Don't Strike Out Your Own Team

He stood all alone as he dug in at the plate. “Two strikes now,” yelled his coach. He looked over to better listen to his coach's instructions. “Choke up, protect the plate, don't take anything close, lay off the high ones.” He never saw it coming, but he did see his coach giving him instructions. Strike three came right down the middle of the plate.

Sound familiar? No? How about the time you, the sales manager, took over the sales presentation your rep was delivering right in the middle of the client meeting? Or the time you sat in the car coaching your rep and gave her those encouraging words, “This is a huge customer for us, don't drop the ball.” Or the motivational speech near the end of the quarter “Up-sell, get referrals, beat the competitor…Choke up, protect the plate”…you get the picture.

As sales managers we mean to be positive, but our messages don't always come across the way we'd like. We want to coach our team to better sales results. There is just so much pressure to hit the numbers. And so little time to spend on everyone.

So here are 7 tips to help make sure your sales rep coaching results in higher sales and stronger, more competitive, more productive reps.

1. Clarity: Make clear through your words and actions that you really do want to help them succeed. Coaching only works in a safe, trusting environment.

2. Mutual Commitment: Coach those who want to learn, develop, and change. There is nothing more frustrating and more futile than trying to coach someone who thinks they don't need it or won't make changes.

3. Shared Development: Develop a learning plan with your sales reps of the areas in which they can improve the most through improving techniques, learning new skills, or acquiring additional knowledge. When the sales rep is a part of their learning assessment and plan they will be much more open to being coached.

4. Focus: Pick one or two (at the most three) specific areas to work on. Don't overload your sales rep with a laundry list of improvements they need to make. They will more than likely improve in zero areas if they try to improve too many at once.

5. Top Reps: Spend the most time with your highest potential sales reps. Seems obvious, but too many sales managers spend time going over the same development plans with the same under-performing reps. Your high potentials and top sellers are the ones for whom your coaching will pay off most.

6. Timing and Delivery: Find the right coaching moments, and, at those moments, coach with questions, as much as you coach with statements. Just after a sales call ask your rep how he thought it went. Just before a call, go over one or two key learning points that you want your rep to remember. At the beginning of the quarter, when there is still time to make an impact in actual results, reinforce by asking questions and gaining commitment what you will all work on during the upcoming quarter.

7. Encouragement: Catch them doing something right. Sometimes the best coaching is reinforcement of something they did well; not perfectly, but well. The confidence you will engender will help your reps work harder to get even better.

Using the right coaching techniques takes practice…but they will pay off. So next time let the sales rep concentrate on the pitch…and maybe you will all hit more home runs.