introduction - ledgeview partners · evaluate closed and open opportunities. make an effort to...

l e d g e v i e w p a r t n e r s . c o m

Introduction

In the past, sales coaching was largely seen as something that only larger and more sophisticated sales organizations took advantage of, but in more recent years, it has moved into organizations of various levels, industries, and experience. This is a reflection of the criticality of having a sales coaching program. This emerging trend among some of the most successful organizations that exist today is catching on quickly at different levels …

In this eBook, we will walk you through the keys to achieving sales coaching success and taking not just your sales team and strategy to the next level, but your business as a whole. The key learnings and tips we share in this eBook will help your organization develop a sales program or develop your existing one.

The average sales manager only devotes 20% of their time to coaching.

BrainShark.com


Table of Contents

1 W h a t a r e t h e T y p e s o f C o a c h i n g P r o g r a m s ?

H o w d o y o u D e f i n e a C o a c h i n g P r o g r a m ?

H o w d o y o u C r e a t e a S u c c e s s f u l C o a c h i n g P r o g r a m ?

W h a t a r e t h e K e y C o m p o n e n t s o f a S u c c e s s f u l C o a c h i n g P r o g r a m ?

W h a t M a k e s a G o o d C o a c h ?

2

3

4

5


“I absolutely believe that people, unless

coached, never reach their maximum

capabilities.”

B O B N A R D E L L IC E O o f H o m e D e p o t

1W h a t a r e t h e T y p e s o f C o a c h i n g P r o g r a m s ?

There are two types of sales coaching we recognize at Ledgeview Partners. The first program takes an Internal Focuswith Metrics & Goals-Based Coaching.

Internal Focuses put the spotlight on your internal sales organization, and what you want to accomplish year-to-year. As a sales leader, you want to coach and set achievable goals for growth. You want to reach your “finish line”, AKA your desired year-end result.

Internally, the year-end goal is centered around year-to-date sales vs. prior year-to-date sales or year-to-date units vs. prior year-to-date units. It’s also common for organizations to measure by margins, volume, or pieces sold.

When you know what marks your finish line, you can better define how you will get there. Consider what makes a good strategy for an actual marathon to compare. Is it endurance? Is it running full speed ahead without ever slowing down to break? Is it weeks of preparation? What makes a person finish first place vs. last place? How about what makes a winning running team?

With that analogy in mind, look at the current month or week to determine how your day-to-day will lead you to this finish line and a fruitful sales future. Prepare and nourish your reps with the strategies they need to thrive. Measure your progress week by week. Measurements, otherwise known as KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), as an example, may include sales activities per week, new accounts opened, and new points of distribution. Look at those sales activities, and, as a leader, coach your reps according to the numbers you want to achieve within certain timeframes or intervals.

Do not let these measurements slip away. If you wait 9 months, for example, or until the end of the year, to review KPIs, you are extremely unlikely to reach your goals. Review KPIs regularly with your sales reps. Evaluate closed and open opportunities. Make an effort to understand why you win or lose opportunities in order to grow and do better in the future.

Understand what factors lead to winning or losing a sale and then adjust your internal coaching methodology according to what leads to closing deals and your sales organization’s success.


The second type of program takes an External Focus on Customer Interaction Coaching.

This type of coaching is focused on your sales reps and how they interact with your customers. Measuring the success of this program may be based on sales calls, but may also include other forms of communication such as chat or email. Those activities and interactions with customers will help you be assured about whether or not your reps are properly engaging with your customers.

This type of coaching program will also give you the opportunity to identify strength and growth opportunities for your reps, improving your overall strategy. When you measure interactions, you can determine where certain reps are going right or wrong when they interact with customers.

Another important aspect of external coaching is to make it a continual process, so when you are done with a coaching session, you should have steps laid out to easily proceed to the next session. It should be a never-ending process.

