Manager As Coach

KONA recently coached the Managers of a market leader who were ‘doing it tough’.

When asked why sales were down, their sales people and managers blamed market conditions, government legislation, competitions’ lower prices, late deliveries and manufacturing poor quality products.

During the initial Sales Managers as Coaches workshop we started the event with the question “how many days a months do you spend in the field coaching your sales people?”

The response was extremely poor with each manager spending less than one day a month on the road, (and most of those days were spent problem solving or on their mobiles, rather than coaching).

The focus was therefore to coach the sales managers to get out from behind their desks (where they were working on “very important reports and strategies”!) and coach and develop the performance of their people, especially in the core sales skills of:

• Relationship Building with Senior Managers
• Pipeline Management
• Account and Meeting Planning
• Selling Value rather than just product
• Cold calling High Value Questioning and conversational skills
• Negotiating and Gaining Commitment

Some of the quoted feedback from each manager and the impact they are now having with their Sales People and Customers included

Now there is more focus on getting the most out of any customer visit through high value questions.

• The coaching revolves around improving the quality of customer calls and maximizing business opportunities by proper preparation, structuring the visit around asking high value quality questions and ensuring follow up from calls is acted upon swiftly and professionally.
• As we work in an extremely competitive market it is paramount that the right message is conveyed to our customer, which is, that  we are here to provide solutions for their business requirements, the best customer service and product quality and that for this we are always striving to achieve the best return for our company. 
• The coaching helps build better sales people and benefits myself as this is at least another six days which I am in the market place.
• You need to “attend the game” your team plays in. You need to describe, demonstrate and help them achieve what you are coaching them on.
• The relationship changes between you and a customer when you become a strategic advisor. They become more loyal, and tend to open up. They tend to be better conversations as you are not just discussing “the order” it is usually right at the end and now, a minimal part of the meeting.
• Spending the time with them out in the field is helping to improve their confidence and planning when meeting and talking with customers, particularly new ones.
• Helping them to realize that often potential leads and opportunities arise in the conversations they are having with their customers and helping them to recognize when something mentioned could lead to an opportunity and making sure they delve deeper into this conversation by asking a few questions about it.

KONA’s Sales Management Coaching program is a customised program focused on developing the People Management capability of you sales managers and includes Training Workshops, Coaching clinics and One on One Coaching.

Contact KONA to discuss how we might be able to assist your managers by calling 1300 611 288 or by e-mailing glenn@KONA.com.au