An effective sales coach knows and demonstrates a stage-based sales process and selling system with their team, and they utilize this system regularly to coach their people. They know the sales process so well that they demonstrate and inspect it regularly. The sales leader exhibits the sales skills expected of the sales team in everything they do. They ask open-ended questions. They help people discover the burning issues. They make sure that the prospect wants to fix the problem. They check for the ability to invest time and money to fix the problem, and finally, they get commitment. An effective sales coach must demonstrate what they expect of their people to achieve sales team excellence.
As defined by our sales evaluation partner, Objective Management Group, the Sales Process Competency measures an individual's ability to follow the proper sequence of stages and milestones of a structured sales process. So, while simply having a sales process is important, it must also follow a certain sequence to be effective. And of course, the role of the sales leader is to coach their people in this sales process, identifying choke points and offering effective strategies for skill improvement. Let’s dive deeper into this topic of what defines an effective sales process.
Follows Stages and Steps
The sales process followed includes appropriate and effective stages or steps.
Consistent and Effective Results
The sales process produces consistent and effective results.
Little Wasted Time
The sales process helps to minimize the time wasted with prospects that don’t or won’t buy.
CRM Supported
Today’s necessary strong CRM skills support adherence to a structured sales process. The sales process is integrated into the CRM and is a necessary tool for tracking and coaching the pipeline.
Strategic Use of Sales Scorecard
The sales process provides a scorecard that predicts the likelihood of winning business as part of qualifying prospects.
Here is an example of an effective stage-based sales process:
Top producers are not excellent due to luck. The chart below demonstrates the correlation of sales process to sales percentile. 87% of elite salespeople, the top 7%, follow a sales process, in contrast to 20% of weak salespeople.
Why Is a Sales Process So Important for the Coach?
The sales coach’s ability to demonstrate these steps will encourage their sales teams to execute their sales system. This mastery of the system is what then allows the coach to identify incorrect behavior when they observe their salespeople in a prospecting situation or role-playing session with peers. If the sales coach does not know, they cannot teach or coach an effective approach.
In order to get salespeople to know and own an effective selling system, the sales coach must also be able to teach the theory of the sales system, including the dynamics of the buying and selling process in today’s market and how to address each step of the sales system with specific industry nuances. They must be able to demonstrate and teach their people to not look, act, or sound like everyone else and how to differentiate themselves in their marketplace. Ultimately, the coach must teach the theory behind why asking for referrals, having a full pipeline, executing on a sales success formula, and participating in sales huddles all add to a salesperson’s potential success. Each of these is a critical component of following a stage-based sales process and achieving sales team excellence.
Don’t leave reaching your sales goal targets to luck!
