Sales coaching: 5 strategies to become a world-class sales manager

Coaching is essential to the success of a sales team – yet it is widely ignored, overlooked or forgotten as a management discipline in the hectic day-to-day rush of meetings, forecasts and never-ending reports.

According to RAIN Group data, successful sales coaching programs increase average deal size, sales activity, win rates, and new leads by 25%-40%.

On average, companies with a formal sales coaching strategy reach 91% quota attainment, while those using an informal ad hoc coaching approach average around 85% quota attainment.

Sales coaching is a key part of the role managers play in developing people, improving performance and achieving goals. It is one of the four key roles of a sales manager or leader; the others being supervisor, trainer and mentor.

Sales coaching is a series of regular conversations focussed on helping individuals solve problems and develop solutions that is personalised to, and lead by, them.

In practice, that means regular pre-scheduled one-on-one time where the manager asks questions that help the rep self-assess what their barriers to improvement are and self-discover ways to solve those challenges and grow.

Broadly speaking, sales coaching is either strategic (focussed on long-term career development) or tactical (focussed on specific deals and opportunities) in nature. The objectives of sales coaching include:

• Assessing strengths and areas for improvement
• Developing knowledge and skills
• Changing behaviours
• Inspiring self-motivation

Ultimately, the goal is to create an environment where team members feel self-motivated to develop, excel, and take greater responsibility for what they do.

There is no one-size-fits all sales coaching model. There are only approaches that have been shown to be successful in particular situations. As the coach, you must identify each individual salesperson’s personal “success code” – and use that code to unlock the salesperson’s potential for success. Here are five tips that have been proven to help sales leaders unlock that code.

#1: Meet Them Where They Are, Not Where You Want Them To Be

It is always up to the coach to choose the right approach for the salesperson and the situation. In this sense, effective sales coaching is a series of adjustments to particular people and circumstances. In order for your sales coaching to be truly effective, you must first understand the individual salesperson’s current level of skill in a given area. Not only that: you must be willing and able to coach to that level of skill, not to a future or desired level of skill. When coaching efforts are unsuccessful, it’s usually because the coach has, for one reason or another, overlooked this principle. 

Coaching salespeople for improved performance must begin with a clear understanding, on the coach’s part, of each individual salesperson’s current level of skill, of each salesperson’s knowledge of the behaviors critical to success in certain selling situations, and of each person’s self-awareness during the sales process in general. In order for sales coaching to be effective, the process must focus on critical behavior change, not the imparting of new skills. The salesperson’s current level of effectiveness is always the starting point, as well as the benchmark for improvement over time. 

#2: Language Matters

It is important to understand the language of an effective coaching session. This language is expressed both verbally and non-verbally. The most effective coaches understand the nature of non-verbal messaging. They are good at reading body language and tonality to determine a given salesperson’s level of buy-in to the coaching process.

As managers, you must understand that you cannot “sell” coaching to salespeople who don’t yet associate it with success. Nothing good results from a coaching session where the salesperson sits quietly and gets involved on an intellectual level but has no emotional ownership of the process. Coaching is most effective when an individual is willing to be vulnerable and share intimate experiences. Once they realise that certain behaviors, if changed, will help them improve and create even greater success, they are equal partners in the coaching process. Not before! Language – spoken and otherwise — is always a gateway to that partnership.

The most powerful coaching moments involve individuals analysing their own deeply held personal beliefs and considering whether those beliefs are driving them toward greater success – or holding them hostage.

Far too many salespeople are prisoners of negative patterns resulting from broken personal belief systems that limit their ability to grow. The best coaches know that the language employed during the coaching session is a vitally important tool for creating breakthroughs around the assessment of those belief systems. Accordingly, they choose their words – and their non-verbal messaging – with great care. 

#3: Make It A Safe Environment

The coaching process must take place in a safe environment where coach and salesperson have the ability to share open, honest, fact-based feedback. Many managers confuse coaching with training and view the process as a way to “fix” issues negatively impacting the bottom line, often creating an environment that feels less than safe for the salesperson. (How do you feel when someone tries to “fix” you?)

Remember: Training is the imparting of new skills. Coaching, on the other hand, is a way of empowering salespeople to use their existing skill set more effectively in the context of the sales process and thus achieve greater success.

Understanding - and acting out - the difference between coaching and training is crucial. Coaching sessions are not an opportunity to try to 'fix' salespeople or tell them what they should be doing. They're an opportunity to help them realise for themselves how they can best apply what they know to maximum effect.

#4: Set A Good Contract

Coaching sessions require a strong Up-Front Contract – A verbal agreement in advance about what is going to happen during and after the session. This is a statement of the “ground rules” for the discussion, led by the coach, in which both participants develop a meaningful agenda.

This agenda becomes the focus of the session. A clear agreement about how much time the session will take is critical for the initial session, as well as all succeeding sessions.

TIP #5: Discuss The Three Critical Elements

The three critical elements both sides need to discuss and understand during each coaching session are:

• What – The shared purpose of the coaching session
• Reason – Why it's necessary to achieve that purpose
• Importance – The real-world impact it will have on the salesperson

Successful coaches are able to establish all three early on in the coaching relationship, and also to measure the level of trust the salesperson has in him or her.

Trust is a key factor driving success. Trust can be measured using the same symbols we use to evaluate Olympic success: gold, silver, and bronze. Gold level trust is only achieved over time and must be the coach’s ultimate goal. The most productive coaching sessions involve the highest level of trust between participants. This high level of trust fosters internal exploration through openness and vulnerability and speeds growth and development . . . which is what effective sales coaching is all about.

Tom Mallens is training director at Birmingham-based Sandler Training, Heart of England.

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