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Sales Coaching

Sales Managers – The 6 Steps to Become a Great Sales Coach

Although a salesperson’s professional development is limited when it centres only on classroom learning many organisations still persist with it. At the risk of upsetting those in the learning and development field it has to be said that classroom learning has minimal impact in the medium to long term and by every measure the return on investment for the company is poor. At best the retention for the salesperson is 30% if active learning such as role play is part of the skills development and considerably lower at 5% if it is passive when the facilitator talks most of the time. When infield sales coaching becomes integral to the sales person’s development this figure can escalate to a staggering 90%. With up to 70% of top sales performers leaving because of dissatisfaction with their manager relationship sales coaching provides an opportunity to forge close working ties.

So why doesn’t every sales manager incorporate sales coaching for their salespeople?

Based on our research the reasons are:

1) They don’t know how
Many of you reading this may relate to this category. You were a very successful salesperson and so promoted to sales management with inadequate or no training for the role. You were not aware of infield sales coaching because it wasn’t part of the company’s culture

2) They don’t have a sales background
The sales manager came from another department within the company such as administration or operations. This is seen as a good career move and endorsed by senior management and is for a limited time of 2-3 years before the person moves onto another role. Because such an individual lacks sales experience they feel uncomfortable and incompetent in front of clients and prospects so avoid being in that position. A credibility issue with their sales team also becomes a problem

3) They don’t have the time
The sales manager becomes tied up with administration and other internal matters. They try to manage their sales team from their desk. To illustrate how serious a problem this is: one large national company with a network of business throughout Australia had each business unit manager also in a sales management role. Not 1 hour was invested in the field with one sales person over the previous12 month period.

Sales coaching needs to become part of a company’s sales culture just like coaching in sport is a part of the sporting culture. In fact to be effective sales managers need to spend at least 25% of their time with their salespeople in the field coaching.

Sales coaching is the key to achieving lasting sales improvement and is suitable for new people to sales through to sales veterans to reinforce knowledge and skills already known but not used effectively.

Sales coaching consist of 3 components:

1. Knowledge and skills
A common sales criticism of classroom learning is that it’s theoretical and won’t work in the ‘real world.’ However, when sales coaching becomes part of their development program the classroom theory is converted into practical know how. In fact when a specific skill is applied by the sales manager and then later duplicated by the salesperson, behaviour change and motivation are immediate

2. Objective sales competency levels.
When salespeople are measured against the 6 competency levels their true competency level can be identified. For the sales person to progress to a higher level the sales manager needs to use every teaching method available from seeing, hearing and demonstration to clarifying what to do and why.

3. An evaluation methodology to measure the outcomes.
A competency based training and development format is one of the best ways to measure skills performance.

The Curb Side Conference
This is the term used to describe how the previous sales call is reviewed for the purpose of developing or refining the sales person’s selling skills. The 6 step sales coaching process is used to achieve this outcome:

1) Briefly recap the sales objectives.
The objective/s for the sales call should have been set before the call. Recapping at the beginning of the curb side conference helps the salesperson to focus on the discussion at hand.

2) Provide a critique of the selling skills that were competently applied.
Use your sales process as the guiding template and leave out those selling skills that were incompetently or not applied. This is because you want to acknowledge and compliment the skills that demonstrated sales competence. For example “Mary let’s go over the last sales call and if it’s okay with you I’d like to give you feedback on the skills you applied competently.” The salesperson may want to interrupt and highlight the skills they didn’t apply or applied inadequately. When this happens you need to stop them and let them know they will have their turn soon. For example “I appreciate your concerns and we will deal with them shortly.” Emotionally you need to come from a place of caring and support which will then be reflected in your vocal tone. Sounding judgmental or frustrated could destroy your relationship with your salesperson.

3) Ask the salesperson to self critique their sales call.
Suggest to your salesperson to also use the sales process which will assist them to critique their own sales performance in a logical manner and then it’s your role to actively listen. They may focus too much on what they didn’t do or did incompetently so watch for this tendency. You may need to ask them to give you a balanced view. Actively listen for any skills they omitted or believe they applied well when in reality they didn’t do so. On conclusion of their self critique compliment them and move to the next step. For example “Mary you obviously have a great understanding of the sales process and I agree with your self assessment. Let me ask you, if you had the opportunity to…”

4) Ask the salesperson if they had the opportunity to do the sales call again what they would do differently?
This gives the salesperson the opportunity to uncover anything additional they may have previously missed and drawing on what they had learnt in step 2 will reaffirm those competencies.

