How to Be a Great Sales Manager [“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]
How to Be a Great Sales Manager
[“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]
Coaching
How to Increase Sales Coaching Frequency
In all my years of sales leadership, there has never been a sales coaching emergency. You? Ever gotten a call after hours along the lines of:
“Panic! They don’t know how to…!! Help!?”
Exactly. And this is actually why, despite all our good intentions, there are precious few true coaching cultures in sales organizations. Even though we know the benefits – coaching skills that exceed expectations result in 94.8% of reps meeting quota and a top demand from the millennial and gen Z’s you’re trying to hire (source: like every study published in the past five years).
Since there ARE sales emergencies, customer emergencies, product emergencies, and political emergencies every single day (and the non-emergent intentions), it’s no surprise that meetings get pushed to the bottom.
Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of partnering with many organizations to establish or turn around their development cultures and we have lots of resources to help you after you finish this blog. Check out our top 20 actions download to help increase coaching frequency, our recent webinar on establishing a coaching culture, as well this fun quiz to determine whether or not your organization has a coaching culture.
If you’re a sales leader, the most important place you can start is by assessing your current culture of development and sales coaching importance. Here are a few questions to get you started:
- How often are my managers scheduled to call coach? How often do they really?
- What is coaching more important than? ($1M deal?) What is it not? (reporting request?)
- How eager are reps and managers for coaching sessions?
- Are we hiding or celebrating fails?
- Are reps getting built up or brought down?
The goal here is to determine if you have enough coaching, the right kind of coaching, and the kind of culture that supports it.
Starting with question 1, you may be surprised to learn that nearly 50% of reps disagree that they’re getting as much coaching as their managers state. Some of this is due to canceled or pushed coaching when fires happen (and let’s be honest, they happen daily in sales). I think the root of the problem here is how we define coaching. Most managers believe they’re coaching during a 1:1 meeting, a “how’s it going” chat, or a pipeline/deal conversation. Sorry,
“That’s NOT coaching!”
Our definition of best-in-class coaching is:
- Sales meeting is present (ride-along, recorded call, live video meeting)
- Manager asks questions about the reps’ skill
- Rep receives custom feedback on their execution
- Rep leaves feeling more confident than when they walked in
Sadly, this means that if you’re playing a call at a team meeting (great job by the way), this is sales training, not sales coaching. At most, you can provide custom feedback on a rep’s skills for about 3 people and 3 short call recordings in an hour. Yes, it also means that giving someone a laundry list of what to improve also doesn’t count as coaching. That’s just bullying. Inspect some sessions. You’ll be surprised – and you’ll be showing coaching’s importance with your presence.
Sales Executive Council also tells us that call coaching (aka skill coaching) is sales managers’ #1 worst skill. I’ve been hiring and training sales managers for 20 years and I wholeheartedly agree. And the hardest skill to shift is the laundry list of improvement items. It’s so easy for us to hear the challenges, and so hard for us to resist giving just one more idea for improvement. 90% of sessions during role plays come off negative at first, and it takes us at LEAST three training and practice sessions to start to even this out.
Like most leaders who came up through sales, I’m 100% guilty of the coaching bully myself. In fact, as we train sales managers how to coach at Factor 8, I modeled the curriculum after all my own personal atrocities. “Be like me…I do all the talking…Debbie Downer…” you get the picture. If you relate to this, you’ve probably also taken over a call or two you were meant to be silently observing.
That’s why I only coach recordings now. I just can’t be trusted during a live call. It’s also led to my #1 tip for antsy sales coaches:
“Coach the rep, not the deal.”
When we approach coaching with the intent of building confidence and skill vs. saving the deal, everything changes. Imagine the deal already lost. Resist the temptation to even ask about the outcome. Focus instead on engaging this seller, and helping them love their job, love their company, love their manager, and love sales.
It changes everything.
A note on culture. Spend a minute Googling the concept of a “growth mindset.” It’s our ultimate goal for sales coaching cultures. It’s a magical land where everyone cares more about improvement than winning. Did you just laugh out loud, my sales leader friend? Before you dismiss it, realize it’s the calling card of nearly every great athlete, and imagine if all your “A” players just kept getting better. How do you get here? A few ideas:
- Weed out your problem leaders. Yeah, the person you pictured is exactly who I’m talking about. They probably have veteran reps and accounts and are a fixture in your org – like a barnacle on the underside of the boat, they aren’t uplifters. Just note: culture is formed not by your intent! It’s defined by the worst behavior you’re willing to tolerate. His name was Brian at my first sales management job, and his attitude led the whole division to a culture of hazing and sink or swim. NOT the coaching culture the new workforce is craving!
