is dependent on yours for both of you share the same goals. He can be your good friend who listens to your joy or sorrow. He motivates you when you get discouraged and alerts you to get ready for the next challenge every time you triumph. He shares both your heartbreaking and record breaking moments.

Your coach and you form a powerful partnership where both of you take each other seriously. Both strive to give the best in order to achieve your common goals. A coach to you is like the wind beneath your wings helping you soar higher ground and see things in broader perspective.

I am an insurance sales coach who has been in insurance business in the past almost 2 decades. I have an website i.e. http://www.stories-connect.com and my blog is http://xoseph.wordpress.com

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Sales Coaching

From Performer to Coach

September 5, 2008 Husnal Kaur

In the professions of dancing, music, sports, and acting, as in selling, it is not uncommon to see someone who moves eventually from ‘performing’ into teaching. In the first four professions it seems a natural enough progression and performers generally welcome someone with experience, especially if that experience was successful. The best of those teachers eventually graduate to become professional coaches, and again, it is not unusual to hear professional performers extol the virtues and merits of their coaches, especially when those performers are receiving awards or accolades. This is, however, with the notable exception of salespeople who appear from my research to have a less than charitable view of their managers.

In selling, there’s a phrase that is often used – “Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach. Those who can’t teach, administrate”. There is an attitude of mind in selling that training is a soft option. The way to corporate fame and success is through the sales management channel. This attitude fails to realise the power and strength of sales coaching. It is primarily because of this attitude that many of the best potential sales coaches never consider joining the profession of coaching in the first place. Sometimes the average performing salesperson is moved into the training department rather than the best salesperson. It underlines the confusion and misunderstanding that there exists between coaching and training. In the vast majority of sales forces, the way that a salesperson most often moves from a selling role into a potential coaching role is via promotion. On Friday evening the best salesperson in the team leaves work to resurface, almost butterfly-like on Monday morning into what used to be a sales management role, but now in many companies is called coaching.

We have heard for the last twenty years that the skills needed to be a successful salesperson are not necessarily the skills needed to be a successful sales manager. However, the practice of promoting salespeople into management positions on the assumption that because they were good at selling they will be good at sales management continues unabated. That’s not to say that assessment, development, and selection processes have not replaced the ‘tap on the shoulder’. It is however only cosmetic. I have been on enough selection panels and met enough salespeople turned sales manager to know that the “tap on the shoulder” still exists but the process now takes longer. The game of objectivity still has to be played but the outcomes are the same. It usually starts by someone saying, “Look, you can have who you want. It’s just that we have to go through this to make it appear fair” No wonder so many new sales managers fail at the first hurdle. The pain of this failure is most acutely suffered by the poor unfortunates in the sales team who have to pay the consequences of an untrained sales manager. By the time the average sales manager has built up some semblance of sales success they have left behind them battalions of sales casualties. I should know – I was that sales manager.

And now? Now sales managers are supposed to be coaches. Yet I see as much preparation for this role as there generally has been for sales management, with about the same level of success. In the fields of sports, dance, music and the theatre, the job of the coach is clearly defined, understood, and respected. In simple terms, the role of the coach is to elicit the best performance possible from his or her charges. They have no other function. In the world of selling, this coaching role is completely misunderstood and expectations are simply not realistic. Many ‘coaches’ have a variety of responsibilities of which coaching is merely one. If coaches have additional responsibilities such as:

· Personal sales targets

· HR responsibilities

· Administrative duties

· Budgeting

… then they are not and never will be effective sales coaches. Being a sales coach is a full time occupation. The sales coach has to be able to concentrate on and dedicate their time to the following areas: –

· Creating and selling a successful vision of the future

· Creating a positive learning environment in which the team feels free to experiment