5) Use the sales process and provide a summary critique of the salesperson’s selling skills.

When you go through the summary ensure it is weighted 3:1 in favour of the positive behaviours and skills that were competently applied. This will also build their sense of self worth as well as the learning experience.

6) Finish on a positive note and set the next sales call objective.
This has to be done from the heart and for example could be expressing how impressed you were with how the salesperson qualified the prospect. When planning the next sales call objectives one needs to be a skill development objective from step 3 or 4. Caution: whilst there may be many skills needing attention focus on one which you consider to be the most important. Overloading the salesperson with too much is counterproductive and isn’t the way we learn.

A last word or two…

• Curb side conference those sales calls where the learning will be the greatest
• Schedule regular monthly sales coaching even if it is as little as half a day and avoid cancelling. It will pay dividends. Staying in the office doesn’t create revenue but developing a salesperson’s selling ability does
• Ask your salespeople for feedback on your coaching. What could you do better?
• Sales coaching provides you with the opportunity to show sales leadership

If sales coaching is new to you or you are dissatisfied with current sales coaching practices contact Sales Consultants.

Kurt Newman is the co-founder of Sales Consultants Pty Ltd a firm that works with companies to increase sales and reduce the cost of selling. http://www.salesconsultants.com.au

Kurt’s expertise is in sales strategy, sales management development; group structured sales training and infield sales coaching. As a sales person he has successfully sold products and services in 4 major market/product segments: new product sales, consultative sales, relationship sales and retail. During his selling career he created sales records for three companies in two industries and won many other sales awards for outstanding performance.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Kurt_Newman/417035

 

Sales Coaching

Sales Coaching Tips – How to Shorten Your Sales Cycle So You Can Win More Clients

As a sales professional, entrepreneur or business owner, being able to effectively establish new client partnerships and increase sales results quickly is vitally important. When sales are going great it can be very exciting! When you have a great month you are filled with sales motivation!

But, after a while, things slow down and you hit a wall. You find yourself chasing after prospects and wondering why it is taking so long to convert prospects into clients.

You’re stumped!

You start exploring different techniques and try to find a solution. But, no matter what you try, the results are the same and the sales cycle is a much longer process than what you would like.

So where do you turn when you are stuck in sales quicksand and can’t get your prospects to move forward?

Here’s How You Can Shorten The Sales Cycle and Win More Clients, Increase Sales and Profits with 2 Simple Strategies:

1. Determine, Uncover & Clarify Challenges
If a prospect is not clear about their challenges and the impact of these challenges, this will greatly slow down the entire sales cycle. This is because the client does not yet believe their challenge is significant enough to take action, and guess what, because of this, they won’t take action! It is a waste of time for you to give information before understanding their needs, goals, challenges and problems. You are presenting a “solution” to someone who doesn’t believe they have a “problem.”

So, what do you do about this? Ask a lot of questions! Ask open ended questions. Get curious and don’t assume you understand their problem or challenge no matter how long you have been in the industry. Dig in and really find out what is going on, and ask follow up questions that focus in on the greater impact of their challenges. Uncover the impact of the current challenges on both the organization and the individuals or groups you are selling to. Your questions will help them understand and verbalize that they have a challenge or problem. Now you have the information you need to explain how you can help solve their challenge.

If you find yourself talking more than 20% of the time during your sales meetings with prospects, stop yourself, and ask a question!

2. Always Set A Clear Next Step
Have you ever heard this before? “Thanks for your time today, your product looks great and we will get back to you soon.” Yet, you never hear back, and end up having to chase, follow up, and make multiple calls, send multiple emails to no avail. That is not fun for you, nor is it fun for the prospective client.

How do you solve this?

Well, if you are a great salesperson or great sales minded business owner, you don’t need to chase. You don’t need to pressure. You don’t need to persuade. Really. You need to set up a clear next step, and if your prospect is not ready to take the next step, they will tell you, and you will determine if they are a serious prospect or not, on the spot.

Remember, give your prospects an option to say, “No.” When you do this, all the pressure is taken off of you, and more importantly off of your prospect. That way, they do not feel like they are being “sold,” nor do they feel any pressure from you. Many of the sales coaching programs and sales coaches still are teaching the same old techniques developed decades ago that involve pressure and persuading. You do not need to do that anymore and it does not work.

Simply set up the next step at the end of your meetings. The next step could be a follow-up face to face meeting or a scheduled phone call for example. However, make sure the next step is moving the sales cycle forward and has a scheduled date, time, and location.

