With the competitive markets of today, the need for Sales Coaching has never been greater. Business owners and company leaders have continued to identify it as a top priority for their frontline sales managers. However, sales managers often avoid coaching because of the time and money it requires. Others also hesitate because they don’t know how and what to coach. While these reasons may sound valid, Sales Coaching is a necessary investment with many compelling benefits. Here are some of the advantages that make it worth doing.
Sales Coaching allows sales managers to be enablers instead of problem solvers. Instead of telling their sales reps what to do, managers can teach them how to solve their own problems by improving their skills and knowledge. Over time, this results in a highly empowered team and creates three to ten times more leverage depending on the size of the team. It also allows the sales manager to focus on more strategic initiatives instead of constantly running to solve every problem that arises.
Improves each team member's skills
Coaching is different from sales training. Sales training takes place in a classroom setting, where a group of sales professionals receives instructions for the general development of the team. On the other hand, sales coaching is highly personalised and targets specific selling skills. It is a one-on-one relationship between the manager and his subordinate, that happens over long periods of time. With sales coaching, each member of the team is on a focused plan to improve specific skills. It begins with a co-assessment of skills that will make the coaching plan collaborative. As the team members’ skills improve, the plans are updated and other areas for improvement are targeted.
Hastens ramp-up time of newly-hired employees
All newly-hired employees typically attend a training and onboarding program that includes a component on selling skills. While sales training is a useful part of ensuring the employee’s productivity, it’s not uncommon for new hires to experience information overload. This is because, aside from selling skills, they also need to learn the company’s goals, their role, performance expectations, the industry, and the products or services they’ll be selling. When sales managers make sales coaching of new hires a top priority, there is immediate reinforcement of the key skills they learned during training. Newly hired sales reps have continuous guidance and a chance to continue developing their skills while they’re already on the job.
Helps Sales Managers grow and develop
While sales coaching mostly benefits sales reps, it also has a profound impact on the sales manager. When managers become great coaches, they also become better leaders. They can take pride in the team’s accomplishments and become more motivated. Moreover, since they don’t have to solve every problem, they can focus on leading their teams to even greater success. They can attack issues proactively, communicate and implement the sales vision, and inspire their sales teams.
Increases Sales Revenue
Research shows that sales teams with managers that spend more time coaching generate more revenue than those who don’t. This is why developing a coaching culture and investing in sales coaching is a must for every sales team. While it takes time and patience, the increase in sales revenue makes it worthwhile. Team members and leaders feel motivated to grow, excel, and take greater responsibility for what they do. So, the performance of the entire team and the company is significantly improved.
Because of these reasons, sales coaching is a key part of every sales team’s success. However, regularly holding sales coaching is not an easy feat. It’s even harder when your sales managers are not equipped with the right knowledge and proper training for effective sales coaching. Luckily, you have the option to hire people outside your organisation to conduct sales coaching services alongside your managers. Companies like Structured Sales Consulting provide training and coaching that will surely benefit your sales leaders, reps, and your entire company.
