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Last Updated
4th o November, 2008
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If there was one thing that we could get sales managers to start doing it would be this:
Sacrifice complexity for consistency
Less is more.
Results will be more evident when managers quit making sales coaching a "mile
wide and an inch deep".
Here's the cycle we see: the coach identifies a host of sales opportunities in their branch and feels they have to coach
all of them (mile wide). The sense of overwhelm and a lack of time drives them to do a
superficial job of coaching any one thing (an inch deep). Because
coaching all of these opportunities is so time consuming and a big deal, they coach less
frequently than they should. When they do meet with their team they
spend most of the time diagnosing what people are struggling
with and not very much time actually coaching sales skill. Because this activity is
all so infrequent the manager typically finds themselves in coaching on a
wild goose chase being led by staff into conversations that have
nothing to do with developing their sales potential. The result? Nothing gets
accomplished, they run out of time, no action plan is laid out so there
is no urgency to follow up. The only thing compelling the manager to meet
with the team again is this nagging feeling that they should be
coaching because someone told them once that is what good sales managers do. It's a negative spiral that keeps going downward until the
coach stops coaching altogether because they are tired of staff trying to avoid the coaching sessions and because they are not seeing any
results.
If a manager finds themselves in this spiral, we suggest they pick only one or two selling opportunities per group (Tellers, lenders
etc) to actively coach. This could be something simple like coaching a lender on what to say when I client tells them they have investments at another institution. Teach the team how to spot the opportunity and PRACTICE
CONSISTENTLY what to say to the client. FOLLOW UP CONSISTENTLY to make sure they are
saying it.
If the staff are not trying the techniques it is usually because:
1. They
do not know what to say
2. They know what to say but are nervous about
saying it (usually a hang up about sales)
3. They refuse to try
Any of these three a coach can deal with if they methodically and consistently follow up on previously agreed to action plans. Because the coach hasn't
bitten off more than they can chew they can be efficient with their time and therefore consistent. The
consistent follow up and coaching leaves the staff no choice but to
start trying the skill. Once the staff meet with success the cycle starts
moving in a positive direction. The staff realize that they can be
effective without being pushy. They develop the habit of asking the
right questions and saying the right things for that opportunity, which
means you have to coach them less. This eventually allows the coach to move on to new
opportunities all-the-while spot checking the old habits to make sure
they stay in play. Success breeds success and the staff start to see
value in the coaching and sales meetings because they actually see it
works!
Everyone wants to be part of a winning team. Sacrifice complexity for consistency and actually help your people get better.
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