Sales Training Seminars and Tips

The 5 Biggest Sales Management Coaching Blunders

Sales coaching is the No. 1 sales management activity that drives sales performance. The only problem is that sales managers have not been taught how to effectively coach. Coaching is a skill that takes time to perfect and unless effectively coached or trained managers make all types of blunders.

Do You Want To Increase Sales Performance?

Transforming your sales managers from good to great coaches can have a dramatic impact on sales. As the head of sales management or as a frontline sales manager you can greatly enhance the performance of your sales team if you can develop great coaches.

Sales Management Coaching Blunder #1 - “Telling vs. Asking Coaching”

As a sales manager, you probably were a top sales rep. You may still see yourself as a problem-solver: “If I solve this rep's issue then she/he can make the sale.” As a result of your action orientation, you are likely to tell the salesperson how to solve the issue. “Telling” does not create self-managing salespeople. In fact, there are numerous downsides to the tell-first approach.

First, you are not empowering your sales reps, who may perceive you as being a micro-manager. Second, you are also creating a dependency on sales management to solve their problems. This creates endless emails and phone calls and results in needy reps. And third, you are not developing them. One of the critical areas for sales development is the ability of the rep to be a self manager.

Be aware of when you are in “tell” mode and remind yourself when you have fallen into a bad habit.

Sales Management Coaching Blunder #2 - “'I'll Get To It' Coaching”

Time management is a challenge we all face. With emails, meetings and administrative work, what is a sales manager to do? If sales results are what you desire, then the easy answer is to do the activities that will drive the greatest revenue. Generally we do the busy work first because it's easiest. It feels good when we are up to date on our emails. Stress is reduced when we have all our reports in on time and we have followed up on all our messages.

But all those activities don't contribute to the bottom line. If great sales management coaching can have a direct impact of up to 19% more sales, why is sales management coaching not the #1 priority?

Stop making excuses and get out of the office. Get out in the field and make coaching your #1 priority. Your boss will thank you and your reps will make lots of money.

Sales Management Coaching Blunder #3 - “Laundry List Coaching”

Personal growth and change is a challenge for all of us. We all have strengths and areas for development. Managers who decide who create a "laundry list" of areas for development will have little success in coaching their reps. It is too difficult for a sales rep to make wholesale changes in how they sell. Development is about working on improving one or two things, and once the salesperson has demonstrated that they have acquired the new skill or behavior, then you can move on to the next area.

From a sales rep's perspective imagine getting a field report from sales management listing all of the things you do wrong. Some reps would not even read the report. Many would read and get defensive, or wonder where to start. Others may read it and be completely overwhelmed.

Great sales management coaching is about focus, focus, and focus. Helping a sales rep improve in one area of their job can have a major impact on their performance.

Sales Management Coaching Blunder #4 - “One Size Fits All Coaching”

One of the key pitfalls sales managers fall into is when the take the “one size fits all" approach to sales management.

How many times have we witnessed a sales rep working on autopilot? This is the rep doing the same sales pitch to each customer, and delivering the message in the same way. As sales management coaches we often fail to see when we go into autopilot mode, taking the same approach with each sales rep.

Do you ever find yourself coaching all your sales reps the same way? Your feedback to each rep is the same, your communication approach is the same... You have fallen into the rut of one size fits all sales management coaching. Coaching differs from training. Training is about having everyone learn the same information or skills. Coaching, on the other hand, is about diagnosing each rep's particular areas for improvement. It is about adapting your sales management coaching style to the individual, and developing individualised sales development plans.

Sales management coaching is a one-to-one sport. It is about growing individuals to develop to their full potential.

Sales Management Coaching Blunder #5 - "'Way To Go' Coaching”

One of the key blunders managers make is not getting a commitment to change. They have done a perfect job coaching by asking all right questions, come to agreement on areas for development, but then forget to get buy-in on how the problem will be fixed. When the manager and sales rep agree on an area for development, it is critical to have the rep buy in to what steps they will take to develop.

This requires a simple three or four-point plan, which includes what the sales rep will be doing between sales management coaching sessions. The key is to have the rep develop their own next steps, and your role becomes one of holding them accountable. Without this in place, the odds are that there will be no change in sales rep behaviour or skills by the next sales management coaching session.

Great sales management coaching means great performance. Sales organizations that embrace a coaching culture and invest in their front line managers' ability to coach will have a competitive advantage and outsell the competition.

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Article Content: Sales Management