- 1. !"#skill level of every salesperson, and that means
training,retraining and training some more, as you manage yourother
responsibilities.Yes, its challenging, but training and coaching
consistentlyand well also present an enormous opportunity to
growyour sales, because nearly all companies do a poor job.The
sales managers of those organizations are just telling oryelling.
Good sales managers, who learn the principles ofeffective training
and coaching, help their companiesoutperform the rest.What are
sales training and coaching? Whoneeds them?Training and coaching
are really sharing your knowledgeabout selling and products,
motivating your salespeople topractice what you tell them and
getting them to do it.Any time you share something that affects the
sale, youWhy do sales training and are training or
coaching.coaching? Formal sales training is generally working with
a group ofsales representatives. It can be as simple as practicing
howBy Rick Conlow and Doug Watsabaughto greet a customer through a
role playing exercise in a one-hour sales meeting, or it can be an
in-depth, two-weekprogram that teaches your salespeople how to use
24Are sales training and coaching reallydifferent sales
techniques.necessary?Regardless of the type of business you are in,
the idea is to Coaching is working one on one with a sales rep,
targetingmove product get equipment into the classroom, food onhis
or her goals, action plans and needs. It achievesthe shelves, steel
to the factory, computers into the officeimproved results by
helping the rep develop necessary skillsor boats on the lake. and
want to. Training supported by coaching has adramatic affect on
sales (according to research andSalespeople whoexperience, net
gains of two to four times the average know their customers and
their basic wants andsalesperson!).needs, understand the features
of their products and how So, given those impressive results, what
prevents moreto translate them into customer benefits andsales
managers from excelling as trainers and coaches? practice to
improve their selling skills Time when and how to prepare and work
it intowill sell more units than salespeople who do not.their
schedule Content what to talk about in a training meetingSales
training and coaching are critical, because or one-on-one coaching
sessionsalespeople who learn more and practice more sell more
Method/process how to conduct an effectiveperiod. training meeting
and a mutually beneficial coachingsessionWhy do sales managers
exist?It would be great if every salesperson would take
Professional resources can be of great help in
overcomingresponsibility to be the best, but 95% wont. Thats
whythese obstacles. They prepare the meeting and coachingsales
managers exist. As a sales manager, you are charged session agenda
and content, and contribute to the deliverywith doing everything
you can to increase company sales.of the training. You, however,
will have to make trainingThe most effective way to increase sales
is to increase the and coaching a priority. You must set aside the
time, and !
2. commit to learning more about selling, so you will have
conditioned to think sales training and coaching are somegood,
current and practical information to share with your form of
punishment or they feel they have nothing more tosalespeople.
learn.If you dont feel comfortable training or coaching, because
You can change that. You are the model. As a sales manager,you dont
think you are a dynamic person, remember that your own attitude
about training and coaching will bemanagers who regularly train and
coach their people sell reflected in your teams willingness to take
learning andmore products, make more money and are moresuccessful
than managers who do nothing at all. So, get improvement seriously.
You make all the difference in your sales teams attitude.started! A
year from now, youll be glad you did. Your enthusiasm and
encouragement during training orIs it necessary to train and coach
all the coaching sessions will translate into dollars perhaps
soonertime?than you expect. And as you unlock the skills and gifts
in eachAbsolutely! Most salespeople learn all they can the firstone
of your people, and inspire them to excel, you will see theyear on
the job and then stop. Ten years later, they havedaily results in
new sales. Apathy or staying in your comfortone years experience 10
times and they arent any betterzone creates a lousy alternative:
lost opportunity and lostand arent making much more money. Truth be
told, they sales. So, stretch yourself!have forgotten most of what
they have learned over theyears. Thats the reality of how we store
information. MostAre you willing to invest the time to train andof
what we have learned is buried in our subconscious andcoach your
people regularly to guaranteeonly consistent training and coaching
keep it in ourconscious mind where we can use it. success? Now
thats the real question! Why not do it today?Repetition.
Repetition. Repetition. This is theright approach!Plato defined the
job of training and coaching. He said thatto be a successful
manager, trainer or coach, your primary Senior Partners Rick Conlow
and Doug Watsabaughresponsibility is to talk people into using what
they alreadyhave helped companies, governmental agencies andknow
and to be open-minded about learning what theynonprofit
organizations achieve record-breaking results for more than 20
years as performancedont. improvement experts. Their clients
achievements include double digit improvement in repeat andSo many
people have approached us after a trainingRick referral business,
triple digit increases in sales,session and said, I sure learned a
lot, or You remindedConlow # more than 50% reduction in customer
complaints, 34 quality and service awards, and domination inme of a
lot. In fact, so many have said those things that itstheir
respective markets. Rick and Doug arehard for us to believe
organizations are doing enoughpopular motivators and speakers,
inspiringtraining or coaching.audiences with their engaging
down-to-earth but down-to-business approach. They have authored
more than a dozen books. Six new titles, includingRight now during
this economic downturn is a great time Doug SuperSTAR Customer
Service, were published into increase your efforts and resolve. One
of our customersWatsabaugh # late 2009.holds at least two
business-building training meetings aweek without fail and follows
that with a weekly coachingsession with each representative. His
sales teamWho we are#WCW Partners is a performance improvement
company. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, weconsistently
out-performs the rest. After a recent trainingwork with clients in
a variety of industriessession, his four salespeople set 29
appointments in 30worldwide to help them excel in sales, service
andminutes! leadership. We facilitate business growth and vitality
through four practices sales and customer retention improvement,
organization andAnother company we work with has improved sales
210% leadership development, innovation andin 2 ! years by becoming
training and coaching zealots communications strategy. You are
capable ofbeating their competition day in, day out. Training
andamazing things. Let us show you. www.wcwpartners.comcoaching
work! #How do I know who needs it? This one is simple. If they are
in sales and they are breathing, they need it. If you have
salespeople who do not!"#$%&$(& want to know more about
selling, they have either
been!"!#$%&()&*#+*#%#,)&-.&/%(0)#+/,&.1)/)(#0./,%(23#4%*)5#+(#6+(()%,.7+*8#6+(()*.%8#9)#9.&:#9+;#07+)(*#+(#%#1%&+)2#.-#+(50)7#+(#*%7)*8#*)&1+0)#%(5#7)%5)&*;+,3#!)#-%0+7+%)#?