1. !"#skill level of every salesperson, and that means training,retraining and training some more, as you manage yourother responsibilities.Yes, its challenging, but training and coaching consistentlyand well also present an enormous opportunity to growyour sales, because nearly all companies do a poor job.The sales managers of those organizations are just telling oryelling. Good sales managers, who learn the principles ofeffective training and coaching, help their companiesoutperform the rest.What are sales training and coaching? Whoneeds them?Training and coaching are really sharing your knowledgeabout selling and products, motivating your salespeople topractice what you tell them and getting them to do it.Any time you share something that affects the sale, youWhy do sales training and are training or coaching.coaching? Formal sales training is generally working with a group ofsales representatives. It can be as simple as practicing howBy Rick Conlow and Doug Watsabaughto greet a customer through a role playing exercise in a one-hour sales meeting, or it can be an in-depth, two-weekprogram that teaches your salespeople how to use 24Are sales training and coaching reallydifferent sales techniques.necessary?Regardless of the type of business you are in, the idea is to Coaching is working one on one with a sales rep, targetingmove product get equipment into the classroom, food onhis or her goals, action plans and needs. It achievesthe shelves, steel to the factory, computers into the officeimproved results by helping the rep develop necessary skillsor boats on the lake. and want to. Training supported by coaching has adramatic affect on sales (according to research andSalespeople whoexperience, net gains of two to four times the average know their customers and their basic wants andsalesperson!).needs, understand the features of their products and how So, given those impressive results, what prevents moreto translate them into customer benefits andsales managers from excelling as trainers and coaches? practice to improve their selling skills Time when and how to prepare and work it intowill sell more units than salespeople who do not.their schedule Content what to talk about in a training meetingSales training and coaching are critical, because or one-on-one coaching sessionsalespeople who learn more and practice more sell more Method/process how to conduct an effectiveperiod. training meeting and a mutually beneficial coachingsessionWhy do sales managers exist?It would be great if every salesperson would take Professional resources can be of great help in overcomingresponsibility to be the best, but 95% wont. Thats whythese obstacles. They prepare the meeting and coachingsales managers exist. As a sales manager, you are charged session agenda and content, and contribute to the deliverywith doing everything you can to increase company sales.of the training. You, however, will have to make trainingThe most effective way to increase sales is to increase the and coaching a priority. You must set aside the time, and !

2. commit to learning more about selling, so you will have conditioned to think sales training and coaching are somegood, current and practical information to share with your form of punishment or they feel they have nothing more tosalespeople. learn.If you dont feel comfortable training or coaching, because You can change that. You are the model. As a sales manager,you dont think you are a dynamic person, remember that your own attitude about training and coaching will bemanagers who regularly train and coach their people sell reflected in your teams willingness to take learning andmore products, make more money and are moresuccessful than managers who do nothing at all. So, get improvement seriously. You make all the difference in your sales teams attitude.started! A year from now, youll be glad you did. Your enthusiasm and encouragement during training orIs it necessary to train and coach all the coaching sessions will translate into dollars perhaps soonertime?than you expect. And as you unlock the skills and gifts in eachAbsolutely! Most salespeople learn all they can the firstone of your people, and inspire them to excel, you will see theyear on the job and then stop. Ten years later, they havedaily results in new sales. Apathy or staying in your comfortone years experience 10 times and they arent any betterzone creates a lousy alternative: lost opportunity and lostand arent making much more money. Truth be told, they sales. So, stretch yourself!have forgotten most of what they have learned over theyears. Thats the reality of how we store information. MostAre you willing to invest the time to train andof what we have learned is buried in our subconscious andcoach your people regularly to guaranteeonly consistent training and coaching keep it in ourconscious mind where we can use it. success? Now thats the real question! Why not do it today?Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. This is theright approach!Plato defined the job of training and coaching. He said thatto be a successful manager, trainer or coach, your primary Senior Partners Rick Conlow and Doug Watsabaughresponsibility is to talk people into using what they alreadyhave helped companies, governmental agencies andknow and to be open-minded about learning what theynonprofit organizations achieve record-breaking results for more than 20 years as performancedont. improvement experts. Their clients achievements include double digit improvement in repeat andSo many people have approached us after a trainingRick referral business, triple digit increases in sales,session and said, I sure learned a lot, or You remindedConlow # more than 50% reduction in customer complaints, 34 quality and service awards, and domination inme of a lot. In fact, so many have said those things that itstheir respective markets. Rick and Doug arehard for us to believe organizations are doing enoughpopular motivators and speakers, inspiringtraining or coaching.audiences with their engaging down-to-earth but down-to-business approach. They have authored more than a dozen books. Six new titles, includingRight now during this economic downturn is a great time Doug SuperSTAR Customer Service, were published into increase your efforts and resolve. One of our customersWatsabaugh # late 2009.holds at least two business-building training meetings aweek without fail and follows that with a weekly coachingsession with each representative. His sales teamWho we are#WCW Partners is a performance improvement company. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, weconsistently out-performs the rest. After a recent trainingwork with clients in a variety of industriessession, his four salespeople set 29 appointments in 30worldwide to help them excel in sales, service andminutes! leadership. We facilitate business growth and vitality through four practices sales and customer retention improvement, organization andAnother company we work with has improved sales 210% leadership development, innovation andin 2 ! years by becoming training and coaching zealots communications strategy. You are capable ofbeating their competition day in, day out. Training andamazing things. Let us show you. www.wcwpartners.comcoaching work! #How do I know who needs it? This one is simple. If they are in sales and they are breathing, they need it. If you have salespeople who do not!"#$%&$(& want to know more about selling, they have either been!"!#$%&()&*#+*#%#,)&-.&/%(0)#+/,&.1)/)(#0./,%(23#4%*)5#+(#6+(()%,.7+*8#6+(()*.%8#9)#9.&:#9+;#07+)(*#+(#%#1%&+)2#.-#+(50)7#+(#*%7)*8#*)&1+0)#%(5#7)%5)&*;+,3#!)#-%0+7+%)#?