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What should sales coaching look like?

Posted by Carole Mahoney on 7/6/16 1:00 PM

Several people have said to me recently “No one is doing what you are doing, at least not the way you are doing it. They say they are, but when you really dig and get into it- they aren’t.”

I can understand why. It’s time intensive. It requires an abundance of patience. It requires you to be at the top of your game at all times. It is certainly not for everyone.

There are a lot of coaches out there, and the old saying of “Those who can’t do- coach.” is a mindset that many people have when they think about a coach. Yet the best of the best are the ones who have a coach. Whether you are talking about professional athletes or in the business world, those who rise to the top are the ones who invest in themselves by hiring a coach.

What does a coach do? Are they like a mentor that you bounce ideas off of and learn from their experiences? Do they just keep you accountable? Do they show you how to use new tools? Do they give you new perspectives? Yes, and then some.

What aspects of the sales coaching process are most important? How does it impact the results you get?

And what is your responsibility in the coaching process? How much time and effort is required to see the change you seek? Why can't you just do this for yourself?

Probably the first thing to understand about the coaching process is the difference between process and style. Like personalities, everyone’s is different. 

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*Disclosure- the process described below is the one that we use with Unbound Growth clients and is based on several years (decades) of sales coaching with hundreds of clients. Like all things, it is a continuous learning process and certainly not a one size fits all approach.*

What the sales coaching process looks like (and why each element is important):

  1. Goal setting:
    The process
    starts with the identification of your personally meaningful goal. This can not be a goal to pay your bills or debts, these types of goals are actually demotivating and burdensome. It must be a reason to change your status quo and do whatever it takes to make the improvements that tie that to measurable results. Examples we have heard include; an education for your kids, a vacation for your spouse or partner, or a lifestyle that you want to live, taking care of your aging parents, a bigger house for your growing family, retirement and travel, or even to be an example to others that success is possible or proving to someone that you can. It has to be motivating and something you can visualize that makes you happier than you are today. Ideally this is something you had a grasp of before you hire a coach, but in many cases you may not believe in what you are capable of until a coach draws it out of you (it's already there, just buried usually). Because this is your motivation to change, it is the most important part of the coaching process and must come first. If you don’t know where you are going, any where you end up is fine. “We need goals in order to drive our lives, rather than settle for what comes our way.”
  2. Objective Evaluation:
    We are the worst judges of ourselves. We tend to overplay our strengths and undervalue our weaknesses. We sometimes don’t know what we don’t know, and what we don’t know is likely to be the thing that holds us back. An objective personal sales assessment can be used to customize your coaching development plan that addresses your specific and unique strengths and challenges. This is more for you to understand what is happening in your head than it is for your coach. It is a tool for your coach to be able to say to you ,"The reason you don't feel confident or comfortable doing or saying what you need to is this..." Your evaluation becomes the framework and foundation for you and your coach to work through using the situations and scenarios that are happening in real life. 
  3. Strategic plan:
    Knowing where you want to get to is the first step. Realizing that it’s not if you get there, but how are you going to get there is what a strategic plan is for. You and your coach need to understand who your buyers are, what problem you solve for them, how they educate themselves about their problem and decide on how to solve it. A coach may not need to know all the ins and outs of your product or service, but you will need to understand together everything about your buyer, how they buy and where they go for information.
  4. Regular phone calls:  
    Your hidden obstacles and mindsets are impacting your daily conversations. To change your outcomes, you have to change your behaviors during those conversations. To change your behaviors, your coach needs to know where your head is at. Sometimes only having a call or meeting once a week, or worse, once a month, makes it difficult to remember the conversation, or where your head was at during it. Recording your calls can help you and your coach to evaluate your calls, but that is coaching retroactively. Short and frequent calls are needed on a daily/weekly basis for accountability, brainstorming, and real life sales role playing, development and analysis, pre-call strategy and post call debrief, content strategy and brainstorming. This is a proactive approach to practice before you face your prospects and buyers.
  5. Email support:
    A lot of the B2B buying process happens in email. The communication pie chart is changing due to virtual communication. Therefore getting email support from your coach to help you craft messages that set up meeting agendas, get decision makers involved, and make the best use of everyone’s time is a critical skill to be learned. A coach can give you feedback on email correspondence with prospects, clients, centers of influence and others as needed. Sometimes you just need another set of eyes to gain a perspective you might not see.
  6. Content creation: 
    To be successful in the 21st century,
    you need an online presence. Sales people and leaders who are creating the value-add content will be the ones who will be sought out for their domain thought leadership and will attract buyers to them. A coach who can help you create that content will also help you to accelerate your own learning.
  7. Group learning: 
    After the first 3 months of 1-1 coaching, most people start to get it. Something clicks and the way they think starts to change. At that point they are strong enough to continue their coaching with a group. With others in a group coaching session, it enables you to be transparent and see that you aren't alone in some of the things you struggle with. You can learn from other's styles and adjust it to what works for your style. You get the additional accountability to do what you need to, and it also gives the emotional distance to be able to offer advice to others in the group. Your coach can act as moderator to get everyone in the group engaged. 

Complex B2B sales are built on relationships, knowledge and trust that are created during the conversations you have. A sales coach can only help you develop skills if you are open to feedback, self-aware, and willing to learn and apply it.  A sales coach could help you execute on your sales strategy with your evaluation as the backdrop and each conversation you have on a daily basis with your network and buyers. Ultimately, your success is up to you. 

The question is- are you open success? Still on the fence as to whether or not sales coaching is right for you? Not sure what questions you should be asking? Download the complete eGuide: "Is sales coaching right for you?" and get questions you need to ask yourself, a potential coach, and determine if you are ready to be coached.

Get the eGuide.

Topics: sales coaching, sales coach