Teach, Coach And Lead With Integrity

There is no one-thing that makes a leader great. But coaching and developing employees is a pretty good place to start.

Tell a rep to go sell and he will sell for a day, teach a rep how to sell and he will sell for life. Ok, so that is not exactly how the quote goes, but you get my point.

At one time sales management started and finished with "this is your desk, this is your phone, this is the yellow pages, go get 'em". Much like the discussion we had concerning closing techniques (ABC or ABQ?) , this style of management used to be prevalent and just like those closing techniques it no longer works.

Successful coaching is even more than attending appointments with your rep and letting them see you interact with a customer, although that is definitely an important aspect of coaching and should not be discounted. The essence of great coaching, in my opinion, is being able to explain - in different ways to different people - what does and does not work, and most importantly the reason why it does and does not work.

To illustrate this point take a moment to think about the most successful coaches/managers in professional or College sports. How many of them were great athletes themselves? Conversely, how many average, but smart, or less than average players became great coaches/managers?

From Wooden to Lombardi, to Auerbach, to Bryant, to Shula, to Walsh….. And the list goes on. Those who are regarded as some of the greatest coaches/managers of all time had one thing in common - They were able to get every member of the team to understand what had to be done, why it had to be done and how to do it.

They were all great communicators.

Athletes and sales people who have been blessed with a natural ability to perform their tasks will often lead their peers in performance, and just as often struggle when given a chance to coach others.

It is difficult to put into words what comes naturally. I have had dozens of conversations with managers who were great, natural, sales people. Many of them get frustrated when their reps just “don’t get it” and their reps get frustrated that their manager can not explain how to get it done.

Your goal as a coach is to find a way to get your employees to understand why something works the way it does. Equally important is for them to understand why something does not work. It is only after you have taught them how to perform a task can they have any chance of repeating it on a regular basis.

Go to any driving range and you will see hackers whacking away at golf balls with their over-sized drivers. Nine out of ten drives will slice right or hook left, one out of ten will go straight and look like a great shot.

The secret is getting them to understand why the ball went long and straight, because without that knowledge there is not way they can repeat it.

Your job as a sales coach is to get your team to understand why that “perfect” telemarketing call, foot canvass, appointment, presentation, proposal or sale was perfect so they can give themselves a chance of repeating it, every time.