Map out your sales cycle and know what steps need to take place. Here is an example of a 5 step sales cycle: 1. Initial appointment, qualification, discovery, 2. Agreement to conduct an in-depth analysis, 3. Demonstration of service or product, 4. Contract review meeting, 5. Signed agreement.

At the end of each meeting, you should be setting up the next meeting and next actions. Explain the next steps you both will need to take to start working together. Map it out for them and provide them with a simple document that explains the next steps with clear time lines. Ask them to commit to the next steps along the way. Guess what happens if you do this effectively? You don’t need to “close” or persuade, the sale will be made, faster, naturally, and more effectively.

These 2 Sales Coaching tips will help you shorten your sales cycle and experience dramatically improved sales results. Don’t wait to make these changes, take action now, and make a commitment to yourself.

Sales Coaching & Business Coaching Expert, Jeremy J. Ulmer, has helped hundreds of sales professionals, sales leaders, businesses and entrepreneurs overcome sales and business challenges to achieve breakthrough results. Jeremy has been ranked a #1 sales performer in the U.S. for 4 years at two Global Fortune 500 Companies, is the former Director of Sales at the #1 Outsourced Sales Company in the U.S., and is a Featured Presenter on Sales Skills and Entrepreneurship at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

If you are ready to dramatically increase your sales or business results then subscribe for your Free Tips or request a Free Coaching Consultation at: [http://www.coachwithjeremy.com/]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3425460

Sales Coaching

Using Sales Coaching to Increase Sales

Regardless of the economic environment we are operating in, it is critical to find a way to increase sales. In many cases, management will try to achieve this by throwing more resources at the challenge. This can work if they hire the right people and train them well, and then the people hired perform as expected. If this works, the return on investment is high with strong sales growth. If it does not work, the costs can be high as sales people can be expensive to higher, train, and keep on payroll.

Unfortunately, when you hire new employees, you never know how they are going to turn out and how they will perform day in and day out. One way to decrease the risk and uncertainty with staffing new sales people is to utilize a process of sales coaching. Sales coaching is effective at increasing sales and improving performance by working directly with the sales staff on a one-on-one basis to keep them focused, motivated, and on track.

The impact of being able to increase sales through something like sales coaching can be very advantageous. From a top line perspective, by improving the probability and amount of success for each sales person, the cumulative revenue increase can drive very significant revenue growth and improvements in profitability. This could be the determining factor in succeeding in a competitive marketplace and gaining market share.

Increase Sales to Increase Company Valuation

A bigger picture benefit is that this could improve the valuation of the company as a whole. By posting better growth and profitability figures, a public company could see an increase in its stock price. For private companies, this could make the company more attractive from an acquisition standpoint and enable it to be purchased at a higher price.

Increase Sales to Increase Employee Valuation

Utilizing sales coaching to increase sales, will also deliver strong benefits to the individual contributors as well. For the sales staff and sales management, this means an increase in quota attainment providing more commissions and money in their pockets. In the long-term, the benefits could be job security, job satisfaction, and being better positioned for any potential promotions.

Decrease Hard-dollar Costs

By effectively increasing sales, the company will not only see top line improvement, but can also stand to see strong improvements in the bottom line by controlling and decreasing costs. This is achieved by decreasing turnover through creating a happier and more successful staff. By decreasing turnover, the company will see hard-dollar savings in the area of hiring, training, and replacing sales staff.

Decrease Opportunity Cost

By improving the success of the sales staff and decreasing turnover, the company also stands to decrease opportunity cost. Consider the business that is lost or missed while a sales person is under-performing. Add to that any business that is lost or missed while a position is open from a resignation or termination. Finally, add to that any business that is lost or missed while a new hire is being trained and getting ramped up. All of this adds up to a tremendous amount of opportunity cost and that can be decreased by improving performance and tenure for the sales staff.

Michael Halper has a passion for coaching individuals toward personal and professional development. For more information about coaching and development visit Compass Coaching you can read more about Using Sales Coaching to Increase Sales or Sales Coaching.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3419999

Sales Coaching

Need Sales Coaching? Top 7 Questions You Should Ask Before Hiring a Sales Coach

Are you looking to hire a sales coach to improve your career, leadership, life, business and sales results? Well, I’m going to tell you right now that there are many sales coaches in the field and it is hard to know where to start or what to look for when hiring a coach. There are highly qualified sales coaches like myself and then there are others who just jumped on the sales coaching bandwagon so they can profit from you even though they have not proven themselves to be worthy of getting you as a client.

