Do you remember being "in the trenches" as a salesperson? What did you think of your sales manager? If you're like many front-line sellers, you probably didn't think she or he was a wonderful example of leadership who could inspire you to do your best in life and in work. The unfortunate truth is that many sales managers - well-meaning though they usually are - lack the skills and know-how to help their sales teams grow and achieve greater success.
Over a combined 50 years of experience as salespeople, managers, coaches, and executives, authors Steve Johnson and Matthew Hawk have witnessed the do's and don'ts of top performing sales teams. Next Level Sales Coaching is the culmination of their experience. In this book, they distill what they have learned working with organizations like Google, Bank of America, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and many more. The result is a compendium of best sales coaching practices with the power to make any sales manager into an inspirational and transformational leader.
At its heart, this book is about how to integrate a person-centered development mindset into sales environments. Readers will work through practical examples, including a self-assessment, to identify the best way to implement strong coaching programs within their organizations. Each chapter concludes with takeaway questions and tips that sales leaders can use right away. From goal setting to daily sales huddles, and sales development training to analytics, Next Level Sales Coaching covers the best practices that readers will want to implement to take sales management to the next level.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Why We Wrote This Book 1
Who This Book is For 2
Who We Are 3
Chapter 1 The Case for Sales Coaching 7
Dynamic Sales Coaching is Better than Random Sales Coaching 8
The Benefits of Reading (and Using!) This Book 11
What’s in This Book 14
What’s NOT in This Book 14
Are You Ready? 15
The Road Ahead 17
Chapter 2 Why Coaching Fails or Fails to Happen 19
Personal Background 20
Company Culture 22
Quantity: Why Managers Don’t Coach Enough 23
Quality: Why Sales Managers Coach Ineffectively 23
Chapter 3 Sales Coaching Model and Self-Assessment 25
Sales Coaching Model 25
Sales Manager Attitudes 27
Sales Manager Self-Assessment: Attitudes and Activities 28
Impact of Coaching 29
Chapter 4 Review and Plan Meetings 31
Planning Varies by Type of Sales Organization 32
Benefits of Review and Plan Conversations 34
Review and Plan Conversation 36
Review and Plan Meeting Tips 38
Chapter 5 Goal-Setting Meetings 41
Why Salespeople Miss Expectations 42
Guidelines for Conducting Goal-Setting Meetings 43
Goal-Setting Meeting Overview 44
Goal-Setting Meeting Process 46
Addressing Attitude Issues on Your Team: The Classic Types 66
Goal-Setting Meeting Best Practices 72
Chapter 6 Skill Development Training 75
Talent is Overrated 76
Skill Development Training Challenges 78
Benefits of Skill Development Training 79
Opportunities for Skill Development Training 79
Skill Development Training Steps 82
Types of Feedback in Skill Development Training 95
Skill Development Training Tips 97
Chapter 7 Check-Ins 99
How Check-Ins Impact Your Sales Team in a Positive Way 100
How to Check In 102
Chapter 8 Performance Feedback 115
The Practice Coach, the Game Coach, Then the Practice Coach 116
Define Roles and Responsibilities 117
Performance Feedback Process 122
Performance Feedback Form 124
Insights on Performance Feedback 136
Chapter 9 Sales Meetings 139
Top Ten Reasons Why Salespeople Hate Sales Meetings 141
Sales Meeting Agenda 142
The End Game 143
Preparation 145
Welcome/Overview Agenda 146
Opening Inspiration 148
Success Stories 150
Skills Development Training 154
Goal Reporting and Goal Setting 160
Summary and Action Steps 163
Next-Meeting Logistics 164
Closing Inspiration 164
Other Activities 164
Chapter 10 Sales Huddles 167
Benefits of Sales Huddles 168
How to Recognize Effective Sales Huddles 171
Sales Huddle Example Scripting 174
Chapter 11 Sales and Service Coaching in the Contact Center 177
A Tale of Two Coaches 177
Make Time 179
Use Non-Scored Feedback 179
Coach Proactively 181
Focus on One Behavior at a Time 182
Use “MAPs” - Micro Action Plans 183
Use Questions to Coach 186
Recognize People 188
Calibrate 190
Chapter 12 Sales Enablement Best Practices 193
Micro Learning 193
Video 193
Web Conferencing and Video Chat 195
Competency Assessment Tools 196
Field Coaching Tools 197
Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence 197
Analytics 198
Appendix: Sales Coaching Cadences 199
References/Further Reading 203
Acknowledgments 205
About the Authors 209
Index 211
