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Coaching & Developing Sales People To Be Their Best.

Guest post by: Peter Connor

Article Overview: To be effective, a sales performance management system has to be about more than just a tick the box exercise. It needs a three pillared approach, concerned with Structure, Process, and Talent Development.

Coaching & Developing Sales People To Be Their Best.

How’s your organisation in Ireland doing in these three key sales areas?

Why all the surprise when sales targets aren’t hit and people seem confused? Look at most sales organisations, with their selling processes and procedures for sales people. They are not always in place in a way that helps leaders set and track clear goals, manage performance, and conduct reviews effectively.

To be effective, a sales performance management system has to be about more than just a tick the box exercise. It needs a three pillared approach, concerned with Structure, Process, and Talent Development. As Sales Managers, engaging with our team members 1 – 1 to provide direction, support, and encouragement.

So how your organisation is doing:

1. Sales Performance Planning

All good sales performance starts with clear sales goals. Clarifying sales goals and clear targets involves making sure that people understand two things: first, what they are being asked to do—their areas of accountability—and second, what good performance looks like—the sales performance standards and measurable targets by which they will be evaluated. Most organisations do a good job on performance planning and set very clear goals.

Most often this information gets filed, and sometimes no one looks at them until they are told it’s too close to Quarter end to make a difference. End of Quarter conversations are too late.

2. Sales Performance Coaching. Sales Managers often assume that their conversations are so clear that there’s no need for follow-up. Many managers hire sales people, tell them what to do, and then leave them alone and assume good sales performance will follow. In other words, they abdicate; they don’t delegate. This sets up the seagull management style. We actually need to check in on sales performance, hold short progress-check meetings. You will be able to catch sales problems before they significantly increase the probability that your direct report’s sales performance on the target will meet your expectations. Regular one-on-one sales performance conversations enhance the quality of your relationships, build trust and commitment, open lines of communication, and diminish the amount of time spent chasing a target, when it’s too late.

3. Performance Review. This is a formal structure where a person’s sales performance over the course of the selling year and each quarter is summed up. If steps one and in particular step two (Sales performance coaching) have been done properly, the year-end sales performance review will just be a review of what has already been discussed, and it can be celebration time and remuneration time. There will be no surprises. Instead, Sales managers and sales people will be reviewing and celebrating the tasks they have already been working on. When progress-check meetings are scheduled according to development level, open, honest discussions about the direct report’s performance take place on an ongoing basis, creating mutual understanding and agreement.

How is your organisation doing in these three key areas?

Clear goals, solid day-to-day coaching, and “no surprise” performance reviews are hallmarks of a great performance management system. Think about your own sales organisation, and your own sales conversations with your manager and sales people you work with. Are there areas where you could improve through introducing a better plan, sales direction and support and reviewing? Yes, we need structures and process like CRM, Pipeline Management, clear training and development for reps, but learning to be a good Sales Coach is crucial to performance.

Author is Peter O’Connor,

Sales & Management Facilitator.

Performance Partners helps select, retain and develop high achieving sales people.

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Article Tags: sales, services, skills



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