Knowing this, how can you find the best sales coach for you and your organization? Simply ask the questions below…

Here Are My Top 7 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Sales Coach:

1. What is your personal track record of success in sales?

I was ranked #1 sales performer in the U.S. for 4 years at two global Fortune 500 Companies. I generated over $135 Million in Sales Revenue. I know what it takes to become a top sales professional.

This is not true for many sales coaches as they do not have the credentials of being a #1 performer in a large organization multiple times. And, many sales coaches do not have extensive experience building, developing and managing sales forces.

But what if those are your goals? See the concern? If they have not walked the walk, and proven they know what it takes to achieve great sales results, how can you expect them to know what it takes to achieve extraordinary results?

2. Will you customize your sales coaching programs around my particular needs and goals?

Many sales coaching programs simply place all individuals and businesses into the exact same sales coaching process. They do not take into consideration the immediate challenges at hand, nor do they focus on customizing the program around the strengths of the individual or organization, while identifying and addressing weaknesses.

Before you hire a sales coach, ask how they customize their sales coaching program. If they don’t have some good examples to share, run fast, or face receiving cookie-cutter coaching which will greatly impede your results.

3. What is your general sales philosophy?

Many of the old persuasive selling techniques really are a thing of the past. They don’t work. Yet, many sales coaches are still teaching people just like you to persuade, push, be very aggressive, and to forcefully change the mind of others. This will make both you and the prospective client feel uncomfortable and will automatically lead to lost sales.

If you want to increase your sales potential then you need a sales coach who understands how to create a genuine, natural, customized sales philosophy for each individual they coach. If they don’t, watch out.

4. What professional coach training do you have?

You may find a sales coach who has a respectful sales background like me. But, in many cases they’ll have very little, if any professional coaching training. There is a big difference between calling oneself a coach, and having 100’s of hours of face-to-face coaching training. If they do not have this training, you may not receive all the support you need around motivation, focus, changing your mind set, accountability, and being able to support you towards success in your entire life. If you hire a sales coach who does not have professional training, do not expect the same results. You will not be supported holistically around all the intangibles that help people reach extraordinary results.

5. How did you become a sales coach – and why?

Find out if the sales coach made the conscious choice to become a coach for the right reasons, or if they burned out of corporate America or fell into the position as a back up because they lost a job. You want a coach who loves coaching, sales and changing lives. Look for a coach with whom you connect with. Look for a sales coach who truly cares about your success and loves the work he or she does. If you do not sense a great deal of passion in their voice when they describe how they became a sales coach, talk to another coach.

6. Can you show me new and innovative ways to increase sales?

If the sales coach is not aware of how to use social media, blogs, website marketing, SEO, AdWords, effective article writing and publication, LinkedIn and other similar tools to grow their own business, how can they help you to grow yours?

Technology is always changing and there are ways to use it to increase your sales results. Find a sales coach who is using these tools on a daily basis to grow their sales coaching business. Find a sales coach who can show you how to generate leads, contact new prospects and network effectively in the modern era of sales. If they don’t use these tools, keep on looking.

7. Do you have a coach?

I’m a sales coach and I still work with a coach. I get a tremendous amount out of it and I am convinced of the value of coaching. How can you be a coach, but say you don’t need a coach yourself?

As soon as you stop learning, growing, improving and developing, what kind of an example are you showing for your own clients? Find a sales coach who has a coach, believes in coaching, uses coaching to continue to become a better coach, a better entrepreneur, and a better person. Find someone who inspires you to do more and doesn’t just coach you, but leads by example. If they don’t have a coach, just ask them why. This is an important question to ask and I’m guessing you will decide to move on pretty fast after they say they don’t need a coach or don’t have one.

Find a sales coach who is right for you by asking these questions. Follow these tips and you will ensure you partner up with the right sales coach for you to achieve amazing sales results.

Sales Coaching & Business Coaching Expert, Jeremy J. Ulmer, has helped hundreds of sales professionals, sales leaders, businesses and entrepreneurs overcome sales challenges and achieve breakthrough results. If you are ready to dramatically increase your sales results then request your Free Tips and your Free Coaching Consultation at: [http://www.coachwithjeremy.com]

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jeremy_J_Ulmer/488034

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Sales Coaching

Why Sales Coaching Really Matters

You may recall that it was recently written about an international study which reported that if Sales Managers were more frequently and better trained and coached, their sales teams achieved higher performance and results. In no other type of sales training was a more positive correlation found between frequency of training and sales performance. This article is dedicated to the importance of sales coaching and what you need to do to be an effective sales coach.

Despite popular opinion, the sales profession is very skillful with many technical and interpersonal skills that need to be continuously honed and developed. Despite this, most sales people are given no formal training or coaching rather they are often left to work out for themselves how to be effective at sales.

Even if they are able to attend sales training, most sales people do not realise their full potential because nothing was done post the training session to get people adapting their behaviours, skills and performance to the new standards.

Why sales coaching matters

  • Without systematic, on-the-job coaching post a sales training program 87% of skills that were covered in the sales training program are lost within 30 days
  • With systematic, on-the-job coaching post a sales training program the return on the sales training program is four fold.

Lesson: Sales training without coaching is a cost liability rather than an investment. 

Is sales coaching just linked to sales training?

In a word, no. Whether or not coaching follows a formal training program, it is recommended that at least 40-60% of a sales manager’s job should be dedicated to coaching their sales people.

Yet, sales coaching still remains an area that is poorly executed and often ignored.

What is coaching?

Coaching is a process which allows for an individual to strive for excellence in any endeavour through personal insight and purposeful action. At a broad level, the process involves three key elements:

  • Feedback: without feedback a person is unaware of the opportunity for ‘change’
  • Reflection: relates to what a person thinks about the feedback received; as well as the range of actions they can undertake as a result of receiving the feedback
  • Purposeful action: those activities the person may undertake and either adopt the provided feedback or alternatively explain why they will not address the feedback provided.

Coaching usually focuses on two key areas of development to achieve excellence: skills and performance. Excellence in performance is knowing the right processes to apply in the right situation, coupled with the personal insight to know how to apply them wisely.

So, how do we get the best out of our sales coaches in order to be our best?

  1. Train your sales managers to be effective sales coaches
  2. Supply them with proven tools and frameworks to coach successfully
  3. Provide ongoing coaching to your sales managers to be better sales coaches (usually external coaching support works well here as it provides an agenda free focus on coaching only)
  4. Make sales coaching a necessary part of the sales manager’s job performance criteria
  5. Encourage a coaching culture in your business across all levels.

 

What do you need in your sales coaching tool box?

  • A coaching framework that guides you through the various coaching steps – this ensures that people are aware coaching is taking place
  • The ability to analyse or assess the development needs of an individual or team
  • Coaching communication tools and approaches that help you understand, communicate, and connect with the person you are coaching
  • Knowledge about the different types of coaching approaches you can use with people i.e. skills, performance, remedial, strategic, or transformational coaching
  • Ideally a sales competency based model and sales process framework that reflects the sales skills, behaviours, and attitudes you need to coach your sales people to.
  • Skillful and active communication skills
  • A positive, trust based, environment
  • Clear purpose and intent about what you are trying to achieve
  • Consistency

Coaching can happen in many ways. 

Here are some examples:

 

  • Joint sales visits: attending a client sales meeting with a salesperson – Set up the pre, during and post stages of your coaching session. Decide on what role you will take as a coach: observer, joint call participation, or role model. You need to decide on which role you will play before you enter the meeting so as not to confuse the salesperson or the client/prospect
  • One-on-one skills review and action plan: Ideally you would use a competency based model and framework to coach
  • Role playing sales activities such as prospecting, client calls, pitch presentations and so on
  • Team coaching sessions

4 important points to remember:

  1. There are a variety of coaching tools out there, however avoid the one-size-fits-all approach i.e. trying to stretch one tool to fit all situations. You need a blend of tools in your coaching tool box to be able to adapt to a variety of situations such as personal styles, needs etc.
  2. You are not a ‘life coach’ or counsellor either. This is a very dubious and potentially dangerous area to get into and should be left to qualified, skilled professionals who work specifically in this space.
  3. Make sure you make time to coach and let the person you are coaching know that it is a coaching session and nothing else
  4. Many of the case studies at the recent OSF2009 conference indicated that a blend of competent internal sales coaching by sales managers supported by external experts in sales coaching was very advantageous to their sales teams’ performance and productivity.

 

While many sales managers do not have the framework or tools in place to coach with purpose, skillful coaching can be incredibly rewarding and provide huge benefits for the individuals, team and organisation. It not only makes your sales people perform better, you can also become a better manager as a result.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Sue_V_Barrett/399377

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