The Importance of Proper Management Reinforcement in Sales
Sales professionals often need the proper support and feedback of management to be successful. Sales managers want to support their team members; however, the methods used by the managers can at times be more harmful than helpful.
Why is that?
Often there is a lack of clarity and focus between the manager and the sales professional on the behavioural expectations
Coaches often don’t understand the behavioural change process and therefore cannot gain the commitment of their staff to want to take action
Managers don’t observe their performers ‘in the game’ enough to know how to identify and target key behavioural development opportunities
The typical approach to coaching someone is to “tell” the salesperson what to do vs. asking effective questions to help lead the salesperson to improved performance
What to do about it?
Managers need to be equipped with the right sales coaching skills by understanding how to be an effective coach. They need to learn skills on how to conduct coaching sessions that develop the key skills and that help change the behaviour of others.
How is this accomplished?
Managers need to:
Build their attributes of an effective sales coach required to create a positive coaching experience
Recognise individual differences in approaches to learning and adapt the coaching discussion to suit the needs of the individual
Identify exactly what skills and behaviours managers expect from their sales professionals in order to achieve the desirable outcomes
Enhance observation skills for assessing and identifying key behaviours, client engagement skills and sales activity at critical stages of the sales process
To provide positive and corrective performance feedback that builds and maintains self esteem
Enhance coaching communication skills (asking and listening) in order to increase personal commitment to individual development opportunities
Demonstrate competence in the delivery of a coaching model
Be able to set and monitor personal development plans to reinforce behavioural change after the coaching session
For more information, see maximising sales performance and skills
Andrew Sidwell, Team Egyii, Singapore
Tags: Communication Skills, Leadership, Management Skills, People Skills
