Written By: Sean Frontz
August 16, 2023 – 6 min read
“Always Be Closing” is selling 101. Every salesperson in the world has heard this A-B-C metaphor throughout their career. After all, it’s what sales reps do. But what if there is a new A-B-C for salespeople to live by?
We’re talking about Always Be Coaching.
Nothing will make a busy salesperson roll their eyes more than the mention of an all-day training workshop. But learning is essential to ensure that your sales team keeps improving and hitting their targets. This is where coaching comes in. According to a recent CSO Insights report, organizations that provide consistent coaching enjoy a 27.6% increase in sales win rates. However, with 47% of sales managers spending less than 30 minutes a week coaching their reps, how can you start to create a culture of coaching in your organization?
Let’s face it—it’s really difficult to find and retain talent right now amid ‘The Great Resignation.’ So, when you get great salespeople on board, it’s crucial to hold onto them, inspire them, and coach them to reach their full potential.
There is no blueprint for onboarding. It starts on day one, but when should it end? After 60 days? 90 days? What if onboarding never stopped? This shift from onboarding to “ever-boarding” means your salespeople are constantly onboarding for new growth opportunities in your organization, helping you demonstrate your commitment to each individual. Ever-boarding doesn’t have to be a time-consuming process. It could be a two-minute video once a month—it’s just a way to show your sales reps that you care about their development and want to help them succeed.
Preboarding is another great activity, which is all about starting the onboarding experience before the new hire’s first day. Activities such as reading case studies or meeting peers virtually are effective ways to help new salespeople get their heads in the game, feel more comfortable, and be prepared for their new roles.
It’s very limiting for organizations to only have sales leaders coach the sales team. According to SRG and Selling Power Magazine, 73% of sales managers don’t get the coaching they need to effectively coach a high-performing sales team. This means that most sales managers are not adequately prepared to learn how to become effective sales managers. “Coaching the coaches” is just as important as coaching the sales reps, and will ensure that everyone has the skills they need to thrive.
Three ways sales leaders can succeed as coaches:
In SiriusDecisions’ Sales Talent study, high-performing sales reps report their top three sources of learning as:
While the global pandemic presented a host of challenges for salespeople, it has made the in-field observation process much easier. This can now take place on virtual meeting platforms, making it easier for other sales reps to listen in, or meetings can be recorded and analyzed later. Short snippets of best practices can be taken from these recordings and shared with the team for more effective peer-to-peer learning.
McKinsey found that top-performing sales organizations are 67% more likely to provide frequent sales capability training, which includes ongoing access to coaching, short videos, and reinforcement. To be part of these top-performing sales organizations, sales leaders need to ensure that they have visibility into where people are getting stuck, then close gaps with short bursts of just-in-time learning in bottleneck areas.
Learning in the flow of work means:
Another way to support continuous improvement while keeping sellers selling is by consolidating platforms. Salespeople often complain that there are too many platforms and systems in their ecosystem. So, make it easy for them by consolidating as many platforms as possible to ensure they are easily accessible in the flow of work.
Surprisingly, throughout the pandemic, we found that 45% of sales reps accessed their learning platform via mobile device. Even though they were stuck at home, salespeople still found it more convenient to access learning via mobile in their new flow of work, so ensure that your bite-size content is optimized for mobile devices.
The final technique is to train your sellers to assess their own skills and performance before someone else starts coaching them. If you do something bad, you know that already. If a seller messes up a pitch, or can’t respond to an objection, or doesn’t know a crucial piece of information, they know that. Training your sellers to self-coach is a powerful tool, as it allows them to think critically about their performance and pinpoint where they need improvement, making the coaching process much more impactful and efficient.
The “Always Be Coaching” culture must be pervasive across the entire organization in every direction. Everyone should be open to feedback, be receptive to learning from their peers, and identify their own areas for improvement.
The good news is that the technology already exists to support this process of self-assessment. Artificial intelligence (AI) can support coaching and give reps insights into their performance before they receive coaching from their manager.
How do you impress new hires with a simple, yet effective onboarding experience? We have answers for you in this webinar, The New ABCs for Sales Leaders: Always Be Coaching. Register for Webinar Now
How do you impress new hires with a simple, yet effective onboarding experience? We have answers for you in this webinar, The New ABCs for Sales Leaders: Always Be Coaching.
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