31 May 5 Tips for Coaching Uncoachable Salespeople
As a sales leader, you’re faced with a number of different responsibilities. Whether it’s hiring, managing your team’s pipeline, or forecasting there’s many tasks that take up your precious time. However, there is nothing more important than coaching your people.
Coaching is the art of asking questions that create awareness, build responsibility, and gain commitment to change. Even if you have strong coaching skills, you still may have some people who just don’t seem that coachable.
When faced with an uncoachable salesperson many managers assume it’s because of the salesperson. However, it’s often because of something the manager has done (or hasn’t done) which is why the salesperson is resistant to coaching in the first place.
Whether you’re dealing with a top, average, or low performer, here’s five tips to make the “uncoachable” coachable.
1. Set Expectations for the Coaching Relationship
It’s important to set clear expectations so your salespeople are aware of your intentions. By understanding clearly what’s in it for them and how they will benefit, salespeople will be more receptive to coaching efforts.
During your next set of one-on-one’s take some time to learn more about how each salesperson views coaching:
- Have you asked each salesperson about his/her past experiences with coaching?
- Have you asked each salesperson how he/she would like to be coached?
- Have you discussed the benefits of coaching and what’s in it for the salesperson?
- Does each salesperson view coaching as a process of self-discovery?
By taking the time to understand each salesperson, you lay the foundation for a strong coaching relationship to develop.
2. Develop Trust
Trust is absolutely essential for any coaching relationship. Trust creates a safe environment so your salespeople feel comfortable talking about their limiting beliefs, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities. Without trust, salespeople may become guarded and get defensive during a coaching session.
What have you done to earn the trust of the salesperson you’re coaching? Have you done anything that might have damaged the relationship? What do you need to do to fix it?
3. Identify Motivations and Ambitions
What motivates your salespeople? One of the most common misconceptions is that salespeople are motivated by money. While compensation is important, it isn’t always about the money. Factors such as recognition, challenge, need for achievement, or the nature of the job can all contribute to an individual’s drive and level of motivation.
Have you spent time with each salesperson to uncover what motivates them to perform? This involves getting to know each individual on a more personal level.
By understanding what motivates each team member, you’ll be able to better manage and coach them towards reaching their goals.
4. Increase Accountability
Accountability is taking responsibility for an outcome. Accountable individuals engage in actions that drive their success, even if they’re not comfortable doing them (e.g., cold-calling).
Some salespeople always take responsibility for their actions and follow through on commitments. However, others come up with a million excuses as to why something didn’t get done. To foster higher levels of accountability, set clear expectations, measure success, and provide ongoing feedback.
5. Instill a Mindset of Continuous Improvement
Top performing salespeople are constantly learning and are on a quest of never-ending improvement. They realize that what got them to where they’re at today, won’t sustain them for tomorrow.
To cultivate a mindset of continuous improvement, stress the importance of why we need to constantly evolve and improve. Help the salesperson identify where he/she needs to improve by asking insightful coaching questions.
If you’ve set the right expectations for the coaching relationship…if you’ve taken the time to build trust…and if you understand what motivates each salesperson…then a mindset of continuous improvement will happen naturally.
These five tips will go a long way in reducing any coaching resistance you might be experiencing with your people. What do you need to do to create a better coaching relationship with each of your salespeople? For coaching to have the greatest impact, it’s important to spend time and put the right foundation in place.