Sales coaching is the key to leading a high performance sales team, with benefits to both the coach and coachee.

Sales coaching has many benefits

Sales coaching has proved, time & time again, to be extremely effective in mentoring, directing and driving the marketing effort of a business in a single direction. The spin off benefits include increased sales and a team of individual sales people who can look back on the mentoring experience and say my sales manager was my mentor.

Sadly, today there are few industries that apply this time proven skill, with objections such as work load, office admin, or just having to many tasks to do in an already over crowded day as reasons not to invest in mentoring.
Although the attributes of a good coach can and are agreed upon, there is little agreement about the process that the sales coaches can use to be effective.

Sales coaching is the key to leading a high performance sales team

The definition of sales coaching is an individualised development process designed to change a sales person’s behaviour to better meet the organisation’s goals for financial performance and customer satisfaction.
There are a few assumptions explicit in that definition. Sales coaching is a deliberate process. It consists of a sequence of conversations and activities, most of them planned. The coaching process is also built on a solid base of product knowledge and selling skills. The delivery is in a safe space with the focus being on the “sales coachee”.

It’s a win-win

Both people involved in coaching can learn from the process. The benefit for the coach is the sales person’s comments on how the coach interacts with the customer during a joint call and the ability to learn from their mistakes. The coachee gets to learn new material; the interaction gives rise to new ideas and a broader exposure to a richer experience, namely that of the coach. In addition the process deepens both the relationship and the rapport between coach and coachee.

Research shows that when the focus of coaching conversations is on sales behaviours it has a direct impact on sales results in a process that requires collaboration between both parties.

The primary goal is to identify, on a case by case basis exactly how the sales person can use his or her skills, knowledge and experience to meet the financial goals of the organisation, exceed customer expectations and deliver on that feeling of a “job well done”.

Contact us to learn more about being part of a Winning Sales Team, one that has Sales Impact.