At the risk of doing yet another blog that draws parallels between sales coaching and sports coaching, there is one quote from the great Vince Lombardi that holds true for both endeavors:

“Coaches who can outline their plays on a blackboard are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their players and motivate.”

If you’re not familiar with Lombardi, he was so successful as the coach of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers in the 1960s that the Super Bowl trophy is named after him.

Lombardi became the GOAT using players who weren’t exceptionally talented running plays that weren’t particularly complicated or innovative. His singular talent lay in preparing his players and motivating them to do whatever was necessary to win.

The reason why this story is applicable to your sales team and how you should train them is simple: Few companies have a Vince Lombardi on their staff.

Ask somebody from HR to handle the team sales coaching and one-on-one sales coaching for your employees and you might get some well-researched plays on a blackboard, but they probably won’t have the sales chops to get inside their colleagues’ heads and truly motivate them.

For that to happen, you need to bring in an expert just as the Packers did when they enlisted Lombardi to bring about a change in the franchise’s sagging fortunes.

The Secret Is Out

A recent study from CSO Insights revealed a direct correlation between sales coaching and one-on-one sales coaching and quota attainment. Not only that, it even measured the success rates of salespeople who received exceptional coaching versus those who received average coaching.

When exposed to expert coaching, almost 95% of the reps studied went on to meet or exceed their quotas while that number dropped to below 85% for those who received average coaching.

A Tide That Lifts All Boats

From the study, it is apparent that any coaching is better than no coaching but the trick for business owners is to identify and retain highly skilled coaches to work with their employees if they hope to optimize results.

Top coaches like those at the Sales Coaching Institute are constantly evolving to stay up-to-speed with the latest results-driven ­techniques designed to sharpen the core selling skills of even the most elite reps.

By bringing in an outside expert to customize a sales coaching program and provide one-on-one sales coaching to key employees, businesses can lower costs and boost their bottom line.

Experience Matters

Sales coaching is a highly specialized area of expertise. When choosing a coach, you need to make sure the coach has the experience to connect effectively with your sales team as no other productivity investment is as impactful as sales coaching.

An experienced sales coach can teach salespeople how to pinpoint a buyer’s motivation, how to create effective action plans, how to persevere in the face of obstacles and most importantly, how to set and achieve goals. With the right coaching, your reps will learn to sustain higher levels of energy over longer periods of time and increase the number of sales they make.

Speaking of increased sales, it should not be the only reason you bring in an outside expert to work with your team. For example, professional development – and the success that follows – is proven to be a key factor in employee retention, job satisfaction, and motivation.

Be In It For The Long Haul

Research shows most sales curriculums don’t last much longer than employees’ memories of the initial session. Truly effective sales coaching relies on consistent, long-term reinforcement which is why you should look for a trainer who can provide highly specific one-on-one sales coaching to your managers. This enables those managers to continue coaching their teams long after the coach has gone.

The right coach will help your managers become good mentors and coaches in their own right while helping your organization to accomplish its goals by building a strategic, engaged and complete sales organization.

There Are No Shortcuts

While there’s no doubt finding the right coach for your sales team will make your business more successful and your employees happier, it’s important to understand that you have a serious task in front of you.

As the great man Vince Lombardi said:

“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”

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.

Sales coaching and sales training is critically important. Ask any industry leader in just about any field you can think of and they’ll confirm this statement.

However, for every successful company out there that has benefitted from bringing in outside expertise, there are just as many excuses being offered by less successful companies for not doing it.

Sales training and sales coaching is a highly specialized field and no matter how good they are at their real job, your average sales manager lacks the teaching skills needed to complete this task effectively and efficiently.

A sales manager, after all, has different priorities. They need to focus on getting their teams to make more sales. They simply do not have the time it takes to keep up with all the latest sales and marketing approaches and techniques. Nothing against them. There’s only so many hours in a day and if teaching was their strength, they probably wouldn’t be working as sales managers.

Aside from trying to get one of your more senior managers to conduct training in-house, the next most common short-cut is to enroll employees in a skills program or send them to a seminar. While better than nothing, these options do little to help the employee tackle all the work they have on their plate as they’re learning the new techniques and skills.

