One of the areas, if not the biggest area in which sales managers are failing, is in the coaching of their players. Some teams are not getting any coaching at all. 87% of sales managers have never been exposed to sales management training. Less than 15% of sales managers are spending 25% of their time in the most important role of the job, coaching.
There are many facets to the effectiveness of sales coaching, and there are some specific ways that sales coaching differs from coaching other competencies. Nevertheless, there are some core foundation elements to coaching in any field that cause success. Below I will shed some light on one of the foundation elements that too many sales managers lack, adopting the MINDSET OF THE COACH, and a framework for a strong coaching relationship.
Coaching is not advising, and it’s not mentoring. Instead, it is about helping team members to access and effectively utilize their own internal resources to achieve improved performance and outcomes. Coaching is as much an opportunity for the personal growth and development of the coachee, as it is for the Coach! Armed with effective coaching skills, the Sales Manager not only achieves better sales revenues, but also develops the trust and respect of his team for sustained performance.
Keys to Being the Effective Coach
- The best coaches stand for people and provide inspiration by supporting their team member(s) to articulate a powerful future;
- The best coaches provide a structure for people to produce results in the game;
- The best coaches focus on people’s growth and development;
- The best coaches empower the performance of their team consistent with the team’s own commitments;
- The best coaches listen more than they speak and ask probing questions to assist their team member(s) to come to their own conclusions; they listen for the gaps in process, strategy, thinking, behavior, knowledge, and self-awareness and question for reflection and to find more effective methodologies;
- The best coaches validate effective action; acknowledge growth and development;
- The best coaches are rigorous with their team members and hold them accountable for their agreed actions
6 Steps of the Coaching Engagement
- Find out the team member’s intention, what they want to have happen. It’s not about what you think they should do. It’s about what’s important to the player.
- State your commitment to the team member’s commitment. Your game is the game they are playing. If you can’t get behind the player’s commitment, don’t have a coaching relationship.
- Get permission to coach the team member. You cannot coach someone who does not want to be coached.
- Establish basic agreements/ground rules in the relationship. Eg. Respect each person’s opinion even in disagreement.
- Clarify how the accomplishment will be measured and the timeline for the results.
- Define the specific “what by when” actions.