In recent years, sales leadership coaching has continuously grown in acceptance by the managers involved in this task, as well as in its meaningful incorporation into the overall sales architecture of sales organisations.
It has shifted from being an additional learning and development opportunity to becoming a central and critical part of the overall evolution modern sales operations are going through.
When sales management coaching first received broader recognition some two decades ago, it was regarded as a great opportunity to train salespeople in the field, in real client interactions, by experienced sales leaders, at significantly lower costs than through additional external or internal coaches.
But it also came with obstacles.
Of course, sales managers did not exactly have spare time to spend additional days in the field with their team on top of their day-to-day management tasks and, often enough, still maintaining their own client portfolio.
This kind of coaching was often more ‘show and tell’ than real coaching, with experienced managers demonstrating how to do it or reducing their coaching to mere feedback after a call, without an ongoing development plan beyond the single coaching event. In worst cases, coaching became another form of controlling.
This has changed, as more and more research has been conducted and more experience has been gathered. Here is what I predict sales leadership coaching will evolve more and more towards.
Organisations are becoming more sophisticated with the requirements necessary to set up effective sales operations. There is a growing awareness of the vertical component — making sure strategy and processes are defined and approved on all levels before any change initiative across the sales organisation is rolled out laterally or broadly.
Management on all levels needs to be involved as change agents and coaches at this stage. Their support can’t wait until after any training or other measures further down the track are executed. Sales leadership coaching cannot happen when the practical application is required; it needs to be guiding sales teams and everyone else interacting with the sales operations from the very beginning.
Sales coaching has evolved from being an additional training methodology to becoming an integral part of any development initiative.
Only the seamless combination of theoretical learning (classroom workshops, online training), coaching on the job and in-the-field training, along with a clear plan of action (implementation, adaptation, application) creates the perpetual and sustainable learning journey that sees actual change as well as a viable ROI as a result.
Sales coaching does not require continuously big efforts or huge time resources.
A day on the road with a sales rep is a great opportunity for both the coach and coachee. However, what is better is small efforts and changes that provide long-term effects on a day-to-day basis. For example, the little nudge, the casual coaching-on-the-go, a ‘how I would go about it’ instead of a quick fix, a morning huddle with the team or a sales meeting that covers more behavioural topics and fewer figures.
Coaching has to be offered more than ‘one day per quarter’ to be effective. But coaching has long been an ‘on top of everything else’ task.
Smart managers have freed precious time resources by handing their client portfolios over to their team, through IT and online tools, through reducing the controlling and administration effort and, ideally, through better self- and time-management.
Managers need to participate in the learning journey with their teams to become truly effective as leaders and coaches.
Research shows businesses only get 10-15% ROI on leadership skills transference (or application of those learnt skills) in general, as most knowledge is not transferred. Training transfer tends to work best when staff and managers (or managers and their managers) did the same training and when there was strong organisational support to help embed the learning.
Coaching can become this critical link necessary to ensure embedding any training measures, for both sales people and their managers.
While coaching is not a replacement for supervising tools, it gives the manager the control they often miss. As a manager focused on figures and results you can only act after the fact.
Basically, when the client conversion rates for the last month roll in it’s too late to change the prospecting approach of the team. Managers as coaches can actually work with their team in the moment the sales happen, and have immediate influence, not only in the situation at hand, but also on the results the team is likely to achieve.
Sales managers have realised sales coaching can be fun. For those who have passed their remaining accounts on to the team, it is an opportunity to get in front of clients again. Many realise coaching is not dissimilar to modern day selling. They recognise empathy and emotional support is not an add-on to the relationship with their team members but actually a factor that helps improve performance.
Coaching is beneficial for the coach!
There is clear evidence when leaders experience compassion through coaching the development of others, they experience benefits themselves, too. Coaching with compassion can be an antidote to the stress many managers experience in their roles.
A key point is whether a manager coaches a salesperson for their development, or merely for the organisation’s benefit, the intent to help others with empathy and care instead of simply providing instrumental coaching to pursue organisational goals makes a significant difference, not only in the effects of the coaching for the coachee, but also for the coach’s wellbeing.
More and more managers and executives recognise the potential and the opportunities a more complex view on sales leadership coaching renders. Once again, organisations ahead of the game realise that they cannot let this evolve by default, but need to be involved in the design of such a coaching framework. Like good salespeople, good sales coaches need to be nurtured, developed and supported to gain their full potential — for their teams, their organisation, and themselves.
Remember everybody lives by selling something.
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Sue is a selling better strategist and advisor, sales philosopher and speaker, sales trainer and coach, writer and activist. Sue is chief executive of forward thinking sales advisory Barrett and online sales education and resource platform www.salesessentials.com. Barrett develops sales strategies, standards and education that help people and businesses sell better.