· Making time available for everyone to learn and to practise

· Reinforcing positive behaviours

· Planning a long-term skills strategy for success

In 1992, I completed a coaching programme delivered by David Hemery (of Gold Medal Fame) and Susan Kaye. With ten of my colleagues I had just scaled a wall, which stretched endlessly skyward, or was it really only fourteen feet high? ‘Scaling’ implies some kind of professional approach, when in fact most of us, men and women, had been hauled over the wall quite unceremoniously. It was at the end of three long days, where we had climbed mountains, crossed ravines, walked along dangerous obstacles, and care-freely thrown ourselves from great heights into the waiting arms of companions. Our journey was along the ‘Challenge of Excellence’ during which our course had sparked our imagination, stimulated our desire to succeed, and watered the seeds of our greatness. It was David who first told me about the seed of greatness. He believes that each one of us has that seed within us. On completing the Challenge of Excellence, whilst my sense of achievement knew no bounds, I was unsure about the greatness of the seed. In hindsight, he was right. We all have it. For me it was one of the major milestones in a long project to discover a better way of managing and of training and developing people. I had been working for nearly two years previously, convinced that coaching from the athletic world could be combined with managerial motivational psychology, to form a more effective style of developing and managing salespeople.

The seed of greatness exists for all those who say they can improve, and even within those who say they cannot. Coaching can release that seed, not just for the person being coached, but also for the coach. Coaching has represented for me a model upon which personal performance issues are clearly defined, structured, and acted upon. It could do the same for you, and for the people you seek to develop. It is the missing piece of the development jigsaw.

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Sales Coaching

16 Reasons Why Your Sales Teammates Will Love You

August 27, 2008 Husnal Kaur

Everybody loves a winner!

Don’t you?

And, you obviously have a number of strong qualities that make you a winner. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have made the career choice you made . . . you wouldn’t be playing the sales game, now would you?

Review the following 16 reasons to see how many of them fit you. If you’re not quite in synch with any reason for whatever reason, work on it . . . and, if you need help becoming the Sales Player you need to be, don’t hesitate to ask for help . . . that’s what Teammates are for!

1. You don’t sit around the office waiting for the phone to ring; You work as hard as any of your teammates; you’re in your territory every day, selling, quoting, taking care of existing customers, and prospecting for new customers

2. You are confident and self-motivated, willing to pitch in and help any teammate, any time, to win any order, every order

3. You work hard to earn and maintain the trust of customers, teammates, and management through honesty and reliability; people see you as a friend, not a foe

4. You work with prospects, customers and teammates because of what you can do for them, not because of what they can do for you

5. You anticipate customer needs and closely coordinate each deal with teammates whenever there might be an overlapping trade or sale

6. You understand and promote the overall sales goals of the team and earn the respect of your teammates and other key people in the company

7. You’re a skilled business person and you apply your experience, training, and talents to each sales presentation; you protect teammates by not competing with them; you consistently protect and promote profitability for the company, not just yourself

8. You consistently pursue new business opportunities and share leads with teammates to increase sales volume, profits, and personal income for all concerned

9. You work to develop and maintain good communication and listening skills and you include teammates in every meaningful conversation about sales opportunities and leads

10. You have a positive attitude about yourself, your territory, your Sales Coach, and your teammates; you refuse to accept no for an answer without exhausting every meaningful approach to close each sale

11. Your customers, Sales Coach, management, and teammates know you to be a tough competitor with the will to be the best and a seasoned desire to win

12. You are committed to your team, to your Sales Coach, to your territory, to your company and you are committed to continual personal and professional development and growth

13. You accept responsibility for your own mistakes; you never blame teammates and you never hold back when it comes to helping solve team problems

14. You are a consultant to your customers, teammates, and your Sales Coach with the goal of helping them become more efficient, effective, and successful

15. You use your time wisely, making room in your schedule for team activities, teammates, your Sales Coach, prospects and customers

16. You never hesitate to negotiate acceptable trade-offs with customers and teammates to sell more, more profitably, more often

EPILOGUE

Sales professionals can be an odd bunch . . . for one thing, though nothing could be farther from the truth, we tend to play our cards close to the vest for fear of somehow losing something if we open up with colleagues. We also have this nutty tendency to resent the success of others. Neither of these behaviors do anything to help anyone sell more, more profitably, more often.
What is more important than trying to grab all the glory for yourself is to do your part to develop a strong sales team to build a strong business for everyone involved.
Make your best effort for the team and you won’t have to worry about sales . . . they’ll come faster and more profitably than you could ever have imagined.