- Share your failures and encourage your managers to do the same. A coaching culture is one where we’re not afraid to fail. We willingly share bad calls. We welcome feedback and input. Sorry, but humans aren’t built to be vulnerable and they will need a lot of role modeling here until your people feel safe to do so.
- Reward improvement. If you want a growth mindset culture, you can’t just reward the winners. Find ways every month to celebrate improvement. Could be a metrics jump, a KPI improvement, skill gains, CSat ratings…you get it.
A final word of advice: over-correct. My first Sales Director job came on the heels of me launching a training department. There was no other sales leader as dedicated to developing people as I. It still took me 6 months in the new gig to start talking about and prioritizing training. So I get how hard it is and how busy everyone is and how many emergencies keep coaching at the bottom of the to-do list. So, if it’s your goal, you’ll need to triple down to shift the pendulum. Dedicate six months to over-doing it. Talk about it in every team meeting and all-hands. Drop into coaching sessions and coach the coaches. Reward top coaches and rep improvements. Add it to contests. Ask manager for skill trends in every meeting. Spend money on sales manager training. Be sure it is OVER represented in your calendar, your budget, and your voice for long enough that your team knows it isn’t a flavor of the month.
Got a tip? Drop me a line and let me know what’s worked for you! lb@factor8.com.
Want more tips on how to increase sales coaching frequency?
Fill out the form below to watch the recording from
our recent session on“Creating a Coaching Culture” for more tips.
Call Coaching: 5 Things Reps + Managers Need to Prepare [“Sales Shot” Workshop]
Call Coaching: 5 Things Reps + Managers Need to Prepare [Workshop]
Call Coaching Cheat Sheets for Sales Managers
Coaching Cheat Sheets [Download]
How to Run Successful Sales Rep 1:1 Meetings
Managers/Leaders: What does it take to run a successful sales rep 1:1 meeting?
Ten bucks says you and your rep have different definitions of “success” here.
As a Rep, we want:
- Some solid “atta-boys” – show me the love!
- To feel “seen” by management – time and access is a big deal
- To gain some insight into the team – department and company
- An understanding of where we stand on the team
- Development on how to do even better
- Insight into career options and how to get there
- A clear understanding of our next goals and how to reach them
- To leave feeling important and pumped up to perform
As a Manager, we want:
- To be sure our Rep knows where they stand against goal
- To be sure our Rep knows how they’ll make their number this month
- Clear up any behavioral or skill issues
- Be sure they’re cool
Mostly, we need to be done with this meeting and get on with the next one right? Maybe during this time we could also look at the pipeline, the call coaching scores, review company announcements, and check off all vacation requests? Like really, can we just check them completely off the “to-do” list for at LEAST a month?
If I’m reading your mind right now, it’s because these are the questions I get when teaching managers the ropes. Things like…
“Why do I need a separate deal strategy, pipeline, and 1:1?”
“Do these need to be monthly or is quarterly OK?”
“I can do all this in less than 30 minutes, is that OK?”
And the fundamental difference here is that we have 8-15 of these to do a month and our reps have one. We need the team to perform and cause fewer issues, and they need to feel connected to their boss, their team, their career growth, and their company. And you guessed it, their 1:1 time is where it happens.
A recent Forbes article taught us that today’s hiring generations care most about 3 things:
- Career development
- Skill development
- Access to leadership (that’s you, baby!)
Ready for a perspective bomb? Imagine you have kids (if you do, imagine you have easier kids 😉). Yeah, you could probably keep them alive with 60 total minutes/day of feeding, maybe some basic hygiene and transport, but keeping them alive is very different than ensuring their happiness and development as human beings. We’re all trying to spend MORE than a few hours/day with our families right?
I know, your reps are not your children.
Or, are they?
Learn more about what GREAT managers cover in their monthly rep 1:1 meetings, plus how monthly performance meetings fit into the greater picture of management meetings (and how we’ll ultimately save you time) at our upcoming Sales Management 101 and Sales Management 201 Boot Camps!
Ready to improve your sales rep 1:1 meetings?
Join one of our upcoming Virtual Sales Management Boot Camps! We offer 3 different classes for new, aspiring, and seasoned Sales Managers. Our Boot Camps cover the most important aspects of a sales management position, like running a successful 1:1, time management and productivity, having difficult conversations, call coaching, and more!
Do I Have A Coaching Culture?
Last week, I got an email from an old friend and colleague. Together we launched the inside sales team in EMEA for SAP, and we’ve stayed in touch and had a few beers when I’m overseas – you know the drill.
He emailed and asked, “How will I know when I have a true coaching culture?”
