What is Sales Coaching? Our Assessment of Coaching for Business and Personal Development

Sales Coaching on its own does not work to the same level that a comprehensive mentoring and coaching program works. Sales coaching must be a key part of an overall sales and sales leadership improvement program.

A sales leader or a sales mentor must do more than just direct a sales team to perform. It is their responsibility to improve performance. Sales coaching is a fundamental part of any sales improvement, business improvement and revenue growth program.

What is a sales coach?

A sales coach functions in the operational capacity of a mentor, rather than as an underboss in the workplace. A competent sales coach will leverage goal setting and performance analysis in a bid to motivate as well as support team members.

Coaching is provided both in one-on-one sessions to provide individualised feedback or work around challenges, and in teamwide efforts to formulate action plans and delegate responsibilities. This is an effective strategy for achieving essential business goals like skill development and teambuilding.

While many managers are hesitant to coach their teams, the practice is indispensable for taking sales performance to the next level. So what does sales coaching mean to you? This post provides all the information you need - from the why to the how, and even a path to real results.

Common Coaching Techniques

Across major industries, there are several tried-and-true practices that comprise a sound coaching program. These include:

• Shadowing or observation is the fastest way to gauge a team member’s approach to crucial duties like customer interaction (especially during the discovery phase), solution positioning (selling is not telling), or brand representation. It also allows plenty of opportunity for providing real-time feedback or creating performance analysis reports.
• Role-playing sessions are a good component to any evaluative process, allowing for scenario-based training. Iterative adjustments can also be made based on initial performance, providing an important opportunity to coach on an individual and team level.
• Positive reinforcement is an excellent example of proactive management strategy, and the single best way to keep team motivation at a healthy level. Celebrating successes and creating a supportive environment reliably galvanises personnel relations while improving the drive to perform amid the rank and file.

How do these affect sales performance?

Maintaining a workplace dynamic wherein all associates are motivated, supported, and recognised for their achievements is an invaluable step to sales team development. Effective coaching hones the skill set necessary for effective communication, confident execution of outreach plans, and aggressive pursuit of company goals or quotas. To further drive improvement, sales coaching must be more than “customised training”. The importance of post advice, post action follow-up sessions must not be underestimated.

Accessing Quality Coaching Services

Before seeking coaching services, it’s worth taking stock of a few important factors. These include specific challenges or weaknesses in your current sales teams. Do they perform inconsistently, or suffer from low conversion rates in general? Are these issues rooted in subpar communication strategies, or lack of motivation? We recommend a diagnostic phase before engaging a coaching service.

It also pays to define clear goals, and allocate a realistic budget toward those goals. Once a clear plan of action has been determined (as a result of the diagnostic process), seek out a service provider with a reputable and proven record in sales coaching. Sales Director Central is an example of a company able to provide quality diagnostic, consultation and coaching services across Australia.

If your company is presently without internal coaching capabilities, deferring to the experts is the best route to seeing real results. When all is said and done, onboarding an experienced sales coach could prove to be the best business decision you’ve ever made.