If you have questions, comments, or concerns, Email me at LTDAssociates@msn.com (goes right to my desk) and since I personally answer every Email, I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Sales Coaching

7 Secrets Of A Winning Sales Coach

August 27, 2008 Husnal Kaur

I recently heard a fascinating story from a Sales Coach who told me how he succeeded in overcoming some major challenges when he was recruited as a rookie sales manager for a major-brand forklift dealership in the late 1990s. Despite the brand name and the brand’s reputation for quality and excellent resale value, the dealer’s sales record for new, reconditioned, and used forklifts was abominable and had been lousy for quite some time.

At this Sales Manager’s request, I’ve agreed to keep him anonymous, so for our purposes, I’ll simply refer to him as George.

George had been the number one salesman for a southern California forklift company selling more units in his territory in a month than most of his competitors sold in a quarter. George was fairly well known throughout the industry so a failing dealership in the northwest desperately needed to sell or die, so management went after George like the hare chasing the tortoise.

Well, this was nothing new for George. He’d been recruited for years by dozens of other dealers all over the country. But the dealership the northwest was something else. Sales had been slipping for several years, market share had plummeted to historic lows, and the service and parts departments were experiencing a serious revenue shortfall due to the cumulative, drop-off in overall new, reconditioned, and used forklift sales. So, the dealer principal called George and literally begged him to meet for dinner so he could offer him tons of money and complete freedom to run the sales department anyway he saw fit.

George is anything but dense. So he looked at this opportunity for what it could be, not for what it seemed to be. The new job would undoubtedly be tough challenge with lots of inherent risk of failure. On the other hand, it could be an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When he looked at the new job’s potential, George realized he had nothing to lose. Not really. After all, if he could turn this company around, he’d be able to write his own ticket with anyone, anywhere. On the other hand, even if he failed, he could always hit the road and earn six figures selling forklifts for any dealer, anywhere.

So, he looked the dealer principal in the eye, shook his hand, and accepted the position.
George inherited seven salesmen and two saleswomen with his new job. The only producer in the entire sales department was a mid-forties lady we will call Jasmine (not her real name). Now, Jasmine had only been in the industry for about five years, yet she was selling forklifts like there was no tomorrow. None of the other eight salespeople seemed to have the experience, training, motivation, or the character necessary to focus on much of anything beyond a draw, driving a company car, and taking paid holidays.

Morale had dropped as low as sales, profits, and the infrequent commissions check.

George immediately sat down individually with each sales person to talk about what was really going on. He promised to keep each conversation confidential as he asked each sales person to talk about why they weren’t generating more sales and profits. He was disappointed but not surprised to hear the usual excuses for poor performance he’d heard from salespeople for years: “There’s no business in my territory because it’s saturated with forklifts” and, “Our competitors outsell us because their prices are lower and I can’t compete” and, “The economy is slowing down and no one is buying” and on and on.

Within 3 months of George’s arrival in the sunshine, all those excuses faded like memories of last year’s Grammies, and the sales department was selling new, reconditioned, and used forklifts like never before.

So, what happened?

What did George do to change things around so dramatically?

Well, here’s what he told me:

GEORGE’S 7 SECRETS

George’s 1ST Secret – Do nothing: For the first few weeks after he became Sales Manager, George did nothing at all. He didn’t make any changes; in fact, he didn’t even make any suggestions.

The sales crew was delighted because they began to believe that George would never be as good a sales manager as he had been a territory salesman. There were two reasons for this unlikely attitude. First and foremost, the sales crew didn’t want things to change, not really, because they didn’t believe change would do anything but make them work harder for less. Secondly, they’d heard all about George’s heavy hitter reputation, thought it made them look bad, so they secretly rooted for George to finally fall flat on his behind.

Given the severity of the sales situation, the big question floating around the company was why isn’t George doing anything? Is he just lazy? Is this the Peter Principle in action? Is George simply not up to the job? Or, is he too much of a wimp, too scared to tackle this huge, long-term problem head-on?

Not hardly.

