6 Chapter 6: Sales Coaching and Managing (Leading Processes and People)

Process [Lead, Select, Educate, Engage, and Support]

Lead

As a conductor directs the symphony, the sales manager must conduct the efforts of the team. Each person on the sales team should be well-trained, in the right position, and fully understand the goals of the organization for the specific salesperson and the territory for which they are responsible.

When an employee has clear instructions regarding the sales position, there will be no ambiguity within the relationship. The sales manager must use concise, specific language. The manager must articulate each message with assertiveness (without aggressiveness).

Processes must be outlined with clear instructions for the employee on how the processes will be measured. There must be an acknowledgement of the instructions with an understanding by the employee that the processes set forth by the organization will be followed.

There can be no confusion regarding the expectations of the individual or the team when it comes to management metrics, goals, and the desire results. The consequences for poor performance should be acknowledged as part of the agreement of employment. Lack of direction from the management cannot be a reason for performance problems.

The manager will enforce the direction of the organization. It is the responsibility of the manager to hold themselves and the team accountable to the processes and metrics of the leadership team. Enforcing the measurement with integrity across all employees equally is a critical behavior of the sales manager.

Routine appraisals of the team and individual’s metrics will be reviewed as planned with results measurement. Each employee should receive objective behavior observance to determine impacts on the results of the work performance.

Uniformity of processes must be accountable to all. The manager is responsible for enforcing the proven work methods as outlined in the training by leadership and maintaining an openness for suggestions that will improve processes. Demand excellence. Be deliberate to ensure expectations are engrained into the daily walk. Set the course with the vision to accomplish the mission. Do not deviate from the message. Warning: do all of this with love and empathy. Don’t instill fear. Simply set expectations of the job.

Leadership considers the core business and direction of the organization. This is where direction for all teams is set and articulated clearly. At the highest leadership levels, we will find the following elements that will be used to guide the employees:

C-Level Leadership Responsibility

• Company Mission
• Vision
• Values and Culture
• Strategy

Departmental Sales Leadership Responsibility

• Sales Planning
• Metrics and Measurement
• Compensation Program
• Client Strategy and Planning
• Sales Behaviors and Reporting
• Goal Measurement

Re-enforcing the team with the power to perform will come through strategic motivation. Motivation propels forward progress. Some of the elements of Enforce are as follows:

C-Level Leadership Responsibility

• Visibility and Messaging
• Top Client Engagement
• Financial Support to the Sales Team

Departmental Sales Leadership Responsibility

• Client Strategy
  • o Market pricing and strategic client acquisition within the marketplace
  • o Client relationship engagement opportunities
  • o Case studies and partnership academic research
• Employee
  • o Business Process and Strategy Management
  • o Sales Skill Coaching
  • o Recognition and Reward Structure
  • o Performance Evaluation

Select

Select is the single most important job of the manager. Recruitment is critical. It can be unforgiving. It is the difference between a poor team, good team, or a great team. The bottom line, your ability to select high-functioning employees with integrity and talent will determine your success within the market.

The formula for building a winning team includes a willingness by the manager to win. A winning manager does not take everyone and anyone on the team. The criteria for hiring are based on ability and education, not on some other method. Leadership direction and results metrics based on the current market will lead the manager to hire the best person for the job that can beat the competition and generate revenue for the firm. Sales managers must ensure that they are following the guidelines of the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee (EEOC) guidelines that demand there is no discrimination in hiring practices. Considering these laws, it provides freedom for the manager to hire whoever has the best resume and abilities for growth.

Selecting includes building the job description, promoting the position, interviewing, hiring, and on-boarding the sales professional to your team. Placement of the selected employee to the right position and environment will ensure stability in the new hire. Matching abilities or interest to industry segments or client core products may prove to be an effective strategy for quicker time-to-proficiency of the sales professional. Improving the velocity of qualifying a sales professional on the team will provide benefits that extend beyond the happiness of the team member.

Educate

Continuous learning and development of the team will ensure growth and increasing value for the sales professionals. Proper training includes but is not limited to self-realization activities, current events, improving negotiation skills, building business acumen, presentation ability, business strategy, and general marketing and sales processes.

