1-8-2014
Sales manager. The job title carries a lot of weight. It usually involves either running the entire sales department or a significant portion of it. People with this kind of responsibility could easily let themselves believe that they should be spending their time managing the numbers, studying the spending, watching over the cost of sale, studying the attrition rate of existing accounts, and tracking new business. There is no doubt that these are all important job functions that fall within the responsibilities of the sales manager. But none of those responsibilities are as important as growing and developing salespeople. At the Center for Sales Strategy, we believe that the sales manager?s primary responsibility is to turn talent into performance ? and you do that by being an amazing sales coach.
The sales manager?s job is, first and foremost, a coaching job. And the sales manager?s dilemma is finding a way to focus primarily on coaching while also juggling all of the responsibilities listed above.
The best sales managers know that it all starts with spending time out in the field, coaching salespeople rather than simply looking at the scores. They ride with them to the appointments, ask them questions about their plans for the call, give them feedback on what they did right, and help them to continually improve in the ways that make a difference. Here?s what they don?t do: ride along on the call in order to do the call and close the business.
In order to be powerful, these can?t be surprise ridealongs designed to check up on and micromanage the salespeople. Effective coaching days are always planned and on the calendar many weeks in advance because this is not about catching people doing it wrong. This is about focusing completely on helping them to grow. When they are done right, the sellers actually enjoy them! Why? Because they receive good coaching, and they see actual growth as a result.
Can you imagine a professional football coach not attending the practices or the games? Imagine if the coach of your favorite football team avoided any time in the field, and instead determined how a play was doing by relying entirely on the score. How could he give his players input on what they need to do to win or to grow professionally? He couldn?t! Don?t be that coach. Be better than that.
Three Things You Can Do To Be A Better Sales Coach
1. Commit to spending time regularly in the field with your sales reps, and remember to use this time for coaching rather than micromanaging. Schedule this in-field time well in advance, and share very clear expectations regarding the purpose and intended outcome of this time together. Also, this is a coaching call, so make sure to provide detailed feedback on what you saw that you liked and where the seller might make slight adjustments to improve.
2. Find the time to get to know each of your salespeople and build a development plan for each one. Learn what their goals are, how they prefer to receive coaching, and the kinds of recognition that feel good to them when they succeed. The more you can get to know your salespeople as individuals, the better you will be able to coach, teach, and motivate them.
3. Study and learn about their individual talents and strengths. In order to be a highly effective coach, you need to understand the natural abilities of each person you plan to help grow and create a clear plan to do this. This means creating strategies to maximize their innate strengths and providing them with opportunities to use and grow those strengths. Because each person you manage is wired differently, a one-size-fits-all coaching plan won?t work here. You will need a specific plan to grow each individual based on his or her unique set of natural talents.
So here is the question you should ask yourself: Are you coaching your players while they play and practice? Or are you spending most of your time managing from your office? No need to worry! It?s not too late. Take time today to rearrange your priorities and make sure you are spending time coaching. I assure you, you will see your salespeople grow, and you will.
Matt Sunshine is EVP of the Center for Sales Strategy.
E-mail: mattsunshine@csscenter.com
