2010 Sales Leadership and Coaching Strategies Summit

Our Fall 2010 Sales Leadership and Coaching Strategies Summit was deemed a success by the attendees. Over 90% said "they would definitely recommend the Summit to a colleague".

There was a powerful exchange of ideas and best practices between this group of executive sales managers. Here are a few more ideas that were shared!

Coach coaches privately, not in front of his/her reps.

When you are going to coach one of your Sales Managers during a sales call wth a rep, remember, you can't provide feedback if your were active during the call. Stay quite.

Be sure to organize a collaborative sales call ahead of time. Determine roles before going into the call.

Be careful not to devalue a sales rep with your presence during a call. Keep the focus on them and position them as the expert.

Ask your sales reps to coach themselves after a call versus telling them what they did right/wrong. They will learn on a much deeper level if they take ownership of the evaluation process.

Remember that you are one of the most important people in your sales reps' lives. You impact how they feel about themselves.

Coach by example. Have your Sales Manager watch how you coach a sales rep. IMPORTANT Make sure you let the rep know who is giving them feedback and why so they don't feel worried.

When coaching to change a behavior, do that exact behavior to your Sales Manager and then ask him/her what it feels like to be talked to that way. They will get the point!

Make sure your Sales Managers understand the difference between "coaching" and "telling".

To help your sales reps become a better closer, spend time training them on the opening. The most important step in the sales process is the needs analysis stage.

To help your sales reps do a better job solution selling, spend time on helping them understand what the customer's challenges are.

Read more "Ah Ha" moments and sales management best practice tips from the Fall 2010 Summit.


http://www.ecsellinstitute.com/blog/?Tag=sales+leadership+best+practices

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AhHa Moments from the Summit....
Posted on Fri, Oct 15, 2010


Here are some valuable learnings from the EcSELL Institute Sales Leadership and Coaching Strategies Summit.

1. Sales Managers should spend their coaching time/effort at the front-end part of the sales cycle - the needs analysis stage - versus the end of the sales cycle - the closing call.

2. If you think your pipeline is leaking all over your bottomline, you need to call the sales management plumber - Take the Leaky Bucket Survey and find our how and where to plug the leaks!

3. Ask your Sales Reps "What are you being measured on?" and then ask your Sales Managers the same question. You might be surprised that the answers are different.

4. Ask yourself this question. "Are you teaching or are you coaching?" Do you understand the difference? Coach don't tell!

5. Sales people thrive when they are invited to collaborate on reviewing performance. Bring the team together and look at that month's sales results on a global level. Ask the team, "Where are the bottle necks? Who has success here? Ask them to share what is working for them with the group." You will be pleasantly surprised on how engaged your sales team will be!

6. Remember everyone is loyal to their best interests. When communicating objectives, comp plans, documenting requirements, etc. Be sure to frame it from their perspective and show them how it will help them!

7. You take the time to understand the unique characteristics of your children - do the same with your sales reps.

8. Don't forget to coach and lead your sales managers.

9. Watch what your sales reps do with their discretionary time. This often signals great performers versus good performers.

10. Make sure you consider personal goals, not just professional goals when putting together development plans.

11. Include an innovation component in your sales plans. This fosters creativity.

12. I can improve on my weaknesses, but it is a lot smarter to focus on my strengths.

13. You can't coach a sales call that you made.

15. In long sales cycles focus on the "little c's". A "big C" is the CLOSED SALE. The little c's are things like scheduling the next meeting with an agreed upon agenda, getting to the next level of decision maker etc.

16. To help your sales reps be better closers, spend more time training them on the opening.

17. Structure frees people up to say important things. Give them a safe platform to share their thoughts and ideas with you.


http://www.ecsellinstitute.com/summit-blog/bid/53301/AhHa-Moments-from-the-Summit