Coaching skill is not innate. It is a discipline that is learned from education and experience. Great coaches stay close to strict fundamentals. Fundamentals are key to the sustained health of the team. The fundamentals guide the team through uniformity and alignment. Practice of these fundamentals leads to excellence during game time.

Prior to building a development plan for an employee, there must be an assessment of capabilities. Assessments must be objective with an ability to discern some level of performance in the future if given proper training. There are many people with potential. A successful coach chooses wisely the individuals that you will pour into. Careful not to cast your pearls before the swine. Meaning, don’t waste your precious coaching time with individuals that may have natural talent but have low humility or work ethic.

Movement of employees into various positions over their career is a tool for development. Pressing employees to get out of their comfort zone to take on additional responsibility will allow for planned growth of capability, knowledge, and wisdom. There is a need for caution as fast-tracking leaders without strategic planning or management skills can create a fundamentally demoralizing situation for the employee and can create a morale issue with others on the team, especially if the fast tracker is put in some type of leadership position. Ensure there are proper mentors in place for would be leaders that are receiving consideration for advancement.

Engage

To engage means that the manager personally gets immersed into the employee’s career; without getting personal. Engage means that the manager will be available to the individual team members (all of them, all the time). Engage means getting close without breaking the important barrier of leadership responsibilities. For example, some experienced managers have the ability to go out for a couple of beers with the team. However, it takes a certain skill to be able to do this and maintain the respect level that the manager position requires. Respect can be lost when the manager loosens up too much during an after-hours event. Leadership must be able to keep the managing edge and yet be cordial enough to engage in a friendly evening that does not include talking shop.

Because engagement spans a broad range of leader-to-employee interaction, the text will expand on different categories of professional situations. Elements covered will include mentoring, open-door policies (employee concerns), employee growth programs (tuition assistance), employee assistance programs (substance or mental health), and accountability improvement plans (related to work performance).

Proper coaching is critical to the success of the sales manager. Many firms concentrate on a series of best practices that allow for encouraging engagement. We will concentrate on the following:

1. Don’t Tell. Listen more than you talk. Ask open questions.
2. Conform coaching to skill levels – Each employee must have an individual plan.
3. Feedback must be based on behavior – Don’t conflict individuality.
4. Fundamentals and Process – Never deviate from the message.
5. Coach forward – Inspire future success.
6. Emulate – Demonstrate the expected behaviors.
7. Demand excellence, in all things.

Support

The troops you have are the ones that are fighting for the organization. Never disrespect your troops. Never assassinate the character of your troops. If the troops win, they did a great job. If the troops lost, the manager did a poor job leading them. The responsibility of support lies at the feet of the manager.

Support means leading from the front. The manager must be willing to demonstrate the expected performance at any time. The manager should never ask an employee to do something that they themselves are not will do with the employee or have not previously done.

Training is a key element of support. The employee must receive training for the position. If there is a highly skilled employee new to the firm, the employee should receive adequate introductions to the people within the organization and the processes by which the team is measured. A manager that assumes will make mistakes.

Economic conditions will vary. Support for changing conditions will be required to direct the team with processes. For example, high inflationary pressures and rising interest rates may lead to recessionary conditions that uncontrollably negatively impact the sales team. The support from the manager will be required to ensure other business unit employees understand market conditions. Sales managers must work closely with marketing, finance, logistics, etc. to build cross-functional communication that leads to trust in managing the business overall.

Support comes through providing proper tools, time, and training that prepares sales professionals for the competitive marketplace. Some of the support elements are as follows:

C-Level Leadership Responsibility

• Publish internal reports with transparency of how departmental results affect the organization overall.
• Listen to the front-line sales professionals regarding market conditions.
• Be proactive vs. reactive.
• Provide funding for tools of the trade (CRM, computers, etc.).

Departmental Sales Leadership Responsibility

• Sales planning time and role-play practice.
• Customer resource management system (CRM) for customer elements.
• Dashboards referencing sales metrics (reporting) (ex. Microsoft Power BI or Tableau).
• Marketing infographics, insight case studies, and feature documents.
• Eliminate challenges to the sales efforts.
  • o Time for client pricing.
  • o Assistance with proposals.
  • o Supply chain studies.

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