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Increase Revenue through Sales Call Coaching

Guest post by: John Brennan

Article Overview: Revenue per sales rep will increase when you improve their selling skills through coaching. Coaching is a process to close the gap between the current and desired performance. It is a system of sales development that allows people to learn through discovery, guided discussion and performance feedback. And it is a partnership with your sales reps to help them improve their knowledge, attitudes and skills.

Increase Revenue through Sales Call Coaching

One of the very best opportunities to coach your reps is when you are in the field with them on sales calls. Makes sure you and your rep are in agreement about the nature of the call. Is it a team call where you will work together to accomplish the sales call objective, or is it a coaching call where your sales rep does the selling and you are present to observe the call for coaching purposes.

If you have less-experienced reps on your team, you may need to teach them a great deal about sales and the sales process. Open-ended questions are a great way to quiz them, open up a dialogue, and provide immediate coaching on a daily basis. Naturally, you can use these types of questions for more experienced reps as well!

What's your objective for the call or meeting? How will you learn about the customer's needs? Who is your competitor for the business and how are you different? What are the benefits you will stress? What are the most difficult objections that may arise, and how will you address them? Who are the key decision makers and influencers? What will be your next step?

• What's your objective for the call or meeting?
• How will you learn about the customer's needs?
• Who is your competitor for the business and how are you different?
• What are the benefits you will stress?
• What are the most difficult objections that may arise, and how will you address them?
• Who are the key decision makers and influencers?
• What will be your next step?

During the Sales Call

After introductions and rapport building, allow your rep to take charge.

If the customer tries to talk to you, look towards your rep; the customer will usually re-direct conversation to your rep. If the customer asks you a business question, invite your rep to answer it.

After the Sales Call

Your rep may want to immediately talk about the content and outcome of the call. Allow your rep to process the call with you, but as soon as possible, gently remind your rep that a second objective of the call was for you to coach.

Ask your rep:

· "Did you achieve your call objective?"

· "What did you do that was effective?"

· "At what point did you feel uncomfortable?"

· "What could you have done to improve?"

If this last question stumps the rep, ask if you could make a suggestion. Don't hesitate to share your own experience, if it relates to the rep's performance. Sharing your experiences, including your failures, builds trust, confidence, and credibility for you as a coach. Leading by example has greater impact than advice giving.

Follow Up Coaching

Praise and encourage the rep for improvements. If you aren't seeing results, ask the rep why and coach the rep more closely for the next checkpoint.

Example:

If a rep is qualifying and presenting to an acceptable number of prospects yet isn't hitting his/her revenue number, focus on closing. If they only ask for the business once and don't ask again after overcoming the first objection, set a requirement that they ask for the business 3 times for every prospect. Once they're comfortable with this, teach them to continue asking for the business after they overcome each objection. Remember, most deals close after the 5th "no".

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Article Tags: coaching, performance feedback, sales reps, selling skills



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