A.M.P. PROGRAM
COACHING
The most common analogy for a sales manager is a
coach and an apt analogy it is.
This component works in tandem with Accountability.
Coaching salespeople involves time spent strategizing
situations, preparing for objections and debriefing after sales
calls. Remember,
opportunity meeting preparation is the definition of luck.
Coaching first requires a selling system.
Which selling system isn’t as important as simply having one.
You may have a formal, defined system or you may have a
general, casual system.
Whatever your level, all sales have certain stages to them from
prospecting to closing.
The focus of coaching is to assist the salesperson in the tactical
approach to moving a prospect through the different stages of your
system.
Memorable coaching starts by first understanding
the basic selling style of the salesperson.
Are they quiet, focused and tenacious?
Are they talkative, gregarious and quick?
Are they data-driven, precise and remote?
There are many styles so it is important to adapt your
coaching to fit the person.
Our assessments define the salesperson’s style and our
coaching sheets provide you with the format for your coaching to
have the greatest impact on his or her performance.
5 Tips for Effective
Coaching
-
Be Approachable
– no salesperson wants to be beaten down in each coaching
session. Accentuate
the positives and leverage the salesperson’s natural strengths.
-
Be Consistent
– invest the time on a weekly basis to improve your team.
Have specific, baseline criteria you expect
each salesperson to
use in their selling approach.
-
Be Realistic
– at times they are going to fail which is a good learning event
in itself (provided it is not a large opportunity in which they
fail). Know that the
salesperson will stumble at times so the key is to ensure that they learn
the lesson, internalize it and move on to the next opportunity.
-
Be Reasonable
– coaching takes time so don’t expect overnight improvement.
Set milestones that provide time for the skill
development to be internalized.
Repetition and reinforcement is the key.
-
Be Tough
– the salesperson will only develop if you push them beyond
their comfort zone. They
will fight it on occasion, but your job is to make them better
which requires both reinforcement and correction.
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