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Sales Coaching Tips

Guest post by: Zeeman Haus

Article Overview: Sales is often considered the battle ground that business is won and lost one. Having an effective sales team is a must. Like soldiers- your sales people will have to brave many challenges to overcome possible customer issues and make the sale final. Unlike soldiers though they have the handicap of having to perform up to a customer's standard and they aren't allowed to shoot anyone. There might be a need for some sales coaching tips to help any sales person sharpen their skills, review basics and capitalize on strengths.

Sales Coaching Tips

Sales is often considered the battle ground that business is won and lost one. Having an effective sales team is a must. Like soldiers- your sales people will have to brave many challenges to overcome possible customer issues and make the sale final. Unlike soldiers though they have the handicap of having to perform up to a customer's standard and they aren't allowed to shoot anyone. There might be a need for some sales coaching tips to help any sales person sharpen their skills, review basics and capitalize on strengths.

In order for any sales coaching tips to be effective it comes down to your creditability as a coach. Your background and how you approach things with your sales people will make all the difference in getting your sales people to respond to your suggestions in a timely manner and consistently. Without any credibility you are most likely going to be met with some resistance or at the very least some lip service and not accomplish your goal: improving your sales team's performance.

All the sales coaching tips in the world will do no good without credibility. Good credibility comes with the employee's perception of the coach. Does the coach have experience and a track record of success? Does the employee realize you are there, as a coach to help them, not to evaluate them for some other purpose, or do they feel pigeon holed? Does the employee feel comfortable approaching you on a business level without fear of reprisals? These are questions a coach should ask themselves to make sure they can maintain a good coaching environment with their sales people.

Meeting with the sales person before any coaching takes place is a good idea. Someplace informal and out of the way is a good place to start, perhaps at a lunch or in the break room as an informal gesture. This will set the sales person at ease about the upcoming coaching opportunity and allow a free exchange of ideas between you, the coach and the sales person. Meeting in an office or conference room will make the upcoming coaching session feel more formal and possibly set a sales person's nerves on edge. To properly coach someone they have to approach the sales call as they normally would, otherwise you cannot observe and offer tips accurately.

Before entering into a sales meeting, be that a field call, office meeting or telephone call, ask the sales person for a history of their relationship with the customer, if there is one and what they hope to accomplish in their meeting. This sets a clear watermark for the sales person and you to measure the success of the upcoming meeting against.

Once you are in the role of observer, offer no suggestions during your sales person's contact with the customer. For those involved in telephone sales this is as simple as muting a headset, in person sales calls can be a little more difficult. While lying to the customer is never a good idea, the salesperson explaining that you are from the company and "reviewing the sales route" or something along those lines might set the customer at ease and put your company in a more favorable light. Having the customer on edge is not a good way to get an accurate snapshot of your sales person's performance either.

Once the sales call is done, ask your sales person how they felt it went. Get their honest opinion of how they felt they did. Did they reach their goals? Allow them to come up with as many suggestions as they can before you make your own. Once you begin your coaching, make it clear that this is for the sales person's benefit. Make it clear to them that you will be following up with a simple "we'll get together in a couple of weeks and see how this is working for you." And invite them to drop by any time if they have any questions.

Sales coaching tips for sales people are a way to strengthen not only the sales person's skills, but their relationship with the company. No one sells better than when they believe in what they're selling, and as a coach, you have the opportunity to make them believe.

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Article Tags: customer issues, effective sales, sales coaching tips, sales person
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