Olympic style sales coaching

Posted on February 23, 2011

 Many top sports coaches utilize physics, computer graphics, metrics and nutrition, to get their “team” to peak performance. Historically for the sales coach, (or sales manager as was), this was done through “pep talks and war stories”. The sales manager and his field sales team being talked at about “in my day”. Thankfully, this is changing and maturing.

Many forward thinking organisations give their sales coaches tools and techniques to quantitively determine performance and improvement. What’s taken so long? In having said tools, the sales coach can capture a more fluid approach and nudge the skill set closer to competitive advantage. Many now utilize human capital exercises that measure true and basic sales functions like identifying needs, building trust, and introducing services, listening and closing. This has become more in sync with how a sports coach analyzes team performance by measuring individual skill sets, applying measures of corrective practice then reinserts the individual(s) into the whole to improve team performance.

While pep talks and war stories may still have a place in the sales environment, it is of reducing importance and the vacuum should best be filled with individual mentoring, training, praise, reward which will lead to greater overall cash flow, customer satisfaction and team motivation.

www.ktaluk.com

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