This document discusses coaching sales representatives for increased performance. It emphasizes that coaching is an ongoing process between a sales manager and representative to diagnose and reinforce behaviors. Coaching should maximize impact by helping representatives improve skills, reduce sales cycles, and advance to next-level performance. Research shows representatives who receive consistent coaching outperform others significantly. Effective coaching involves preparation, open-ended questions, feedback, and continual education to build knowledge. Field visits are important for observing representatives and providing coaching, mentoring, and feedback to develop skills and meet objectives. Follow-up is also critical through letters recapping visits.

1. COACHING AND LEADING FOR
INCREASED PERFORMANCE – PART 2
Relentlessly Cultivate Potential – Human Potential is not fixed
Prepared by: John Martineau
www.linkedin.com/in/johnmartineau

2. 2
COACHING FOR INCREASED PERFORMANCE
 Coaching objectives…
 Why coaching is critical…
 What is sales coaching…
 Coaching fundamentals…
 Continual education…
 What you should do…

3. Coaching objectives

4. MAXIMIZE THE IMPACT OF SALES COACHING
Objectives of Coaching Interactions:
 Help sales representatives become more effective
 Decrease sales cycle times by providing targeted guidance
 Improve skills in key areas necessary for success in sales role
 Guide sales representative towards next-level performance
 Share high-performer best practices
 Increase sales representative engagement within the role
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5. Why coaching is critical

6. COACHING IS CRITICAL
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Research indicates that reps who are consistently coached by their
managers outperform others by a significant margin
Team Percentage to Goal by
Coaching Time per Rep per Month
PercentagetoGoal
Low
(<2 Hours per
Rep per Month)
Average
(2 to 3 Hours per
Rep per Month)
High
(3+ Hours per Rep
per Month)
n = 2,400
90%
92%
107%
80%
100%
120%
Source: Corporate Executive Board

7. What is sales coaching

8. An ongoing and dynamic series
of Job-embedded interactions
between a Sales Manager and a
Sales Representative, designed
to diagnose, correct or
reinforce behaviors, specific to
that Sales Representative.
“… ongoing…”
Coaching is not a single event or even a series of events, but a
focused continuous improvement effort. Coaches never
“graduate.”
“… dynamic…”
Coaching evolves over time as Sales Representatives needs and
sales situations change
“… job-embedded…”
Unlike training, coaching is integrated real time with day-to-day
workflow and directly relevant to actual business situations
“… Sales Managers…”
While managers may offload some coaching to others (e.g.,
Peers, National Training Manager), they do not relinquish
responsibility for overall Sales Representative development
“… diagnose…specific to that
individual”
Coaching is completely customized to the Sales Representative. It
targets only relevant and pressing needs and is tailored to
coaches specific personality
“… behaviors…”
Coaching is primarily about the application not the acquisition, of
skills and knowledge. It is concerned with doing, not simply
knowing.
SALES COACHING DEFINED

9. Coaching fundamentals

10. COACHING ON TWO LEVELS
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Type of Session Frequency/Timing
• Once a month/quarter
• 30-60 minutes
• Live, when possible
• Ongoing during field visits,
joint calls, etc.
• Over the phone or live
when possible
II. Deal-Level
Coaching
I. Skill-Based Coaching
Session

11. COACHING SESSION PREPARATION
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Preparation
• Gather and review information
on top opportunities, and
prepare to discuss details
• Self-assess performance in
recent weeks
• Identify areas where you want
coaching or assistance
• Review opportunity background
• Discuss strengths, reasons why we
should win
• Discuss challenging areas and
ideas to improve skills or move
opportunities forward
• Agree on next steps
• Follow up on previous coaching
Agenda

12. COACHING COMMUNICATION
 Use open-ended questions to identify root causes of
performance problems
 Ask questions to gauge proficiency in target skill, behavior, or
activities
 Ask for their ideas on solutions or alternative courses of action
 Provide honest feedback in a positive tone and share insights
on problem-solving approaches
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13. COACHING - ASK
 Attitude - Manner, disposition, feeling, position with regard to
a person or a thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the
mind.
 Head in the wrong place
 Fear of Failure
 Overconfident
 Lack of confidence
 Others…
 Skill – Personal and professional competence
 Knowledge – Accumulation of truths and/or facts
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14. COACHING - ASK
 A - Attitude
 S - Skill
 K - Knowledge
 Observe
 Record
 Summarize
 Plan
 Prepare questions for sales representative
 Follow up
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15. Continual education

16. CONTINUAL EDUCATION
 Build sales representative knowledge through learning:
- assess what are their learning needs
- identify programs that build on strengths
- take initiative, take action, find the needed resources
- actively manage their talent development
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17. THE NEED FOR ON-GOING EDUCATION
 According to an article in the Harvard Business Review:
Only 10% of the population has a learning mind-set. These are the people who
seek out and enjoy the learning process. The other 90% of the population are
not self directed in their efforts and do not independently seek ways to
improve their skills unless it is required.
 The other 90% need mandatory continuing education programs
in order to improve upon their skills and knowledge base.
 It is up to company mangers/leaders to drive the training
process for their teams.
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(The Ultimate Sales Machine - Chet Holmes)