Bringing in an outside sales trainer addresses all these issues as they are able to be onsite helping your employees learn in the “real world” working on actual tasks.

Ask yourself: How do the top companies in my industry train and coach their sales employees? Chances are they don’t ask a sales manager or someone from HR to take on the additional responsibility. They understand hiring a true sales coaching and training expert is always going to better – and more cost-effective than a DIY approach.

Truth be told, the benefits of sales coaching and sales training are obvious as the recent spike in the industry attests. All you need to do now is find an experienced professional with a stellar track record to help your sales people scale new heights of selling success.

According to a recent report, companies are dedicating only 10% of their learning and development (L&D) resources to improving sales. Indeed, the most common complaint among new hires is the lack of in-depth sales training. Find out why sales training is an investment your company can’t afford to overlook.

Why Invest in Learning and Development for Your Sales Team?

The 2019 Learning and Development (L&D) Report from professional search engine findcourses.com conducted a survey of over 70 L&D professionals. Of those surveyed, only 10% reported sales as a top training priority despite the proven benefits of learning and development. The report revealed a clear connection between learning and innovative business practices, diversity and inclusion training and financial growth, and current financial growth with increasing L&D investment.

L&D training is a key facet of running a successful and growing business. However, businesses are missing out on fostering long-term growth when they overlook sales training in L&D plans. By strategically increasing investment in L&D, you can maximize your potential for revenue growth, while cementing the sales team at the center of your business’ success.

So, what L&D strategies will help more sellers become more effective? If your goal is to lead your sales team to victory, practicing L&D professionals have identified some key training insights to boost sales and encourage innovation.

Create a Safe Space for Idea-Sharing

A successful sales team is one that openly shares and communicates their ideas in the spirit of collaboration and mutual support. Tiffany Poppa of Bonobos credits their high rate of innovation to their culture of trust and relationship-building: “Focusing on strengths creates trust; it creates a safe space to try something and possibly fail, have a conversation about it, and move forward.”

Similarly, Training Manager of CyberCoders Dani Chang emphasizes idea-sharing when hiring and training new sales recruits: “My team hire, manage, train, and ramp up individuals that have no prior sales or recruiting experience.” The training encourages idea-sharing and bonding among the new recruits which is then carried throughout their time with the company, ultimately leading to higher levels of innovation.

Stay Flexible and Adaptable

Businesses often require sales teams to switch tact quickly and efficiently. Keeping your L&D program agile will help you lead your team smoothly into any new structure that results from mergers or acquisitions. Consistent evaluation and recalibration are the best ways to keep exceeding expectations.

Tiffany Poppa, Director of Employee Experience at Bonobos explains that, “Focusing on what’s right with people makes for an inclusive environment where people can openly express themselves, their ideas and even their challenges.” Cultivating a working environment and an agile L&D culture that encourages openness is the first step to inviting innovation to your office, and to keep it there.

Embrace the Future of Sales with Virtual Reality

Harnessing the power of new virtual reality technology gives sales teams the opportunity to complement existing training with something relatively rare: practice-as-learning in a safe environment.

VR coaching company STRIVR’s Chief Strategy Officer Danny Belch has seen the impact of VR on L&D in real time. “With VR, because of the on-demand nature, a real-life experience can be fired up at the click of a button … it’s not role-play. You have this beautifully free space to practice, to stumble on your words,” Belch observes. He finds that putting the information presented in training into a real-life scenario gives you the repetition needed to get it right.

The Key Takeaway

Investment in sales training L&D will provide the tools to maximize your sales team’s success. Making that upfront investment in L&D, creating a safe space for idea-sharing,  researching the latest trends in technology and innovation and keeping your training agile and personalized are all techniques practicing L&D professionals have found successful. Boosting sales training is no small feat, but the research shows that investment in L&D is by far the best place to start.

Keely Witherow is a writer and content editor at professional training search engine findcourses.com and higher education portal educations.com. A native-Texan based in Stockholm, Keely has utilized her interest in cross-cultural relations to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace.