How To Coach A Winning Sales Team

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HOW TO COACH WINNING SALES TEAMS

Transcript of How To Coach A Winning Sales Team

Page 1: How To Coach A Winning Sales Team

HOW TO COACH

WINNING SALES TEAMS

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INTRODUCTIONIf getting more out of your employees is important to you this ebook just may change everything. In spite of its cliche nature, people are truly your most important asset-period! Our employees, our direct reports, the people we put in charge to deliver on our goals will make or break us in a split second. They will be the root of our success or the trigger to our failure. People, as trite as it may sound, are where success starts and stops.

With this in mind, we have to ask ourselves, what are we doing to make sure our people are the best they can be? How are we, as leaders, helping them grow? What are we doing, as coaches to ensure they reach and surpass their potential? We need to be asking these questions, because whether or not we like it, that is our job.

I have a phrase I’ve used often. “Great leaders get more out of people than people can get out of themselves.”

The way to do this is through coaching.

In 2014, Gail Monfils was a top-ranked tennis player from France. Consistently ranked in the top 20, he never had a coach. He’s made the quarter-finals of a number of tennis majors, but he’s never been able to crack the semis or the finals.

GREAT LEADERSHIP IS GETTING MORE OUT OF YOUR PEOPLE THAN THEY CAN GET OUT

OF THEMSELVES.

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Why?

Many argue it’s because he has refused to use a coach.

Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Lindsey Vonn, and Micheal Phelps have all had coaches. Why, because they understand what Monfils doesn’t. They can only get so good by themselves. It’s a fact, we can only get so good by ourselves. We don’t have the capacity to assess and analyze ourselves well enough to maximize our potential. We can only go so far. Coaches take us to the next level. They see what we can’t see. They push us past our comfort zones. If they are good, they get more out of us, than we can get out of ourselves.

This ebook will help you become a better coach. It will provide you with the framework you need to get more out of your people than they will be able to get out of themselves.

This ebook will introduce you to one of the most effective coaching frameworks available. It will break down each phase of the coaching allowing you to deliver, sound, productive, coaching that grows each individual on your team.

If people are truly our most valuable asset, consider this ebook an investment in them.

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THE FRAMEWORKEffective coaching requires a repeatable methodology or framework to operate from. Too often, I see leaders just jump in and start “coaching.” They see someone doing something and they just start providing feedback, telling the individual what to do or how to do it. There is little context to the coaching. It lacks consistency. It is rarely tied to a broader theme and can be confusing, often being perceived as criticism and not productive coaching.

To avoid this reactive approach and avoid creating defensive employees the key is to establish a solid, foundational coaching framework with a predictable cadence.

The framework should contain a cadence, the content, the coaching and the application.

CADENCE is the frequency of the regularly scheduled meetings. It’s how often and at what intervals you will provide the training.

CONTENTis what specifically

you will be talking about .

COACHING is how you deliver the feedback.

APPLICATIONis what the employee does with the feedback.

THEFRAMEWORK

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CADENCEWhen it comes to coaching, cadence is critical. Cadence is the consistency and the frequency of the coaching and the most important part of the cadence is consistency. Consistency first, frequency second. A lot of leaders believe the frequency is most important. I don’t. Sales people like stability. They like to know what’s happening, when and why. Sales people don’t like surprises. Therefore, when building your organization’s coaching structure, be sure to be as consistent as you can, regardless of the frequency. As long as you are consistent, don’t cancel coaching sessions, and can be relied on to be available and present for every coaching session, the frequency is less important.

Over the years, coaching has fallen into two camps: Micro Coaching and Macro Coaching.

COACHING

MICRO COACHING

MACRO COACHING

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MICRO COACHING:Micro Coaching is the coaching of a specific job or skill behavior, such as overcoming objections, call handling, delivering demos, value creation and more. I call this type of coaching, micro coaching. It’s the type of coaching that helps reps address specific aspects of their job and comes with very specific and tangible feedback. It’s the type of coaching designed to address the tactical, execution oriented skills required to be better at one’s craft. Micro coaching is targeted, and specific. Think about teaching someone how to throw a curve ball, swing a golf club, knit a particular knot or read a defense in football. Micro Coaching is very specific.

MACRO COACHING: Macro coaching, on the other hand, is more about the big picture. This coaching addresses larger, more fundamental issues such as attitude, interpersonal development, leadership, complex selling issues such as deal strategy, influencer management, etc. Macro coaching doesn’t focus on a single skill, but rather the compilation of skill or set of skills that require more complex actions and execution. Macro level coaching enables bigger, more impactful issues to be addressed. It takes a more holistic and strategic approach to the coaching. This is where career planning is taking place. It includes specific skills but is broader than just a single job skill. Consider coaching a pitcher on how to understand the psychology of pitch count and it’s effect on pitch choice. Think about teaching a golfer, course management and its impact on club choice. Think about coaching a VC on how to evaluate a company for their thesis. These coaching challenges are larger, more esoteric, complex ideas and methodologies, requiring a greater level of coaching.

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Understanding the two types of coaching. I recommend a cadence that represents both. A weekly 15 minute skills coaching session, that targets specific selling skills to help the sales person improve in a targeted selling area. These meetings should be no longer than 15 minutes and be very specific. It’s incumbent upon the coach to come prepared with the observations, descriptions, and prescriptions for the sales person. These meetings can not be “ad-hoc.” Both the sales leader and the rep need to be prepared with their topic and goal ahead of time for every meeting. With that said, don’t stress, I’ll be talking more about the content of these meetings later in this book.

In addition to the weekly 15-minute stand up coaching session, I recommenda macro coaching session every 6 weeks. These coaching sessions should be at least 45-60 minutes and should be scheduled in advance for the entire year. I like this cadence because monthly is too often and quarterly is too infrequent. Scheduling weekly 15-minute coaching sessions, and 45-minute macros coaching sessions every 6 weeks delivers 18 hours of dedicated coaching per year, per rep. That’s a doable and effective coaching cadence that will yield serious results. Get them on the calendar now. Schedule them out for the entire year for all of your sales reps, (sales managers, sales directors). Set the expectation that they are expected to be there, and that you will be there and to be ready to engage.

Remember consistency and frequency are key!

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CONTENTAhh, what to talk about? I get questions about this a lot.

Lucky for you, I have a good answer — It depends. ;)

The key to good coaching is observation. Good coaches are excellent at observing what their players/employees are doing. They develop keen observation skills and spend considerable time watching and assessing how and what their players are doing. Think about it. There can be no coaching until the coach has a solid understanding of exactly what it is the player/employee is doing, not doing etc., and this requires a lot of observation.

Great coaches are great observers. They watch what their team is doing. They know what to look for. They are committed to observation. They understand observation is at the root of solid coaching and spend considerable time watching their team members, taking in as much as they can about how they work, what they focus on etc., what they react to, what triggers them, what set’s them off, what their weaknesses are, how they function in different settings, what their strengths are and more. Great coaches are killer observers.

How do you know what to talk about?

What content should you focus on?

How do you know what to coach?

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OBSERVE:If you want to be a great coach, start getting good at observing your team. Watch and focus on how they make calls, manage the pipeline, overcome objections, engage with other teammates, develop deal strategies, set appointments, manage their workload, engage with customers, identify customer challenges, establish value propositions, exhibit leadership, work with cross-functional teams, respond to stress, lose a deal, win a deal, and more.

Put yourself into positions that allow you to watch, but not participate. Sit in meetings, listen to phone calls, go on sales calls, be observant in pipeline meetings, etc.

Make sure you’re putting yourself into situations that allow you to observe what it is your players are doing and how they are doing it.

