Coaching for Sales Success

Sales Performance International executives and consultants recently released an eBook; “Sales Performance Improvement Trends for 2018 and Beyond”. In that, one of the key articles was about critical nature of sales coaching in sales success.

Steve Carlson, Vice President of  Sales, says:

“Our ‘best in class’ clients not only invest to develop coaching skills, they also give their sales managers a process to coach to and hold them accountable to coach.

Sales managers are overwhelmed with the day-to-day job demands. As companies have culled middle management they have grown their sales managers’ span of control. For these reasons, most sales managers are stretched too thin and coaching suffers.

Sales managers with good coaching skills are force multipliers for your business. Good sales coaches will find opportunities to help reps win business, clear obstacles that impede success, increase motivation, and foster loyalty. Coaching is the gift that keeps on giving. It is not like buying more software. You do not need a license. You do not have to travel. You do not even need to schedule an appointment. The managers can coach ‘in the moment,’ virtually, or face to face. They just have to do it!”

I couldn’t agree more. Successful sales teams have a great sales coach – someone who spends time providing feedback, coaching, ideas and support.

Carlson goes onto say:

“If you are going to invest one dollar in sales force development, focus on coaching”.

This belief ties into other research that states development needs to be done on the job and as close the ‘coalface’ as possible. Coaching enables this. Interestingly, the coach does not have to be an employee. If the management is too thin on the ground, or focused on other tasks – outsource the coaching to a professional coach. That is what they do – coach and hold your sales people accountable to growth and development and ultimately success.