QUICK Coaching for Better Results

by Ed Albertson, Vice President - National Accounts, Carew International, Inc.

In a recent survey on Sales Management and Leadership, 81 % of the respondents said they utilize one-on-one coaching sessions (in-person and on the telephone) as a strategy to bring out the best in their sales team. Additionally, while 79% reported accompanying their sales people on sales calls, 74% admitted to a role on the sales call of meeting the customer and advancing the sales relationship. Combining those survey results, a picture emerges that suggests there is significant coaching going on, but not necessarily when sales manager and sales professional are making sales calls. That’s not surprising in a challenging economy where business is harder to come by, sales managers and sales people are doing more with less, and competition is about as intense as it gets.

For the besieged sales leader who is expected to deliver tougher-to-come-by results with fewer people, being able to leverage the capacity of each sales person is critical. With less time to devote to sales coaching and more time being committed to developing business opportunities themselves, sales leaders might need some help with their approach to this important aspect of their job, while still playing an active role in a sales call. Relief may be available in this “get-to-the-point” coaching approach/model called “QUICK Coaching.”

Quick Coaching has three outcomes that can benefit sales people and sales managers:

1) Developing sales skills and behaviors
2) Reinforcing learning
3) Achieving sales call objectives

Whether enacted in-person or over the phone, QUICK Coaching provides a memorable set of guidelines for efficiently and effectively taking advantage of sales call activity to improve sales performance, both tactically (by the call) and strategically (by the opportunity).

Consistent with its name, here is a “quick” overview of QUICK Coaching:

Question more, tell less
More learning and awareness occurs through self-discovery than through other-directed information. In addition, self-discovered learning endures longer. That is not to say if the wrong learning is taking place, one should not correct; but the default approach is most optimal when questions are used in place of statements. Simple questions like, “How did you think that went?” “If you did it over again, what, if anything, would you do differently?” and “Where might we learn from this particular experience?” can result in far more applicable development than merely telling a person what we think.

Use commonly understood terms, models, and concepts for discussion
For clarity and understanding, there is no substitute for a commonly accepted set of terms, models and concepts when discussing behaviors, skills and results. If such do not exist, agreement should be reached before any discussion to avoid misunderstanding and unpredictable outcomes.

Inspire confidence (genuinely), stay positive, reinforcing
The point of coaching is to build confidence and competence. Negativity does little to advance knowledge, skills and behaviors and, in fact, goes a long way to suppress the openness that is critical to exchange information and perceptions that can be helpful to improvement.

Confirm a next step
Productive sales interactions should be identifiable within a broader strategy to achieve a specific objective. Lacking that characteristic in planning and execution has the potential to delay the advancement of the sales process and diminish sales effectiveness overall. As with top-ranked chess players, masters, top-ranked sales professionals tend to have a strategy that identifies several action steps in advance by which they manage their effort and gauge their progress.

Keep focused on one skill at a time
In spite of our indiscriminate use of the word “multi-tasking,” we are less effective in each activity whenever we attempt to do more than a single “thing” at a time. For the best coaching results, mutually identifying one specific skill or behavior allows both the coach and the sales person to have greater focus on the skill or behavior being examined without distracting from the sales call and desired outcome.

With time and results at a premium for all sales professionals, a high-impact method for coaching sales performance can result in more consistent application and better results. So, with this in mind, let’s do more Coaching and be QUICK about it!