As I think about successful coaching at almost anything I have to believe that the coach must at some level be able to demonstrate successful execution of what they are asking the participant to perform. If the coach cannot do that then they must have a resource that they can count on to demonstrate the ideal execution of a skill or behavior.
Imagine for a second that you are about to take flying lessons only to discover that your trainer has crashed several times. You would not be too likely to hire that trainer. And so it is with sales manager and being able to effectively demonstrate effective selling.
An effective selling process will accomplish the following:
- Discovery of what the prospect wants and needs
- Agreement from the prospect that they will make a purchase or change
- An agreement for the required investment of time, money and resources
- An agreement on the decision making process
- A presentation that provides the exact solution the prospect is looking for, within the budget they have
- A decision at the conclusion of the presentation
The effective selling process can be taught without skill or demonstration. Send the sales people to an
on-line learning resource, have them read a book or hire an outside consulting firm to help you map your sales process. Boom, done. Sales people now know the effective sales process. BUT can and will they execute it.
They can try but unless they have the right skills, the right supportive sales strengths and unless they see the process demonstrated correctly then left to their own devices they may not have the success that is anticipated. A great sales coach can demonstrate the following:
1. Asking the right questions, the right way at the right time to help a prospect disover the problems they have, the extent of the problems and the outcomes of the problems if not addressed.
2. Asking questions that are open ended and are designed to help a prospect engage in dialog and describe emotionally the problems they have instead of just intellectually.
3. Asking questions to get beyond the initial answers. Most prospect will not opening and readily share with you deep problems. The initial problem they tell you about is never the real problem. "Drilling down' is required to get to the real issues.
4. Asking questions about budget, commitment and decision making are critical skills to demonstrate. The key is to demonstrate them in such a way that your sales people won't look, act or sound like all the other sales people in the market space.
5. The ability to get prospects to make timely decisions.
6. The ability to immediately establish trust and confidence.
7. The ability to successfully ask for and obtain introductions
These 7 aren't the only seven but if a sales manager can demonstrate these skills successfully then and only then will the sales team have a model from which they can work from.
If your sales people are not executing the sales process in an effective manner your first step would be to look at what and how they are learning from you and decide what impact you are having on their performance. Your failure to demonstrate effectively maybe leading to their failure to perform.
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