Are Your Sales Leaders Coaching Enough?

Sales Growth Outperformance
Sales leaders who seek to outperform their competitors often overlook one of the main drivers of sales growth — sales performance coaching. While sales leaders try to do the right thing promoting star performers to sales management roles, new sales managers report that they do not receive the sales management training required to successfully lead, manage, and coach their teams. The critical question: are your sales leaders are coaching enough?

Sales Training Without Follow-up Sales Coaching Is Ineffective
Sure, customized and targeted solution selling training can help your sales reps gain insight and awareness of consultative sales skills required to sell more complex solutions. But our sales training measurement research found that, on average, only 1-in-5 sales reps actually change their on-the-job behavior and performance after sales training alone. 

Why?

Because sales training participants report that they:

• Do not believe that changing their behavior is in their best interests
• Do not see their boss using the same tools and techniques
• Do not have the time to practice the new ways
• Are not convinced that new skills and behaviors will significantly improve sales
• Are not held consistently accountable for the new consultative selling skills and behaviors
• Are not supported by a competent sales coach

The Power of a Good Coach
The International Olympic Committee describes 10 key qualities of a great sports coach. They include an intimate knowledge of the sport, leading by example, commitment to sharing their knowledge, knowing how to motivate others, individualizing their coaching style to each athlete, communicating effectively, inspiring trust, and displaying strong character. Those same qualities apply to a great sales coach and carry the same power to inspire teammates to greater effort and excellence.

Once a rep has been through a business sales training program that is targeted to your unique value proposition, ideal target client profile, and their specific sales development needs, the sales coach becomes a partner in seeing that the newly learned skills are applied. The sales coach observes the rep in action and is able to provide timely advice on how to up their game. As the sales rep gains confidence and recognizes the effectiveness of skill improvement, the relationship between coach and trainee strengthens.

High performing sales managers understand that results require targeted sales training AND consistent coaching to keep their team on top.

The Bottom Line
If you want to improve sales performance, add frequent sales coaching to reinforce your sales training.  Sales forces that get it right, boost performance 4-to-1 compared to reps who do not receive consistent and frequent sales coaching. Are your sales leaders coaching enough in the right ways?

To learn more about if your sales leaders coaching enough in the right ways, download The Truth About the Biggest Sales Coaching Mistakes