Sales Management: Call for Coaching

Coaching is not just for athletes.

Reading through the Sapphire Roundtable Recap: How Startups Plan to Tackle Revenue Growth in 2023 | Sapphire Ventures they specifically call out the need for coaching as a "multiplier for organizations" as an important attribute for any start-up organization who is looking to build an enduring business. It makes sense.

The data couldn't be any clearer. High-impact sales companies rank at the top of the list in coaching for many reasons, but one of their most enviable traits is that over?75 percent of their reps?achieve quota. Meanwhile, companies in the mid- or low-impact range may be struggling to reach even?25 percent?quota attainment.

I'd take this a step further:

• If you want to improve CLV to CAC - Coach
• If you want to improve Conversion rates - Coach
• If you want to improve unit economics - Coach
• If you want to see SLG and PLG work together - Coach

I could go on, but ultimately all of these require a coaching culture. There's no such thing as a "GOAT" in any profession who didn't have a coach and mentor.

Tiger Woods without a swing coach? Not a chance, in fact, he had 4 different coaches throughout his career. What do Tom Brady, Jalen Hurts, Drew Brees, Nolan Ryan, and Greg Maddux have in common? Tom House. He's their?throwing coach. I could go on. In sports, life, and in the sales profession, if we want to execute at the top of our game, organizations must be more intentional about coaching. Given top sales reps want to work with organizations who are invested in their success we're in perfect alignment. Coaching will be pervasive across every start-up given the empirical evidence, right? Not so fast.

Despite that high level of awareness and alignment, more than 80% of managers are doing little — if any — sales coaching.

Why do so few sales teams Coach?

I've had the discussions with dozens of sales teams and their 'inner voice' is always the same. When asked, "Why the discrepancy? Why isn't more time spent coaching?" The top answers are: (1) the lack the skills and/or don’t have the confidence to do it, and (2) didn't receive any training on?how?to coach, and (3) It's not seen as a priority (culture).

Here's the reality. Managers don't feel comfortable or confident in their coaching abilities because most have never been coached. They have no framework, point of reference, or know exactly what they'd coach on. We're all familiar with the phrase "Train the Trainer" but rarely (if ever) have you heard the phrase "Coach the Coach". That's a problem. We've all been trained. Some have even been fortunate to have been mentored. We've all been managed. But coached? Almost never. $7B is spent on sales training but almost no time on coaching. Take a deep breath before reading the next line.

Gartner found that B2B sales reps forget as much as 70% of the information taught within a week, 87% within a month of the training. Coaching is what reinforces training. Coaching is where retention lives.

Clearly, we need to be coaching. If organizations do nothing else to improve sales performance, they should invest in sales coaching that drives increases in productivity & efficiency. In 2023: Sales efficiency is Capital efficiency.

Now What?

It’s impossible to over-prepare for a coaching session. This is time that would otherwise be spent selling, so coaches must respect the rep’s commitment and ensure they use sessions wisely. Keep in mind that coaching must be intentional. A coaching plan should be in place. This means a documented process, methodology, objective items that you're looking for in the session. This ensures that as you work with reps, you're strategically guiding the rep to recognize and make a specific behavioral change — and ultimately improve sales success and performance. While some ad-hoc coaching will certainly happen, a structured sales coaching process ensures that all reps benefit equally. This means you need to coach programmatically, not opportunistically.

At its most basic level, this guidance would include a list of activities that coaches should facilitate on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Activities might include:

Daily Activities:

• 15-minute Stand-Ups: Ask 1 rep to talk about one thing they learned/did well the day before. Highlight a technique, etc. This is not a pipeline review.

Weekly Activities:

• 1 hour Coaching while making calls. Have a coaching sheet that reinforces your sales playbook and best practices.
• Role play sessions: We hate them but they're necessary.
• Review calls from Gong / Chorus by ZoomInfo and talk through areas that went well/didn't go well. It's a conversation.
• Targeted competency workshops

The other option is to bring in a Trainer to build the coaching program and "Coach the Coaches". I've done this for a number of organizations as an extension to their sales playbook that I'm typically building out. The better news is it becomes contagious. Your team’s improved sales effectiveness will be the ultimate reward.

Whether we're coaching how to navigate deals, overcoming pricing objections, or recommending what the customer "should" buy - coaching is finally getting the attention it deserves.

The next move is yours.

Over the last 30 years, I've been a Revenue Leader/Operator in pre/post IPO companies ranging $0 to $250M including 5 successful exits. I'm a firm believer that success comes to those stubborn few organizations that choose to ignore the temporary discomfort of setback for the long-term strategy of delivering value. I pride myself on the inglorious factors that have driven my career: an aching desire to overachieve in the face of adversity; the peculiar blessing of a tendency to downplay prior accomplishments; simple hard work; those proverbial 10,000 hours of practice. If you're seeking help in accelerating capital efficient growth - I'd love to hear from you. www.moneyball365.com