Frequency of coaching under this style should be determined by a rep’s individual performance. You may start coaching everyone at the same frequency, but as your program grows, different individuals may require more or less coaching. Use your judgment to determine the appropriate amount, but make it regular and repeatable, whatever your method. Coaching requirements and outcomes should be clear to reps, and as a sales leader, you should be able to clearly measure its success.

1W h a t a r e t h e T y p e s o f C o a c h i n g P r o g r a m s ?


2H o w d o y o u D e f i n e a C o a c h i n g P r o g r a m ?

• Real coaching sessions do not happen• Management has no time to implement a coaching program• Roles and responsibilities are not defined• Goals are not defined• There is no analyzation of the current state or desired future state

1 | R A N D O M C O A C H I N G

• Informal “parking lot” coaching sessions happen• Management has made an effort to implement a program, but it is not

developed and no one is held accountable• Roles and responsibilities may be defined, but are not properly upheld• Goals are overly simplified or unrealistic• Action is taken at first, then never addressed again

2 | I N F O R M A L C O A C H I N G

• Formal coaching sessions are scheduled and regularly occur• Management is held responsible and holds reps responsible• Roles and responsibilities are defined among the team• Goals are defined and worked on• Action is taken daily

3 | F O R M A L C O A C H I N G

• Formal coaching sessions are scheduled and regularly occur• Management is held responsible and holds reps responsible• Roles and responsibilities are defined among the team• Goals are defined and worked on• Action is taken daily

4 | D Y N A M I C C O A C H I N G

• Strategy is taken out of atextbook, does not evolve, is not defined and remains unused

• Customers are still not considered

• There is no strategy• No action is taken• Customers are not

considered

• A strategy has been developed, evolves over time, and is practiced by all team members

• Customers are still not considered

• A strategy has been developed, evolves over time, and is practiced by all team members

• Customers are considered as part of the improvement, development, and evaluation processes

The easiest way to define your coaching program is by type. Here are four commonly recognized sales coaching types used across industries:


2H o w d o y o u D e f i n e a C o a c h i n g P r o g r a m ?

R A N D O M C O A C H I N G

I N F O R M A L C O A C H I N G

Or, how do you know what type of program you’re practicing internally? These scenarios will help you identify your current processes, and how you can evolve them:

Jim comes to work every day, calls roughly 40 customers on average, and tries to get new orders. The only feedback he receives is from customers and the monthly sales report he obtains from his CRM system. He thinks he’s doing well, but since there is no formal feedback process, he’s actually a low performer and is bad at his job.

Steve, the manager of the sales team, walks into the break room and overhears Jim, and his co-worker, Julia, describing the features of a product they sell incorrectly. Steve stops to correct them, writes down the correct features of the product, then carries on with his day. That is the only coaching Jim and Julia receive on the product.

F O R M A L C O A C H I N G

Steve meets with his sales rep, Julia, and tells her, her numbers are on target, and that she’s about to reach her year-end goal. What Steve does not know is that Julia has been offering her customers discounts on outdated products that will be very hard to resell, and, therefore, he does not know what’s really going on with the customers.

D Y N A M I C C O A C H I N G

Steve coaches Julia to take more time explaining the benefits of a product. The reason he is coaching her is because there have been a number of Julia’s customers calling Customer Service requesting more information on the product to help them out. Now the customer is being considered and given the attention they need to help Julia drive sales to them and create a better customer experience.


“In 2017, 34.7% of sales organizations employed a random approach to

coaching.”

C S O I N S I G H T S


3H o w d o y o u C r e a t e a S u c c e s s f u l C o a c h i n g P r o g r a m ?

To create a coaching program, you need to first assess where you are as a sales organization. Be honest with yourselves about what is and isn’t working. If you aren’t realistic about your current state, you won’t be able to successfully get to your desired future state. Gather feedback from all stakeholders to evaluate your current state, including the sales team.

You will also want to get feedback from your key customers about what they think does and doesn’t work. This will not only help you create a more effective process, but create higher customer retention and let them be assured they are valued. Ask them powerful questions to get powerful feedback you can use to leverage success. Listen to them and learn from them about what does and does not work for your sales organization. Be open-minded to constructive criticism.

