The Value of a Coach in Sales

There is a sentiment that many sales leaders hold that they should be able to just hire really good salespeople and then let them go out and do what they do best. And in some cases, those leaders may be right. But in many cases, they are not. For businesses that want to grow, where there is a business plan and a sales team that are currently meeting their goals there comes the question of how do they get better at what they do? How do they find continuous exponential growth in revenue? That is where sales coaching can come into play. 

You may be saying to yourself “I already spend a lot of time managing my team and the business. They know what I expect of them. They don’t need to be micromanaged.” Let us explain the difference between managing and coaching your people. Managing is overseeing the results and responsibilities of a job. Most sales leaders do that already. But coaching is about developing the person into a better version of themselves. At Sandler, we are proponents of the BAT triangle of success. What is that? It’s a combination of three things: Behavior, Attitude, and Technique.

• Behavior is what you do.

• Attitude is what you think, 
feel, or believe.

• Technique is how you do it.

When we talk about coaching your salespeople, what we are referring to is the idea of helping to cultivate the behaviors, attitudes, and techniques to take your team members to the next level. What is the next level? Well, that will depend on each individual. When you are coaching someone, your goal is to get them to self-discover the potential and possibilities within themselves. It is not to give them new goals, new responsibilities, or your opinion of what they should or could do. Instead, coaching is about reinforcing the right behaviors and attitudes, providing opportunities for improving skills, and supporting the team member in stretching their comfort zones to further their own development. 

When it comes to sales coaching, a Gartner study found that only 38% of salespeople report their manager helps them develop the skills they need for their role today. Just 34% report that their manager helps them develop the skills they need for the future. That means that most of the sales professionals out there do not feel confident in their skills for the role they are in today, let alone for the future! Without proper coaching, your sales team may struggle to meet goals and will likely not exceed them. Your best salespeople may max out over time, or worse, look for greener pastures with better support and learning and growing opportunities to get better in their chosen careers. 

Another poll by Gartner discovered that the average sales manager devotes just 9% of their time to developing their direct reports and that 42% of managers do not have the confidence to coach skill development. Clearly, sales professionals need and want sales coaching, yet most sales leaders lack the time, resources, or confidence to deliver it. So how can they combat that? By prioritizing professional development and recognizing that coaching your team should be an ongoing, continuous process, not just a one-time event. You can’t just have a coaching session with each team member and check it off your list as completed. 

In order for a sales team to improve and excel, the sales leader may need to either get honest or creative with their time and resources to ensure that each salesperson is getting what they need. This may mean time-blocking their calendars to ensure that their most important work, developing their people, has a clear and set schedule. Or it may mean bringing in outside business coaches who can work with your sales team to ensure that they get a plan that supports their personal and professional development goals. The great thing about bringing in outside help is that an experienced business coach will not get emotionally invested in the salesperson. Instead, they can remain unbiased and stay focused on helping to support the person without attaching their own ego to the outcome. 

If you are looking for ways to improve your sales team – both in revenue generation and job satisfaction – start by looking at how you support them. If coaching has not been on your radar, start thinking of ways to implement a coaching plan now.

Previously seen on I95 Business Magazine.