George did nothing because he was too smart to move too quickly, too soon. He knew that before he could institute changes to increase sales and profits, he first needed to invest some serious time and patience learning to understand the dynamics that had killed sales for so long at this particular dealership.

This time and patience thing took more than a little courage on George’s part. It was tough for a results oriented guy like George to overlook caustic comments from Senior Management and pass off the disappointed stares flashed his way by the few people in the sales department who really did want change. Nevertheless, he stayed focused on gathering information, analyzing sales records and call reports, talking with sales people, managers, department heads, and customers, digging for the root causes of the only problem that really mattered: Not Enough Sales!

GEORGE’S 2ND Secret – Build Relationships with Sales Players: After George analyzed management support, financial resources, company image in the territory, facilities, equipment, customer service, parts and service support, product quality, and the company’s relationship to its factories, he concluded that he was right about the root cause: The sales team was simply incapable of doing its job. Sure, like any warm body, each sales person was capable of taking an order for a forklift, but nine of nine sales people weren’t trained in the skills they needed to sell significant numbers of forklifts. Eight of the nine obviously lacked confidence and direction and had never experienced any consistent success . . . so they had no positive history to fall back on. Nine of nine sales people worked – when they worked – only for themselves because not a one of them had a clue about the collective importance of working together as a team. Last but not least, since Jasmine had always been off doing her own thing, completely disassociated with the rest of the group, her colleagues had no role model to emulate.

George made it his business to continue to get to know each sales person, both as an employee and as a person. Each afternoon, he would invite one of the nine to come to his office early the next morning for 15 minutes or so before the switchboard opened, just to talk. He provided fresh coffee, hot chocolate, and a variety of pastries to please any taste. Discussions were friendly, casual with lots of give and take. Over time, each individual came to learn that George wasn’t a threat and, at the same time, they began to believe in George as a leader and as a coach who could and would help them sell more and earn more, more often.

GEORGE’S 3RD Secret – Create a success role model on the team: If you’ve heard the term “Stepping Up”, you probably heard it in the NBA or NFL. “Stepping Up” means that a top performing player assumes a leadership role on the team. Because Jasmine was the only real performer in the sales department, George decided to help her “Step Up”. He trained her thoroughly on the ins and outs of the Sales Coaching concept to help her realize that despite years of separation, the team really needed her to become a Success Role Model. George knew very well that the best way to transform eight below average producers was to get them to emulate the one strong performer.

George also realized that if Jasmine’s sales began to drop – for any reason – she would lose credibility with the rest of the team. So, he worked to coach her, subtly and quietly, because he didn’t want to offend her sensibilities as a top performer. He worked with her consistently because he wanted to keep her numbers strong. In George’s second month as Sales Coach, Jasmine was able to generate nearly 200% of budgeted new, reconditioned, and used sales in her territory. And, senior management and others around the company began to drop their doubts about George’s abilities.

At this point, we asked George why he didn’t simply set himself up as the team’s role model. After all, his sales history was nothing to sneeze at!

His reply?

“I felt that my example wouldn’t be as meaningful as the example Jasmine could set,” he said with a smile. “After all, even though these sales people weren’t particularly friendly with each other, they knew Jasmine well enough to respect her abilities as a top-notch sales person and would therefore be more likely to emulate her strategies and tactics.

“We started slowly at first. In Sales Practices and Team Meetings, I’d ask Jasmine to talk about her week was going. She’d tell us who she sold to and why. It was just casual conversation. No lectures, no pressure. After a couple of weeks, I began to encourage the others to interact with Jasmine, to ask questions, to talk about their successes and failures. And, in no time at all, we had our Success Role Model working to help the team sell more, more often, with no resentments and no resistance.

“Over time, I realized that Jasmine had become Sales Coach in Sales Practices and Team Meetings while I had become the moderator. Gotta tell you, I couldn’t have been more pleased that my plan worked out so well, so quickly.”

GEORGE’S 4TH Secret – Clearly communicate performance goals: George refused to waste time with mealy-mouthed platitudes. Because he felt obligated to turn the company around as quickly as possible, because forklift sales people work in an incredibly competitive business, George refused to take anything for granted. He believed that he owed it to Senior Management, to himself, and especially to Sales Players, to come clean and communicate his expectations to everyone concerned.

