How can you coach your salespeople with open-ended questions?

When coaching salespeople, emphasize these principles: 1. Teach Expertise: - Encourage industry expertise. - Ask: "What unique insights can you offer?" 2. Customize Messaging: - Stress tailored messages. - Ask: "How did you personalize your pitch?" 3. Control Conversations: - Teach leading with insights. - Ask: "How did you keep control?" 4. Link to Impact: - Emphasize tying insights to results. - Ask: "Can you measure the value presented?" & "What client feedback did you get?" 5. Role-Playing & Continuous Learning: - Practice Challenger-style role-plays. - Ask: "How'd you approach this scenario?" & "What learnings?" 6. Performance Metrics: - Set clear KPIs. - Ask: "Relevant sales KPIs?"

By implementing a structured pre-call preparation process in our sales team, we've noticed remarkable improvements. For instance, one of our sales reps recently used this approach before a crucial client call. They asked key questions like, 'What are the client's specific pain points?' and 'How can our product address their needs?' As a result, not only did they have a more focused and productive conversation, but they also secured a deal that had been in the pipeline for months. This demonstrates the power of thoughtful pre-call planning in achieving successful outcomes

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Recently, one of our sales team members had a challenging call with a potential client. After the call, we sat down and discussed it. I asked questions like, 'How did you feel during the call?' and 'What aspects of your approach do you think worked well?' This reflective discussion helped the salesperson realize that their active listening skills were a strong point but that they could improve their objection handling. As a result, they decided to focus on objection handling techniques in their future calls, and in the following weeks, we saw an increase in their conversion rates. This demonstrates the value of post-call evaluations in refining our sales strategies.

During our quarterly sales review, I had a conversation with one of our sales team members. I asked questions like, 'How do you feel about your sales results this quarter?' and 'What contributed to your recent success in landing those big clients?' The salesperson shared that they had been dedicating more time to personalized follow-up emails and nurturing relationships with potential clients. However, they also mentioned that managing their time effectively was a challenge. We discussed strategies to optimize their time and prioritize high-potential leads. As a result, in the next quarter, they not only maintained their previous success but also exceeded their targets.

In reality this is about clarity of the role of the sales manager at this moment in time...not rushing to the next call but carving our post call time to help the seller reflect. Did they achieve the objective, what were the pleased with and what would they do differently. The role of a sales manager is to create heroes and not be one...many find this part tricky!