Success with Sales Coaching

Successful Sales Call Coaching

Successful sales call coaching needs to be adaptable and flexible. Often the role of a sales call coach and sales trainer or manager are blurred, acknowledging that they are two different things is essential. Sales coaching is about finding out individual motivators and providing a safe space where the sales rep can self-evaluate their strengths and which skills they want to improve. ‘Want’ is a keyword, a sales trainer or manager would focus on the ‘need’ for improvement.

Effective coaching will encourage and foster accountability, sales coaches never tell a sales rep what to do. Coaching differs from training, which is structured and directional. Sales call coaching involves gaining trust and allowing a person to be open about performance challenges. A sales coach will identify areas for improvement in collaboration, based on each sales rep’s specific development requirements.

Although sales coaching needs to be flexible in approach, there are tools that can help you. Various software applications can simplify your sales coaching techniques by showing you what sections of the sales process, require improvement. If you notice close rates are decreasing, you can dig into the volume of calls made and work out the percentage of calls, a rep closes. The software will allow you to quickly analyze the sales figures, which will make it easier for you to measure the results of your sales coaching. With careful monitoring, you can quickly establish which of your coaching techniques are effective and weed out people who are simply not suited to a sales role.

Sales and Mental Health Issues

Supporting positive mental health and reducing turnover is a part of sales coaching that is often not highlighted, yet is a vital part of the role. The 2021 State of Mental Health in Sales Report indicated that over 50% of people, report various mental health issues that are triggered by the pressure of a sales role. The report makes it clear that when sales reps are resilient to the emotional ups and downs, performance improves. Effective sales coaching will dedicate a percentage of coaching time for mental health support.

Symptoms of Mental Health Problems

There are various symptoms associated with mental health problems which include:

• Low mood and avoiding interactions with colleagues
• Talking faster or more than usual
• Missing deadlines and responding negatively to constructive criticism
• Short periods of absence for illness

How to Have Conversations About Mental Health

Encouraging employees to be open and honest about how they are feeling and any mental health issues they may be struggling with can be difficult. Arranging times outside of coaching sessions to simply have a casual catch up conversation is extremely beneficial for building trust. This is vital when encouraging employees to be truthful about any personal and work challenges they are facing with someone they trust.

It is important to clarify that only trained medical professionals should provide advice to employees regarding mental health queries. A sales coach should never attempt to provide counseling, however, it is a good idea to have a printout of all the places an employee can turn to if they need more support with their mental health. In the UK the NHS urgent mental health helplines are available 24/7 and can be located on the NHS website.

Benefits of a Coaching Culture

The benefits of creating a supportive coaching culture are far-reaching. Organizations that use coaching to develop personal or soft skills and professional skills include Google, Barclays and the RSPCA. Coaching should not be viewed as a method for improving, poor performance. What successful coaching should be about, is supporting and encouraging a high-performance culture. Organizations that utilize coaching methods correctly typically have motivated employees that feel aligned to the company values. From a commercial viewpoint, a well-executed coaching culture will result in higher levels of employee retention.