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...
Managing a successful sales team all starts with having a successful plan for each salesperson. At the beginning of every period (e.g., year, quarter), the most successful sales managers conduct a business planning discussion with each of their salespeople one-on-one. The purpose is to review the previous period and develop a plan for achieving quota for the next period. In part...
Now that 2017 is behind us, it's time to plan for a successful 2018. As a sales manager, its important to be proactive in managing your sales team towards your team goals. Being proactive all starts with a plan. This involves a business planning discussion with each of your salespeople. The purpose of the meeting is to review the sales rep's...
Great sales coaching involves having a strong understanding of how an individual develops a new skill. The conscious competence model explains the four stages of learning that individuals go through when building competence in a new skill. The model was initially developed by Noel Burch at Gordon Training International. It provides a simple and practical framework for the learning process. According to...
Many sales managers realize that coaching is a key lever for driving sales performance. Despite this, many organizations don’t have a defined coaching process. Coaching tends to be haphazard and unstructured, which makes it challenging for coaching to yield predictable and consistent results. Having a well-defined, consistent coaching process will ensure your sales organization has the performance lift it needs. Through...
In sales, we have learned that the best way to achieve success is through a deep understanding of our customers’ needs. Over the last 20 years, the majority of sales training has taught us the importance of asking good questions - open-ended questions, probing questions, exploratory questions, etc. While the ability to ask good questions is fundamental for sales success,...
Coaching is the universal language of change and learning. If you’ve ever had a great coach in your life, you know that a great coach can inspire you, motivate you, and guide you towards reaching your full potential. Coaching is one of the most important levers front-line sales managers can use to drive sales performance. According to research conducted by the Sales...