This way you can develop a program that leverages your team’s strengths while simultaneously addressing areas for development and improvement. As you create your process, you should always keep the customer and their buying journey in mind. If you fail to think from the mind of your customer, you fail to address their needs.

Know your goals and desired outcome of a coaching program, then design a program around those. Create a program that will lead to your success by considering all of these key factors and people. Gathering and using their input will be your greatest tool.

1. Honestly Assess Your

Current State

2. Get Feedback from Key

Stakeholders (Including

Customers)

3. Ask Powerful Questions to

Get Powerful Feedback

4. Shape Your Program for

Continuous Development &

Improvement

5. Establish Goals to Pave

Your Path to Success

6. Educate, Motivate,

Mentor, and Empower to

Increase Potential and Drive

Results


3H o w d o y o u C r e a t e a S u c c e s s f u l C o a c h i n g P r o g r a m ?

You will want to create a coaching program that is simple and flexible. Different seasons may call for different processes or sales cycles to happen. As a sales leader, you will want to create tools that can enhance and adopt your coaching practices as you go.

Coaching forms, call checklists, product cheat sheets, and other resources like eBooks or tip sheets will be extremely valuable to you and your reps as you become accustomed to the coaching program you create.

Before you get your reps involved, you will want to train your managers to see how it works, get their feedback, then do the same with the sales team. It should be a collaborative process that works for sales leaders and reps.

Once you tie everything together, you will want to set up your program to reward successes. Tie incentives or create contests based on your coaching processes. When goals or KPIs are hit, as a sales leader, you may congratulate the rep with a company-wide email or give them a gift card to a local coffee shop. Incentives do not have to be monetary. The best thing you can do to show your employees appreciation is to do something they would appreciate.

Do not be afraid to make changes to your program as you go. The program should evolve with your sales organization. You don’t want to implement a program at year-end or during a major sales push. Read your processes. You know when a good time to change things up and get things moving forward is.

After you create your program and implement it, get continuous feedback from your team. A good time to get their feedback is during regularly scheduled coaching sessions. Remember, feedback is incredibly important when it comes to shaping your program. It’s important to inherit and adopt it as you go and evolve as a sales organization.

As you grow, you will create new goals that will force you to adjust, but the change will be positive as long as you follow the guidelines to creating a successful coaching program.


4W h a t a r e t h e K e y C o m p o n e n t s o f a S u c c e s s f u l C o a c h i n g P r o g r a m ?

Ledgeview identifies the following key components as elements that will help you create and implement a successful coaching program:

Depending on the stage a rep is in within their careers, you will probably coach them differently. Therefore, the frequencies in which you coach them may be dependent upon their experience. Frequency can be experience-based or need-based. Account for this when new employees enter the coaching program, for example. You will want to adjust your coaching among reps accordingly.

1 | D E F I N E D F R E Q U E N C Y

The sales process should always be supported by the coaching program you have in place, which will also ensure you’re following your sales process. This will lead to your ultimate success with a sales coaching program and process. Align your processes to move forward fruitfully.

2 | S U P P O R T T H E S A L E S P R O C E S S

As was discussed earlier in this eBook, you need to measure KPIs in order to have a successful coaching program. You want to be sure your KPIs are supporting your sales process. They should also be identified in your sales process. The interconnections between your sales process and coaching program are crucial to your success as a sales organization and business overall.

3 | M U S T M E A S U R E K P I s

When your coaching program is formalized, to make sure you have good adoption or buy-in, make it a pass or fail program. If a rep is doing well, they will pass, but if they are failing to align with the program and adhere to the standards your organization has set, it will be a fail. This will help you identify, as a sales leader, where your areas of development should be. The pass or fail model can be used to gauge the performances of individuals and the performance of your organization as a team.

4 | M U S T B E A P A S S O R F A I L

Account Manager and Lead Generation Call Quality Evaluation Forms are great ways to gauge performance!

