Key Messages
How To Be A Great Sales Manager And Coach: Strategies For Unlocking Your Sales Team’S Potential
A great sales manager is more than just a top deal closer- they’re a coach.
It’s a balancing act of helping the team achieve its quarterly sales goals while also encouraging personal growth in their team members.
Being effective in both roles requires different skill sets.
The fear of failure can paralyze some sales managers, yet having an effective coaching style enables sales teams to be above average and stand out as successful companies instead of fading away into oblivion.
This book will teach you how to get over fear, motivate salespeople to take on more ownership and responsibility, as well as providing guidance for your first coaching conversation.
To be an amazing sales manager and coach needs a certain amount of finesse that this book can provide.
Understanding The Differences Between A Consultant, Trainer And Coach When Growing Your Sales Efforts
If you want to build your sales team for success, you have to discover exactly what they need.
Hiring a consultant, trainer and coach can all be helpful, but it’s essential that you understand the differences between these roles too.
A consultant will give insight into the target market with their research and provide a strategy for implementing it.
That’s when the trainer comes in: building on the consultant’s findings and providing specific exercises to make improvements.
After that, the coach’s job is to make sure everyone understands how to apply their training effectively and can use it on a daily or even weekly basis.
On top of that, coaching sessions should allow you to uncover and address problems you may have missed before.
So don’t overlook this step!
Taking the time to find out exactly what your sales team needs is essential in order to ensure their success – make sure you figure out which methods are right for them before proceeding forward.
Stop Obsessing Over Results: How To Focus On The Present As A Sales Manager And Coach
Managers need to understand that the fear of not meeting targets can cripple their team and cause them to be stressed out.
To conquer this fear of failure, it’s important for managers to stay present and focused on now instead of worrying about the future.
This was something Michelle, an owner of a marketing and internet-strategy company with a sales force, had to learn the hard way.
She was always anxious about meeting goals or underperforming employees, focusing on what could go wrong instead of viewing things through a more positive lens.
It’s understandable that managers who are obsessed with meeting future goals struggle to remain in the present moment.
This type of pressure just creates tension for the team and reduces morale, which then also affects potential customers – leading away from successful sales conversations before you even get started.
The Art Of Becoming An Effective Sales Coach: Learning To Live In The Present Moment And Letting Go Of Expectations
If you really want to be an effective sales coach and help your team reach their goals, then you need to focus on the process rather than the outcome.
You need to identify what needs to happen in order to get the results you want, and then trust that process and give it time.
Let’s take Michelle from our example earlier for instance – she should let go of her expectations about how many calls her people should make, and instead focus on creating possibilities.
This means having an open mind as to what could be achieved if given the opportunity.
Expectations come from results that are already predetermined; possibilities are working towards making those expectations happen.
An effective sales coach knows this, and is able to guide their team members towards success by trusting their processes and opening their minds to the potential of great outcomes.
It’S Essential To Respect Different People’S Different Goals When Coaching
Good coaches know that the key to successful training lies in tailoring their approach to fit the specific needs and wants of each individual member of their team.
In Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions, Jack is a great example of this.
While his intentions were good, Jack was focused on pushing salespeople to achieve certain goals or targets regardless of what they wanted out of life.
He failed to recognize that some people are content earning $80,000 a year from sales commissions and don’t necessarily want to work every waking hour to make twice as much.
The book emphasizes that successful coaching is so much more than just improving performance or producing tangible results.
It requires an understanding of each person’s unique sets of values and personal preferences to help them meet their individual goals and objectives both professionally and personally.
It’s important for any coach to be able to identify what each member of the team wants and needs, in order for them to reach their full potential as sales champions!
Stop Rescuing Your Employees And Let Them Learn To Solve Their Own Problems
Managers often make the mistake of solving all the issues and crises their sales people face, thinking this is their role.
Yet, if managers do this, they end up creating a dependency issue wherein employees won’t become accountable or learn how to troubleshoot their own problems.
The right approach is to let the salespeople solve their own challenges: it’s far easier than the alternative, since your salespeople will do the work instead of you doing it for them!
That way you foster an empowered team that can think for themselves.
To do this, ask solution-oriented questions that move forward, rather than problem-focused questions that only reinforce negative opinions.
For instance: “Why can’t you get this right?” could change to “How can you do this better next time?” This encourages a positive working climate where employees can truly grow and learn from mistakes.
Earn Your Employees’ Trust Through The Art Of Enrolling: 5 Steps To Make Them Feel Comfortable
If you’re looking to get salespeople invested in the coaching process, one of the best ways to do this is to encourage authentic conversations.
Start by cultivating an environment of trust which can be achieved by expressing empathy and connecting with your employee through stories that show how you’ve overcome similar challenges.
Next, help them visualize their potential by using phrases like “imagine,” “think about” or even “consider” so they can better comprehend what is possible.
After that, ask for authorization to move forward in order for them to feel involved in the process and make sure that your goals for them are clear – you want him/her to be more valued at work.
As a final step, have an honest conversation that focuses on sharing ideas and understanding their vision of success.
Finally, ensure that next steps are agreed upon so there is mutual understanding between both parties and hold yourself accountable by setting a schedule so progress can be monitored on both sides.
Wrap Up
The Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions book is a great resource for managers and leaders looking to learn the unique skill of becoming an effective coach.
The key takeaway from this book is that being a coach is different from being a manager; you must be able to switch easily between the two roles in order to foster relationships with your team members and build trust.
One actionable tip from the book is to make sure to give detailed, honest praise when acknowledging good work.
While “Good job!” is nice and polite, it’s not always enough for reinforcing motivation.
It’s important to take time to recognize what employees have really accomplished by expressing specific things they have done well.
Ultimately, this will create an environment of success and create more sales champions in your business.
