Sales Leader Aims to Coach Reps More

A reader writes, "Every sales leadership podcast, webinar and audio book I've listened to stresses coaching as the primary job of a sales leader. Most of those speakers / authors recommend sales leaders spend 50% of their time on coaching. I probably spent 10 - 15% of my time doing so in 2018. In 2019, I have set a goal to reach that 50% mark. Any tips for increasing my chances of succeeding?"

Congratulations on realizing the importance of coaching and setting such an ambitious goal. Here are some suggestions:

Changing Work Habits

Many sales leaders devote the majority of their working hours to sitting in meetings, answering email, and reviewing sales reports. To substantially increase coaching time, you need to decrease time spent on other activities.

Ask yourself which activities fill up your calendar but add little value in terms of exceeding your sales revenue quota. Think about how you might eliminate or scale back on those time wasters.

Enlist Support

Schedule a meeting to talk to with your direct supervisor about coaching specifically. Find out where she stands on your desire to increase your coaching hours. Might she be willing to let you out of a meeting or two or jettison a few reports? Seek advice.

Whether or not she champions your idea, keep her apprised of your progress and "wins" such as increased productivity from you reps, including more conversations with decision makers, product demos, and closed sales.

Ease In

Going from 15% to 50% instantly might prove difficult, especially if you lack support in the beginning. Aim for a solid 25%, increasing the amount of time steadily each month.

You might avoid making a major announcement to the sales staff about this new increase in coaching time. This could cause unnecessary angst. Simply add hours gradually and with little fanfare.

If reps notice or ask, be candid. Let them know you're putting a greater emphasis on coaching this year.

Learn all You Can

Combine your desire to spend more time coaching with learning how to coach more effectively. Gaining confidence in your coaching abilities naturally leads to more time spent coaching.

Excellent reads include: Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions by Keith Rosen and Sales Coaching: Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach by Linda Richardson. Through examples and worksheets, both books help to increase your skill and comfort level with providing feedback.

Make a Date

Whether dealing with a field or phone rep or speaking remotely or face-to-face, block out time on your calendar to work with each sales representative you manage. Start with half-hour blocks. Don't forget to make it fun.

Refuse to let anything but the direst of emergencies interfere with that time slot. Treat it as an unbreakable appointment.

It All Counts

A quick conversation with a rep about what she'd like to accomplish on her next phone call to a client. Texting a rep a few last minute suggestions before he makes a presentation to a prospect. Impromptu role-playing with a rep struggling with a client's objection. That's coaching too. Not every interaction has to involve a pre-scheduled session.

Brief, impactful conversations help reps as well - sometimes even more.

Focus

While you might want a rep to improve her closing skills, achieve more customer participation during product demos and listen more actively after asking discovery questions - you realize the greatest success as a coach when you address on one area at a time. Working on several at once confuses the rep.

Together, select one skill set to work on, set milestones and realize marked improvement before moving on to another skill.

Final Thoughts

Much of our work as sales leaders involves looking at past performance (monthly or quarterly revenue results / performance standards). Coaching looks to the future. We're investing in a rep and helping them improve their skills for the upcoming sales calls they'll be making. Everyone wins.