So, George established the following three categories of Performance Goals for the team:
Activity Goals, Behavior Goals, and Results Goals.

An ACTIVITY GOAL, for example, requires each Sales Player to send out a minimum of 25 mailers per week with telephone follow up calls within seven days of each mailing.

A BEHAVIOR GOAL requires each Sales Player to provide a customer quote within 24 hours of the initial contact.

The RESULTS GOAL that got the most attention requires each Sales Player with at least one year in a territory to sell a minimum of $100,000.00 in sales of new, reconditioned, and used forklifts each and every month.

GEORGE’S 5TH Secret – Set your standards high: No matter how effective you are as a Sales Coach, George says, no matter how hard you and the company work to support the sales department, there will always be someone who won’t step up to the plate. George doesn’t hesitate to confront poor performers because he refuses to tie the team’s performance to the lowest common denominator. He focuses on the only thing that really matters: Consistent, profitable sales! If a sales person can’t or won’t generate enough in profits to exceed the company’s cost in payroll, commissions, benefits, etc., George recruits a replacement and immediately cuts the player from the team.

If a Sales Player is a marginal performer but is willing to admit the shortcomings that need to be fixed, George, Sales Coach, works to bring that person to the point of making the “Final Decision” which means they either ‘decide’ to join the team, immerse themselves in the Sales Coaching process, and start selling or they ‘decide’ to leave the company . . . immediately.

George told us that that the only thing worse than someone who quits and leaves is someone who quits and stays . . . so he never allows anyone to quit and stay.

Author’s comment: Sensible approach . . . no wonder this guy’s a winner.

GEORGE’S 6TH Secret – Emphasize dignity and respect for all: Look, George says, after the dust settles, we are all just people. We are fallible human beings who make more mistakes than we care to admit. So, George makes it his business to firstly admit his own mistakes, no matter how tough it may be to do so. Because he agrees with Dr. Phil when he says you can’t change what you won’t admit, George expects Sales Players to accept responsibility for their own shortcomings. Irrespective of performance failures and character flaws, George constantly reminds the team of his expectation that everyone – Sales Players, senior management, department heads, key personnel and, of course, the coach – will treat everyone else with complete dignity and respect.

George promotes this aspect of his Sales Coaching effort by taking the entire sales team out of the office once a month – every month – for a fun dignity and respect building group activity – go-karting, golfing, dinner, lunch, breakfast, something.

GEORGE’S 7TH Secret – Coach hard, play hard, and win: George believes that his job as Sales Coach is just as important as Joe Gibbs’ job was as Coach of the Washington Redskins. Like any winning NFL coach, George recognizes that he has to stay close to the action. To be an effective, credible coach, he has to be visible to Sales Players, customers, prospects, senior management, department heads, and key personnel in the company. So, like any good coach, George spends a great deal of time each week talking to people, on the phone, in meetings in his office, traveling with Sales Players, in front of prospects and customers, asking questions, and observing how sales plays are won and lost.

As a result, George has gained incredibly accurate and timely insights into his performance, into the performance of the Sales Team, and into the real needs of customers and prospects. These insights of course have helped George set realistic team goals, reward winning Sales Players, supply real customer needs, and thereby triple sales within 12 months.
You can do the same and more . . . if you really want to.
Right?

RATE YOURSELF AS A WINNING SALES COACH

Take time now to discover just how good you can be by taking time to understand how good you already are!

Respond to the following scenarios using five basic scales. A quick way to score this test is to simply use a highlighter to hit the number that most closely matches your response.
Your responses will not only help you determine where you stand on the following five critical elements of Sales Coaching, but will also help you prioritize those areas you may need to improve:

1. GOAL SETTING SKILLS: My goals are realistic, clear, compelling and support our company’s complete sales success in our territory. I discuss Sales Goals with Senior Management and with every Sales Player, individually and collectively, on my team. I supply lists of Sales Goals to Senior Management and Sales Players on a regular basis for their review, discussion, and final approval.