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COACHINGAs you’re observing, make sure you have a way to document or remember your observations. It’s easy to forget what you see, or what happened in a particular setting. You want to be able to recall your observations during your coaching sessions. Take the time to write down your observations, use Evernote, have a coaching notebook, etc. Whatever works for you, but create a written diary of your observations.

KEY POINT:

Observing is observing, not engaging. During your observation, keep your mouth shut. This is NOT the time for you to be coaching or sharing your thoughts.

Observing is just that, observing. It’s meant for you to watch and assess the behaviors you see. There will be time to share your observations in the coaching sessions.

Become a killer observer, and you’ll have a killer foundation.

The next step in the coaching framework is, describe.

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DESCRIBE:

Observing gives you the information and content you need to engage in coaching, describing is how you transfer your observations to your player/employee.

Describing gives you the ability share what you’ve been observing with your employee. It’s where the feedback starts. The objectiveof describing is to literally describe the behaviors you’ve observed. It’s where your employee gets to hear your observations. The goal here is to share with your employee what you’ve seen them do. However, there are a few rules to the describe phase of coaching.

Do not describe EVERYTHING you see. Pick a skill or specific area you want to work on and describe only that. Your salespeople are going to have lots of areas of growth. Providing observational feedback on everything you saw will bury them.

Your goal is to target the areas of greatest improvement and share your observations around those first.

Don’t overload your employees. You can visit the other things over time. Start with the biggest, areas with the greatest return.

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Only describe what you see. Never describe what you don’t see or what they aren’t doing. Sharing with people what you don’t see or what they aren’t doing is difficult to grasp. When you say something like, “You’re not asking enough questions. ” Your rep doesn’t have enough context to understand what you mean by “enough questions. ” You’re better off to say, you’re doing a lot of telling and speaking when you sell. You share a lot of information. You seem to talk a lot.

That’s an accurate observation. Don’t say you don’t do something. Only describe what you see them do. Try to be as descriptive as possible. Details matter. Refer to your notes. (remember your note taking repository, :). Get good at providing the feedback and avoid telling people what they “don’t” do. It’s hard, I know, but it creates better feedback.

Now that you’ve been watching (observed) the players on your team, and you’ve shared what you’ve seen (describe) it’s time to drop the knowledge that will help them get better.

PRESCRIBE:

This phase is called the prescribe phase. This is where you get to tell them what to do.

Prescribe is where you provide the prescriptive advice and action you’d like to the rep to take. This is where you deliver the valuable insights, actions, ideas, and input that will help the rep grow.

When prescribing the key is to not only tell the rep or person being coached what to do, but show them HOW to do it. When we’re prescribing, in most cases, the rep is being introduced to something new. We’re exposing them to something unfamiliar and therefore that can make it hard for them to absorb.

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It’s important to help them understand what it is you want them to do and how to do it. Once you prescribe an approach, ask the rep if they understand. Ask them if they know how to do it.

In some cases, this will be simple. You may simply prescribe additional calling time or specific call scheduling to help them manage their calling.

In these cases, that’s rather easy. However, in other cases you may suggest something

a bit more complex and give the rep examples of how to implement or execute the advice will make all the different in the world.

It’s not enough to just tell the rep you’re coaching what to do, it’s important to make sure they know how to do it and can do it. Keep asking questions, role play and ask for feedback to ensure the rep understand what you’re prescribing and that they understand how to execute when the coaching is over.

This is where your expertise should shine. Your prescription of change needs to be substantive, on point, and valuable. Your rep is watching and listening. If you are unable to provide real value here, don’t even try. The prescription phase is where the magic happens. It’s where the coach earns their keep. If you, as the coach, are unable to provide solid, valuable, substantive prescriptive advice, you will not get the results you’re looking for. Make sure you’re on your game. Make sure you have the expertise and knowledge required to advance your reps. It’s why you’re in the role. Make sure you are good here.

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APPLICATIONOnce you’ve observed, described and prescribed you’ve done your job. That’s all you can do. BUT, with that said the rep has a job too and that’s to absorb and apply* the coaching.

