Integral to every sales training and coaching program, we work with organizations to help them write and deliver their phone scripts, value propositions, and elevator pitches. For salespeople and managers, this skill is critical as it often initiates the relationship on the right foot by getting the audience engaged.
Here is the approach I use when calling on executives that fit our ideal prospect profile:
Hi John, this is Tony Cole. (Wait until they respond.)
I’m not sure it makes sense to call, but can I share with you why I’m calling?
Our clients are those that recognize a bigger opportunity in the marketplace and need help to leverage the talent and resources they have to initiate more conversations, provide consultative guidance, and deliver best-fit business solutions in order to close more business.
Can I ask you a question?
In a word, how would you describe the overall results of your company as it relates to taking full advantage of the opportunity in your markets? (Assume the prospect says, “pretty good.”)
Why just pretty good? What is missing?
The goal, of course, is getting the prospect engaged right from the start. Now let’s talk about the sales coaching of the value prop.
Years ago, one of the lead execs from a client shared an article called “What it Takes to Be a Coach.” It began with: You must understand the game.
At the time, most didn’t understand that the “game” is the game of selling. Managers and internal trainers must really understand the game of selling. Unless internal coaches and trainers have strapped on a headset, made hundreds of dials, asked for introductions, gotten rejected, sold big cases, and started with small sales, they can’t fully understand the game. It would be like taking flying lessons from a trainer who did all their learning in a simulator. Would you want that person as your flying coach?
Most sales managers end up in that role because they were good to great salespeople and the company was looking to:
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Replace a manager
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Find a path for professional advancement
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Retain a salesperson who’s slowing down but has a strong book of business
Rarely, if ever, does that person go through an intense, fully integrated sales training development program to help them effectively execute the required skills of an effective coach.
As an example, in the script above, an effective coach will teach their salespeople to get a prospect involved in the conversation as quickly as possible. This is done by executing two steps:
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Say your name, then pause
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Inform the listener that the call may not make sense and ask for permission to proceed
In real selling, the prospect gets involved in the conversation within three seconds and then gives the salesperson permission to deliver their value proposition or elevator pitch. That takes coaching knowledge and skill. You must know the game.
Peter Jensen, an Olympic coach from Canada and author of The Third Factor, states that the first two factors for success in anything are nature and nurture. The third factor, specific to coaching, is: You must have a coaching bias.
I have the coaching bias. I love to coach. I love the game of selling. I love seeing and hearing people develop into the best versions of themselves. That is what it takes to be successful at coaching. It must be about helping others gain the spotlight, achieve success and financial rewards, or simply experience a job well done. It requires sacrificing ego and the need to be right so the other person can discover their path, develop their skills, and become the expert.
The challenge for most sales leaders is that they must have and execute the skills of being a strong leader: strong identity, self-assurance, credible authority, knowledge, and a clear vision, mission, and goal orientation. Strong leaders don’t need to be in the spotlight, don’t act like they know it all, and ask questions instead of always providing answers. This is key when sales coaching their team on their value prop and other sales skills—gaining their input and listening to their experiences.
There are assessments in the marketplace to help people identify if they have what it takes. We use Objective Management Group’s Sales Manager Evaluation. Three key findings are identified and scored:
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The Will to be successful specifically in the role of manager or sales leader
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The Manager DNA
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The Manager Competencies
The evaluation provides an index percentage that tells the evaluated sales manager how they rank against others who have taken the evaluation. If their percentage is 80%, that tells them they are better than 80% of the managers who have taken the evaluation. Our 20+ year history has verified that most sales managers have less than 10% of the skills needed to be an effective sales coach.
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