18. Field visits

19. FIELD VISITS
 The best place to develop your reps is in the field:
- observe activities and skill level of your reps
- diagnose your reps development level
- identify an action plan for skills/talent development
 The visit should not conflict with planned activities:
- no special planning should be made for your benefit
- in order to help them, you need to see a routine day
- reps should schedule accordingly when special
circumstances arise
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20. FIELD VISITS - Top five
 Proper manager preparation is needed to ensure success
 Preplanning for a three day field visit
 Provide coaching, mentoring, and feedback
 Post call review is in order
 The follow-up letter
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21. FIELD VISITS - Preparation
 Provide advanced notice
 Review and analyze records:
- Business plan
- Performance review
- Field visit letters
- Sales reports
- Contract information
 Set objectives for the visit:
- What accounts to visit
- Desired customer interaction
- Sales skill to observe
- Sales call or in-service preparation
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22. FIELD VISITS – PRE PLANNING
 Who, what, why, where, when:
- Who are we going to see?
- What is the objective of the call?
- Why are we seeing these people and who else do we need to see?
- Where will we meet these people?
- When are the appointments?
- What role does the rep want me to play in the call?
- What else can we accomplish today?
 The pre-call planning should be prepared by the rep in
writing in order to stay on track and meet the objectives of
the day
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23. FIELD VISIT – COACHING
 Clearly state and reinforce what your high expectations are:
- low expectations = low results & high expectations = high results
 Lead by example with action:
- reps who view their managers as credible consider their expectations
as realistic and credible
 Look for opportunities to reinforce correct behaviors:
- you will get more of the same
 Encourage and challenge reps in areas of weakness:
- saying nothing is typically viewed as negative
 Be specific - focus your comments on the individuals
behaviors
 Resolve any conflicts
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24. FIELD VISIT - MENTORING
 Partner and participate as an experienced and trusted
advisor
 Remember to use situational leadership:
- Shift the emphasis from leader/evaluator to leader/partner
and encourager.
- adjust your style to individuals level of development.
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25. FIELD VISIT - FEEDBACK
 Review sales plan and current attainment to plan:
- is the sales plan being met? Why or why not?
 Review territory objectives and their impact on business:
- are they realistic and achievable S.M.A.R.T. goals?
 Review sales calls and their execution:
- were the calls effective and what was accomplished?
 Review territory management practices:
- are they effective and leading towards the desired outcomes?
- suggest needed changes or adjustments that will lead to success.
 Be direct - fair - empathetic:
- use this as an opportunity to build trust and commitment through praising,
reprimanding, and redirection.
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26. FIELD VISITS – GET INVOLVED
 The challenge to develop your people and also have a
successful sales call do not always go hand-in-hand
 Allowing people to stumble and make mistakes can be a great
learning experience as long as it is not at the expense of a sale
 Sometimes being a player coach requires that you step in and
ensure a successful outcome:
- is the reps development experience worth losing the sale over?
- will the sale be lost forever or can it be recovered?
- if you take over the call will you compromise the reps customer
relationship?
- will you be compromising the relationship with your rep?
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27. FIELD VISITS – POST CALL REVIEW
 Were the objectives achieved by the rep:
Review the objectives of the call, day, visit.
 How did the rep perform during the call, day, visit:
Provide feedback in the form of praise, redirection, and/or reprimand.
 Identify needed follow-up activities that will advance the
business
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28. FIELD VISITS – POST CALL REVIEW
 This is a key opportunity to hear from the rep in their own
words how they felt the day had gone. It is important to
understand what the rep felt was a bad, good, or great day.
 To maximize feedback, ask two basic opened ended questions:
- Tell me about the day?
- What happened today?
 Avoid questions that may lead to defensive answers:
- How did it go today?
- How did we do today?
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29. FIELD VISITS – POST CALL REVIEW
 Listen to the answers that the rep provides to you. If needed,
you can drill down further into the details of the day by
asking for more thoughts about a clinician call.
 During the post call review, talk about the highlights and
lowlights of the day and opportunities for further
development.
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30. FIELD VISIT FOLLOW UP LETTER
 Give an appropriate personal comment about the visit:
- activities from the visit.
- praise a specific talent/skill and the outcome
- provide feedback on the S.M.A.R.T. goals
 Address specific skill areas that need development:
- present a behavior that needs improvement.
- describe the reason why the behavior should change.
- describe suggested ways to improve the skill.
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31. FIELD VISIT – FOLLOW UP LETTER
 Review business objectives:
- establish S.M.A.R.T. goals with time frames.
- encourage successful outcomes.
 End the letter with positives and a call to action:
- express your care desire for them reach their objectives.
- Let them know that you support them and will help whenever necessary.
- Let them know when you plan to have your next visit.
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32. S.M.A.R.T. GOALS
 Specific: the goal states the who, what, when, where, why, and how.
 Measureable: the goal must be quantifiable.
 Attainable: the goal needs to be within the persons reach.
 Relevant: the goal must be significant to the business.
 Trackable: the goal must specify a series of progress milestones.
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33. Thank You
Manage and lead with excellence!