Coaching your sales team is the best way to increase sales. Not only that…it increases motivation, proactivity, self-belief/confidence….and is the No 3 Principle in my 7 Principles that underpin a high performing sales team.
One of the most common behaviours I see in Sales Leaders…
…and the most challenging one to break is the habit of TELLING…this also includes the heavily disguised ‘telling’ that we refer to as SUGGESTING!
Just because you have loads of experience and have been there, done that and got the T shirt doesn’t mean that you have all the answers and you’re going to tell them the best way to do it…whether they want to hear it or not.
You are NOT THEM
What works for you may not work for them. They know better than you what works for them and the only way you’re going to uncover that is to use your coaching skills.
Use coaching questions to get them thinking, to play out scenarios in their head and to come up with their own solutions.
If they are a bit off track in their solution it simply means they haven’t focused on an important element. Ask questions around possible scenarios so that they come to the realisation for themselves and shift their solution to incorporate their new awareness.
Why is this more effective?
Because there’s much more chance that what they come up with will work for them…and the level of commitment they have for their own solution will trump anything you come up with.
It also builds the proactivity muscle and enables them to solve their own problems in the moment.
If you keep TELLING they stop thinking for themselves…and worse, they only do something when you TELL them what to do!
You still need to identify their skills and mindset gaps
…because they may not be aware of these for themselves.
This is where your experience, your foresight and your expertise come into play…to pick the right coaching questions to start your coaching conversation. That’s the only thing you can plan when coaching your sales people…because you never know which way the conversation will go.
Then your coaching skills take over and your sales people get the very best support to be the best version of themselves.
If you haven’t had any formal coaching training STOP READING THIS BLOG and book yourself on the best coaching course you can find right now.
In my opinion it’s practically impossible to be a great sales leader without excellent coaching skills!
Until next time,