Download Sample Forms at LedgeviewPartners.com/Sales-Consulting/


4W h a t a r e t h e K e y C o m p o n e n t s o f a S u c c e s s f u l C o a c h i n g P r o g r a m ?

A successful coaching program should account for all channels of communication such as calls, chat, email, and in-person visits. As channels evolve, you must consider them all as part of your sales reps’ evaluation process. Make sure the checklist your reps use in their channels of communication are checklists you are using to coach them with.

5 | A C C O U N T I N G F O R A L L C H A N N E L S

Managers must be held accountable for their responsibilities in order to have a successful coaching program. Coaching sessions should be regularly hosted by managers and attended by reps. Without the accountability of managers, reps are unlikely to feel accountable for their role in the program.

6 | M A N A G E R S M U S T B E H E L D A C C O U N T A B L E

Similarly, reps must be held accountable. They should be engaged and show the right buy-in. If they are not invested in the coaching program, it is set up for failure.

7 | R E P S M U S T B E H E L D A C C O U N T A B L E

A successful sales coaching program will bridge coaching session to coaching session. There will be tie-ins moving from session to session for reps. Everything will move along in a calculated and sensible way that responds to the needs of the rep and organization.

8 | M U S T B R I D G E T H E G A P

If your coaching program is part of annual evaluations, sales reps will feel the formalization and are likely to be held more accountable for their responsibilities in achieving their end-year goals. Make your coaching program a part of the on-boarding process. Start your reps off strong!

9 | M U S T B E F O R M A L


“Managers who fail to coach must hold

themselves responsible for lost sales.”

R E C I T E . C O M


5 W h a t M a k e s a G o o d C o a c h ?

Now that you know what it takes to create a successful coaching program, it’s time to become familiar with what makes a good coach to lead and manage the program. In smaller organizations, this person might be the sales manager, but in larger organizations, you may see the sales manager coaching internally and a quality coach, coaching externally.

Regardless of what you decide to do, a good coach should have a thorough knowledge of your products and processes. Typically, they are a senior person within your organization withample experience in sales and within your industry. They are confident, experienced, and educated.

Odds are, if they’ve been at your organization a while, they’re probably a top performer. This is a good way to identify a potential good coach and gauge whether or not they will be a good leader for your sales organization. A good coach will be able to identify strengths and learning opportunities among reps. Strong verbal communication such as the ability to offer constructive criticism and actionable practices will be highly beneficial.

Look for a person with long tenure with the company. This person should be respected by other team members and be able to adapt to and offer feedback on improvements for an existing program or during the development process. A good coach holds the potential to become a strong future leader within your sales organization and company as a whole.

Whoever your organization chooses to be their sales program coach, be sure you have spent the time carefully evaluating candidates. This will help you ensure they meet the qualifications to help your organization create, implement, and continuously develop a strong sales coaching program for years to come.

“Who exactly seeks out a coach? Winners.”

C H I C A G O T R I B U N E


L e a r n M o r e …

After learning about what it takes to build a successful coaching program, find out what it takes to create a successful sales process and build a successful inside sales outsourcing program with Ledgeview. Our many eBooks will walk you through these processes with expert tips, insight, and best practices to help you pave your path to success …

Download Your Copies at LedgeviewPartners.com/Resources/eBooks-White-Papers/


A c c e l e r a t e G r o w t h w i t h L e d g e v i e w ’ s

Sales Consulting Services

You can have the best technology in the world, but if your sales processes are broken, out of alignment, or ineffective, the results and return on investment you are expecting will not be achieved.

With Ledgeview’s Sales Consulting Services, our business consultants combine business intellect with strong technical aptitude to provide solutions that extend well beyond software implementation.

Business is fast-paced, and getting faster every day. Stay ahead of the curve and your competition. We’ll help you manage multiple hats, respond to challenges, assess individual needs and performance to affect positive change throughout your sales organization, and much more.

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