And this is where the coaching loop starts again and you start the observation process all over. In this case in addition to observing all the other thingsyou observe when watching your reps, you need to watch and see if theyare absorbing applying your coaching. Do they understand what you’ve recommended? Are they able to conceptualize, capture and embrace the concepts, ideas, and recommendations? Are they absorbing the information you’re sharing? Can they execute on the prescriptions? Can they do what you’re asking them to do?

OBSERVE DESCRIBE

PRESCRIBE

ABSORB

APPLY

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ABSORB:

Before anything gets done. The rep hasto absorb the coaching. To determineif a rep has absorbed the coaching (the prescription) ask them to repeat back the coaching. Ask them to give a few examples of where they think they could use the coaching and how they would apply it. Ask them if they can see how it would workin their day-to-day and why. Ask them if anything is confusing. Ask if they need more clarification. Knowing what they don’t get provides tremendous clarity into what they’ve absorbed.

Simply put, the best way to determine if a rep is absorbing the coaching is by asking them to parrot back what you’ve told them (prescribed) and then have them put it in some context that relates to their day-to-day.

If a rep can’t absorb it, they certainly can’t apply it, so it’s best to make sure it’s sinking in, before you send them out into the world.

Once you’re convinced they can absorb the information, it’s time see if they can actually apply what you’ve coached. At the end of the day, if the rep can absorb everything you’ve coached them on, but can’t apply it, progress can’t be made.

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APPLICATIONNow it’s game time. Is the rep applying what you’ve prescribed/coached? Are they executing on your ideas, insights and coaching? Are they able to take what you’ve coached and put it into action and reap the benefits of the coaching.

The application is the critical and final piece of coaching. At the end of the day, it’s why we coach. We need people to change their behaviors. We need them to do different things. Therefore, applying the coaching is the final product. By starting the observation process all over and observing how the rep applies the coaching, you can determine if your coaching is working and if the rep is growing and advancing their abilities.

Use “observation” to determine if the rep is applying what you’ve coached them.

Remember, no one is great atimplementing new things rightaway. It’s going to take time. Youneed to pay attention to theirprogress, helping them adaptand grow along the way. Micro-coaching is good here as well, asyou can zero in on a particular element of the feedback to help them get better.

Ensuring that your reps are implementing the coaching is the final element. Don’t skimp here. Stay on top of it. It’s not set and forget, looking to move on to another skill or approach. Get good at observing how well your reps can implement what you are coaching. It’s all about execution.

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Today’s world is far too complex and moving too fast to have a stagnate organization that isn’t continually growing. It’s your job as a leader to make sure that’s happening.

Here’s another way of looking at it.

The best leaders, get more out of their people than their people can get out of themselves. Take your people to new heights and start NOW!

START

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CONCLUSIONAt the end of the day, we win or lose because of people. Therefore, getting the most out of people is how we win. Building a coaching culture that emphasizes a complete and comprehensive methodology is how you win.

I know, in many cases, I’m not telling you anything new. BUT! My experience working with companies all around the world, true coaching culture are rare. In spite of the best intentions, organizations struggle to make coaching a real and substantive part of the organization and that’s a mistake.

If you want to build a killer organization you have to focus on the people. You have to have a process that allows people to grow, develop and expand their skills.

The process has to be consistent and personal.

Great people are desperate for sales coaching. 57% of sales people say they want more coaching. So give it to them!!

Don’t wait, start building your coaching culture, the numbers, and your employees will thank you.

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A SALES GUYIf you would like help improving your organizations Demo capabilities check us out at:

ASALESGUYCONSULTING.COM

(970) 343-4520

A Sales Guy is an international sales consulting and recruiting firm helping companies accelerate sales and find the best sales people in the world.

Named Top Sales and Marketing Influencer 4 years in a row. Mentioned in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and more.

Now go crush your demos!

*Absorb and apply are credited to Mark Roberge of Hubspot and his book The Sales Acceleration Formula.