Coaching Done Badly
What are the flaws in coaching? One of the biggest flaws is premature prescriptions. The salesperson has worked the deal for six weeks, and the coach has all the answers in six minutes. Salespeople just love that.
Another flaw is stealing the deal — taking it over — especially in front of the prospect. Once a sales manager has stolen power from the rep in front of the prospect, the manager has it forever. By the time this has happened several times, the sales manager is no longer the coach but a glorified rep with a bunch of juniors.
Strategy sessions are a labor-saving device.The time saved by not selling to the wrong accounts, not selling to the wrong people, and not doing the wrong action items to win will more than pay for the time investment.
A jellyfish sales manager who listens to a strategy review but doesn’t challenge assumptions, create what-if scenarios, identify blind spots, or suggest ideas provides little value.
Getting the entire account team involved, even if by teleconference, results in more eyes, more information, and therefore a better plan. Often the technical teammates form strong relationships with evaluation committee members and can provide great insight into the sales plan. Excluding them is a mistake.
The best practice coaching style that achieves critical thinking while leaving ownership with the salesperson is the Socratic technique of using questions that prompt thinking rather than statements that prompt defense.
Obviously, in losing situations, documenting lessons learned is more productive than fixing blame and pouring salt on the wound.
Manager—Walk Your Talk. Be Prepared
Another flaw is not reading a prepared account plan or strategy document before going to the coaching session. If managers will read the input or sales plan that they have asked the reps to prepare, coaching sessions can be cut in half because the rep doesn’t have to spend the first hour telling the story.
Nothing offends sales reps more than taking the time to fill out a sales plan that a manager has asked them to complete, just to have the manager not read it. If the manager has read it, however, he can quickly move to value-added comments about strategies and assumptions.
It is interesting how salespeople and sales managers always seem to find time to try to “fix the deal” at the end, attempting to correct all the mistakes that were made in a 9- to 12-month sales cycle. But they don’t have time to conduct strategy sessions along the way to avoid chaos at the end.
When do we find time to have strategy sessions? With teleconferences and Web meetings, it is easier now than ever before. Strategy sessions are a labor-saving device. The time saved by not selling to the wrong accounts, not selling to the wrong people, and not doing the wrong action items to win will more than pay for the time investment. The return on time invested in strategy sessions is anywhere from 2:1 to 10:1.
We’ve turned millions of dollars worth of deals around in strategy sessions with our clients and have seen them work. But it has to be a matter of discipline. Lexmark does it every Monday. Some companies have strategy sessions at each change of phase in the forecast. Other companies simply say, “No review, no resources.” If it’s not worth 30 minutes of your time to review the strategy with the team, why is it worth 15 hours of their time to travel across the country and look unprofessional?
The main reason that salespeople should have a strategy session is because they want to win and will have a better plan and a more committed team if they have invested the time to lead.
Enemies of Teamwork
For some companies, the biggest barrier to success is themselves. Their culture and values are so rotten inside that when you leave their building, you just want to take a shower. They can’t partner with anyone else because they can’t partner with themselves.
If this is your prospect, you should seriously consider whether the company is worth your time in the end. If there is a project involved, it probably won’t be successful. If it is the company you work for, you probably won’t be successful. Leave. Fast!
It’s not worth the money.
| Top 20 Enemies of Teamwork | |
| Personal agendas | No compromise |
| Insecurity | Weak links |
| Misaligned goals | Glory stealing |
| No trust | Blame fixing |
| Favoritism | Overemphasis on compensation |
| Finger pointing | No vision |
| Rumor mongering | High turnover |
| Poor leadership | Constant reorganization |
| Selfishness | Carrying weak performers |
| Internal competition,silos | Cynicism |
These are the activities that are the sand in the gears of a successful team. They destroy trust. Use the preceding list to evaluate your own company's team behavior. Use it to evaluate your customers to see if you really want to sell to them. Then evaluate yourself to see if you have engaged in any of these activities. The best salespeople build strong teams inside their own organizations to get things done for their customers.
| Teamwork Scorecard | |||||
| Best Practice, Teamwork | Importance | Execution | |||
| Degree of Importance (1 = low 10 = high) | Agree, but we never do this | We sometimes do this | We often do this | We do this consistently | |
| Individual | |||||
| Individuals are recognized and rewarded for their sales teamwork. | |||||
| Support people consider themselves to be part of the sales team. | |||||
| Opportunity Management | |||||
| We map our organizational chart to that of the buyer's so that team members know their assigned stakeholders. | |||||
| Before every major investment of time and resource in an account, strategy review sessions are held. | |||||
| Account Management | |||||
| Each account has a clear owner to which team members are accountable. | |||||
| Split credits are settled up-front and support our strategy. | |||||
| We have global account coverage with well-defined roles for all members. | |||||
| Industry/Marketplace | |||||
| We have a strong sales culture. Selling skills are recognized, rewarded, and reinforced in our company. | |||||