4 tips for successful sales coaching | Narooma News

As a sales manager, you may agree that undergoing a difficult conversation with an inefficient salesperson is never fun. In other words, no one wants to inform their fellow colleagues that they’re not meeting the outputs or results the company expects of them. Additionally, inspiring them to succeed is equally difficult, if not uncomfortable. However, this is an essential task every sales manager must do.

Fortunately, there’s a way to turn this dreaded responsibility into something positive to the point that it may even become the highlight of your day. The solution? Sales coaching.

Sales coaching aims to develop and accelerate a sales representative through various practices. This includes helping a sales rep take their ability, experience, and knowledge to the next level. To do so, a sales coach should find ways to enhance any sales rep’s wisdom, talent, and skill. (1)

As you can see, since every sales representative is different from every company, sales coaching shouldn’t be considered the same for everyone. Instead, your sales program should revolve around the following concepts:

Furthermore, when you’re responsible for creating a sales coaching program, you can always consider your own experience, especially if you have had an effective sales coach before.

Did you know that a sales representative who receives 30 minutes or less per week of sales coaching increases their odds of closing a sale by 43%? Also, those who receive at least two hours will have a win rate of around 56% per week. (2)

So, if you want to improve your sales team’s performance, even if they’re working from home, consider these tips from the get-go.

Back then, a sales representative successfully learned how to close a deal by shadowing an efficient colleague. While this old practice is still being used, it’s often inefficient, particularly for virtual sales teams.

Nowadays, one of the ways to give a sales representative much-needed coaching is to invest in the best inside sales software. By using sales software, you’ll be able to track keywords, know market trends, analyse conversations, and even share a successful sales call with team members, which is particularly helpful when you’re training a new sales representative.

There are plenty of reasons why conducting a sales team meeting is effective. Firstly, meetings can be an avenue to build internal support and morale. This is because meetings allow any team members to voice their concerns and successes. Secondly, team members will enable each member to learn from one another. In other words, a good sales rep can advise on a particular situation other members may be in.

Feedback’s purpose is to offer an opportunity to improve. However, making general positive or negative comments won’t give the receiver sufficient information. For example, simply saying, ‘You crushed this sale,’ can be vague and won’t boost their morale. As an alternative, try following this simple formula: ‘I noticed you perform X. As a result, it leads to [insert the outcome of the action].’

By following the formula, you can provide better feedback since the cause and effect of a sales representative’s actions are emphasised. Hence, if the outcome benefits the company, they’ll try using the same action to produce the same effect.

Even if it’s essential to focus on the final quarterly numbers or nearly closed deals, you can create more impact if you focus on the beginning and middle parts of the pipeline.

For instance, if you review any deals during their early stages with a sales representative, you’ll set them up for success. This is because you’ll highlight what next step they should take and the resources they need to move a sales prospect to the next pipeline stage.

Thus, coaching sales reps through the beginning of the sales pipeline will enlighten them of good habits they need to set up in future deals.

A strong sales coaching program is essential for a sale to be successful. In fact, a sales representative who receives effective sales coaching can increase their chance of closing a deal by up to 54%. Additionally, a company’s turnover rate will decrease by 12% due to sales coaching. (3)

Fortunately, you now know some tips for successful sales coaching. All that’s left for you to do now is implement the said tips to enjoy the benefits of sales coaching.