Top sales organizations don’t remain stagnant; they constantly improve and grow. Regardless of the talent your reps possess, it is up to you as their leader, to increase your team’s productivity through effective sales coaching.
The following are several sales coaching strategies and tips to help you perform your best and get the most of out of your team!
Define Goals and Standards
It is virtually impossible to implement great sales coaching strategies without first having defined goals and standards. Goals convey the targets your reps shoot for when executing sales strategies.
Even more precisely, create standards for execution at each stage of your typical sales process. When you have a defined selling process with quantified objectives, you can more effectively evaluate areas where coaching is required.
Conduct Regular Reviews
To develop your reps, compare their actual results with the stated criteria and business outcomes. Some coaches assume that if a rep reaches his quota or sales objective, all is good. In fact, even revenue-generating salespeople may have room for improvement.
Compare the performance of your reps against the standards at each buying stage. One rep may need sales coaching on need discovery, for instance, while another struggles with conversion efficiency because of poor closing techniques.
Invite Rep Feedback
Encourage reps to proactively seek out sales coaching as well. Top sales performers are often ego-driven, which can make it difficult for them to find comfort asking for help. Thus, you need to build a culture where people trust your motives and abilities to develop them.
Ideally, your reps come to you and ask for coaching before you identify the need based on deficient results.
Communicate Actionable Changes
There are times where sales coaching strategies need to include motivating a rep to greater performance. However, the most effective strategies for improvement typically center on actionable changes in behaviors.
If a rep finds it difficult to come up with targeted probing questions during need discovery, role-play with him to present possible questions. When possible, use real account names and details in the role play. The more real the practice run, the more likely the rep can translate the coaching and suggestions into real life.
Build a Data-Driven Culture
Great sales teams rely on data-driven insights to target the right types of customers for their business. By analyzing data on your existing clients, you gain valuable insights into the prospect profiles your reps should target.
The customer data solution offered by Salesgenie simplifies your targeting efforts. You just upload an existing customer file and then use the searching, sorting, mapping, and exporting capabilities of the Salesgenie solution to generate a contact list. Then, communicate your prospecting strategies to your team.
Conclusions
Effective sales coaching includes a mix of planning, expecting and executing. You begin by setting clear goals and standards that form the basis for evaluation. Coach your reps to improve in specific areas of the sales process where they struggle. Offer actionable items.
Support your team with technology solutions as well. In particular, take advantage of customer data insights gleaned from a solution like the one offered by Salesgenie. Don’t wait; start your free trial of Salesgenie now!
