Are you one of those companies that is currently leading the pack in your industry? Is staying on top of the most effective selling strategies one of the reasons for your success? How did you discover these strategies and who taught them to your sales and marketing people?
Obviously, what you’ve figured out is that effective sales training and coaching must be a priority for any company if it hopes to be successful. That said, if your sales managers are too busy putting out fires and problem solving to stay up to speed on all the latest strategies and techniques, you should consider bringing in an experienced professional sales coach to instigate a performance-based program to keep your sales people operating at peak levels.
In the spirit of making 2020 your most successful year yet, here are the Top Five reasons to be thankful for expert sales coaches and trainers this year:
They Improve Selling Skills
Sales training tends to focus on the development of the sales team while sales coaching targets each individual rep’s selling skills. Targeted skill areas, especially for new hires, include call prospecting and call planning. The right coach will also introduce more senior reps to negotiation skills and how to effectively present value.
They Boost Closing Rates
Sales coaching is used to improve individual sales rep’s closing rates. Normally, this involves focusing on opportunity coaching, a methodology that plays to the strengths of sales managers, especially those who previously excelled in closing sales. Just as with skills coaching, the temptation to tell the rep what to do rather than inquire about opportunities in the pipeline must be avoided. What is essential is to help the rep think through his or her closing strategies.
They Help Sales Managers Get Better
Typically, sales training and coaching experts focus on sales reps but they can also have a significant impact on managers. By working with sales managers, the right coach can help them become good mentors and coaches. Bottom line: While the sales reps are being trained and coached, don’t forget to include the managers in the process.
They Speed the Development of New Hires:
New hires invariably attend programs that often include sections designed to teach them improved selling skills. Normally, this coaching is left to the sales managers which can be hit or miss if the manager is not a particularly skilled instructor. Better to bring in an expert who can teach the new hire exactly what they need to know and leave the sales manager to focus on their primary role.
They Create Leverage
If sales managers get into a habit of just telling their reps what to do all the time, they will find themselves in a situation where the reps stop looking for their own solutions to problems they encounter. This reduces the sales manager to the role of problem solver which is not a good use of their valuable time. Bringing an outside coach is like teaching the reps how to fish instead of just giving them fish all the time. This frees up the manager to devote more time to developing sales strategies which will be far more beneficial to your company.
Sales coaches and training experts help companies develop a coaching culture. Although it may take time and patience, the result – an empowered sales force – is well worth the effort.