Love this question. Wish more leaders would ask it! Well, I instantly started forming a little “Cosmo quiz” in my head. Take it for me and let me know how you scored – even better, see if you can add a question!
If you’re not making the top half, click here to get a replay of my recent webinar with the Sales Management Association.
Do I have a Coaching Culture?
- I see managers prioritizing coaching sessions over other tasks and meetings
- I see reps asking for more coaching
- Managers can recite skills trends, like what newbies struggle with most
- Training opportunities are offered abundantly at all levels
- I see new strategies being implemented smoothly and quickly (e.g. we all need to do XYZ on calls)
- We have libraries of different kinds of recorded calls available
- Reps feel comfortable having a third person in the room/call observing coaching
- Everyone shares the same understanding of what “good” looks like on calls
- Leaders regularly talk about coaching, rep development, and manager skills
- Managers coach after the call, not during
Scoring
(you know I’m making this up, right?)
- Yes = add 2 points
- Sometimes = add 1 point
- Heck no = subtract 2 points
20 Points: Seriously impressive. If you don’t already have conversational intelligence tools like Chorus, Gong, or ExecVision, your team is worth the investment! You may even be ready to integrate sales skill and coaching scores into balanced scorecards, rep and manager reward & compensation. Chances are, you have more than 55% of your floor hitting quota. Advertise your coaching culture in job postings and keep nurturing it with your leaders and managers.
12-19 Points: You, my friend, are middle of the pack. Chances are you come up average in floor quota attainment (about 55%), have some managers who are great at it, and plenty of reps who resist it. You may have great intent but be lacking in execution. There’s never really a coaching emergency, is there? Watch the webinar recording and pay special attention to strategy and process tips or get your managers enrolled in Call Coaching Boot Camp to help get everyone performing.
5-11 Points: In a sea of struggle, I’m sorry to say you’re rock bottom. I’m willing to bet there are more issues than coaching with the culture and you’re struggling with high turnover and “whack a mole” management. When we struggle to make the number, a focus on development never tops the priority list. Keep the resume updated, because it will be harder and harder to keep and attract talent.
So what IS a coaching culture? It’s hard to define, isn’t it?
Culture is how an organization feels when you visit it or are a part of it. It’s the company’s personality, right? I think culture is made up of pace (Factor 8 = super fast), formality (super informal), focus (results), attitude (an underdog with confidence) and language choice (you can probably guess, we’re not afraid of the F word at Factor 8).
Most leaders think culture is shaped by company values. To those leaders, I share the quote by Grunter and Whitaker:
“The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.”
Think of your top rep, your worst manager, the lazy guy in the next department. They show what is acceptable – it’s the bottom of the grading curve that shows where the curve really is. This is impactful.
Yes, the top of the curve matters too! But I can cite too many examples of top performers bending rules or operating in ethical gray areas. Can you? Is that tolerated where you are? Encouraged? Maybe even accidentally celebrated?
The thing about a coaching culture is that it implies all the feel-good areas of human performance, not necessarily hard numbers. To me, a coaching culture implies:
- A focus on skill development (is training provided?)
- Improvement over perfection (is failure celebrated?)
- An openness to give and receive feedback (does this happen at all levels?)
- A prioritization of people and their career development (are career paths defined?)
Implementing a conversational intelligence tool does not a culture create. In fact, I’ve seen it make cultures worse. Leaders used technology meant to aid development for compliance over coaching and “caught” reps who didn’t say required phrases. Ouch.
Right now, this is more important than ever. The generations we’re hiring have three top priorities:
- Opportunities for development
- Opportunities for advancement
- Access to leadership
Coaching helps check all three of these boxes, and if your team’s boxes aren’t being checked there are plenty of revenue jobs available right now. Attract and keep great talent with a coaching culture.
Want more tips on creating a coaching culture?
Fill out the form below to watch the recording from
our recent session on“Creating a Coaching Culture”
Creating a Coaching Culture [Webinar Recording]
Creating a Coaching Culture
[Webinar Recording]
Why Is Inside Sales Call Coaching Failing?
Call coaching has been ranked as sales managers’ #1 worst skill, according to the Sales Executive Council. Surprised? Me neither. Harsh, but fair.
According to data from Objective Management Group, only 7% of sales managers are capable of coaching their team. This is especially disappointing when you keep in mind that coaching salespeople at least 3 hours a month yields an average of 7% over the goal.
I struggle with inside sales call coaching myself. Why? Because it’s just so much easier to take over the call myself. Are you with me?
Here are some quick tips to help former sellers who are struggling to transition to a coaching role.
Your Inside Sales Call Coaching Isn’t Working. Here’s Why:
Sales management is THE busiest job in the world.
