Sales Coaching Tips – Part 2

This is part two in a two part series on Sales Coaching Tips.  If you have not read Sales Coaching TIPS – Part One, click here.

In part one of this series, three types of field coaching were identified.  Unobserved coaching calls, observed coaching calls, and joint sales calls.  Effective sales coaching, utilizes this more direct approach, while taking certain variables into consideration to ensure a sales managers approach is tailored to each sales representative for the greatest chance of success with coaching.  Here are a few variables to consider:

Observed coaching and joint-sales calls need the most preparation and skill to manage the dynamics that may occur with customers.  Sales coaches should consider the following recommendations to ensure effective observed and joint sales calls.

Pre Call Meeting

Prior to any call the manager should meet with the rep to understand the nature of the call, the call objective, and the call plan or strategy.  Some questions to ask are, “Are they realistic?”  and “Will they move the opportunity forward?”

Stick to Your Role

Some questions a sales coach should ask themselves before the call include, “Is it a safe call to join?” and “Can I be a supportive observer or do I have a unique role in contributing to the call objective?” It is usually best to not try to switch roles during a sales call if possible, so pick your role for each call carefully. Make sure you and the sales representative understand your role prior to the call.  Unless there is and established ”signal” or plan for engaging an issue with the customer, let the rep handle it.  It’s very important to keep strengthening the relationship between the customer and the representative.  If the customer directs questions to you, defer them to the rep first, and then support as needed.  If a customer calls about an issue, don’t fix it.  Instead, discuss the issue with the sales representative and have them get back to customer.   Keep the representative ”in charge” and help them build their relationship with their customers.

Use a “Post-Call” Debrief Process

Following a call, take some time to debrief with the sales representative.  Ask, “How did you think the call went?” Listen closely for their overall reactions and feelings. What they say is usually a good gauge of the sales representative’s perception of their own performance.  It is important to get the representative talking about the quality of the call and making their own judgments first, so they can learn to critique their performance on their own, not just when you’re there.

Encourage the representative to reflect back on the call objectives.  Ask, “How well did you accomplishing what you set out to do?”   Stop the representative from going to “what went wrong” right away and stick to with “what went well?”

Sort out one or two things to focus on in the future.   Have the sales representative identify one thing to continue doing and one thing to stop doing or change.  Keep this discussion short, concise, and simple.  This will help the representative find something they can try again on the next call and hopefully see improvement right away.

Sharing your observation of the representative’s performance and your perspective of the customers reactions can be especially helpful.   “Did you notice the customer’s initial reaction to your recommendation.? What do you think you did that triggered that?  What were you hoping for?”

Confirm the representative’s commitment to make a plan and try new things for the next call.  The coach should also recognize changes observed to reinforce the new skills and practices.   Help the sales representative look for other places to apply these new skills in other situations they face.