The line at the desk, backlog of emails, and cacophony of instant messages is real. Our best-laid plans go by the wayside as we attack the latest fire, and we take a reluctant loss in the coaching arena.
That means missed sessions, rushed sessions, and I-never-bothered-to-schedule-it sessions. So before we even attempt to execute good coaching, we’re upside down because reps come into our sessions feeling neglected.
Don’t buy it? Check out the study by ExecVision and The Bridge Group that cited managers report nearly 2x the coaching time that reps do!
The majority of call coaching that is happening is informal.
Think about your company’s own processes for a minute.
- Do you have a call coaching guide?
- Do you have a call coaching framework that’s mapped to the customer’s journey?
- Do you have set call coaching appointments, and keep those promises?
- Do you have a trend analysis where you can see how people are improving their skills?
- Do you have clear, firm expectations about reps showing up and showing improvement?
According to the trends we’ve seen in the call coaching sphere, most likely the answer is “no.” Don’t sweat it. I’ve literally NEVER seen a team that answers “Yes” to all of the above. And yet it’s this level of rigor that is required to get the big, silver-bullet-level lift of sales results.
A best-in-class inside sales call coaching program can lead to a 10-60 percent increase in quota attainment (CSO Insights, 2016). Quite a swing in the results there. I unpack these stats a little bit more in an article for Selling Power.
All of the items above are components of a more formal coaching process that uses best practices. Accomplishing this in the real world will require support from a high-level sales leader:
- A strategy team
- Input from multiple support departments, like Customer Success, Quality, Training, and Marketing
- Process documentation
- External training resources
- Follow-up – lots of it!
We just never learned how to call coach.
Truth: Great sellers are crappy coaches. Unless you study coaching techniques, take some skills training, adopt a meeting methodology, and get regular feedback, you’re probably making at least one of the insanely common (but sadly soul-crushing) coaching boo-boos we see daily.
And because we’re not experts, most of us wind up DEAL coaching, not REP coaching. The result is that reps leave call coaching sessions feeling like crap or confused. Instead, they should walk out feeling like a freaking superhero. (You and I know that confidence sells.)
So now that we’ve convinced you that call coaching is a losing battle, please step back from that ledge. We should still try.
At Factor 8, we teach The COACHN Model for sales coaching success.
Here’s what it looks like:
1. Clarify Expectations
This is as simple as starting the meeting by saying, “We’re going to start a formal call coaching program where we’ll listen to some calls and talk about it.” Or, kick-off meetings by recapping what you went over last time, and outlining what you want to get out of the session today.
2. Observe Behavior
This is the step where you actually give your opinion to the rep.
One simple formula to avoiding hurt feelings is saying, “I heard you did this on the call, and it seems like the outcome was this.” Keep it factual and nonpersonal.
3. Ask Questions
Ask at least five questions during the call coaching section.
The goal here is self-discovery for reps. The more they have time to answer questions the more the light bulb will go off and they’ll start learning things on their own. This doesn’t happen as readily when managers are simply telling reps what to do.
4. Commit
Wrap up the call with takeaways for your reps to work on before your next coaching session. Reference one of the questions they answered before, saying, “I really loved your suggestion; why don’t we work on that for next time?”
5. How Can I Help?
Offer your help! This can seem awkward at times, but there are some great ways to do it.
Try it by using one of these lines:
- “Why don’t we role play right now?”
- “Do you want to give it a try?”
- “Would you like me to review some more calls?”
This lets reps know that you care and are dedicated to their success.
6. Next Steps?
Assign tasks for your reps to practice before the next meeting.
Be sure to set them up for success by telling them exactly what you’d like to see. Here’s an example: “Send me three calls during which you think you put this into practice really well, and we’ll review next time.”
Stick With It!
Following The COACHN Model reminds me to do all the important parts. Most important among those is asking questions and getting commitments.
Please note: Nowhere in this model did we say, “Here’s how I used to do it” or “Use this script!” Call coaching is tough. I hope these tips were fun and easy to implement. We’ll keep talking about this and how we can improve our techniques. Smart sales managers don’t give up on-call coaching.
Make a goal to get better at this each year. Buy some books or check out some on-site or online training like The Sales Bar to help you get there.
Interested in inside sales call coaching training?
Contact us today to learn about our customizable virtual and inside sales training programs
available for sales managers.
Addressing Gaps in Call Coaching [Webinar Recording]
Addressing Gaps in Call Coaching
[Webinar Recording]
How to Thrive in Your Role as a Sales Manager [Webinar Recording]
How to Thrive in Your Role as a Sales Manager
[Webinar Recording]