A sales manager’s job is to help individual sales reps and sales teams as a whole succeed. While many managers think that means jumping in to fix a mistake, the reality is that this type of leadership often slows the rep’s learning process and inhibits their problem-solving skills. That’s why every manager needs to be able to properly deliver sales performance coaching.

In sales performance, sales managers teach their team on a more individualised basis. They teach their sellers to solve their own problems rather than having to do it for them.  Let’s take a look at some of the more common and effective sales coaching models: GROW, OSKAR and CLEAR are the most effective sales coaching models.

GROW: Goal, Reality, Options, Will. GROW is meant to help sellers identify the goal, where they are now and what it will take to close the gap.

OSKAR: Scale, Know-how, Affirmation and Action, and Review. OSKAR is intended to help a team focus on solutions instead of problems or missed goals.

CLEAR: Contracting, Listening, Exploring, Action and Review. The purpose of CLEAR is to teach employees to work as a team and achieve group goals, as opposed to blindly complying with a manager’s demands.

There are a few sales coaching techniques that every sales manager needs to know. And, there are also many common aspects to good sales coaching techniques. These techniques include:

  • Establishing a team
  • Learning to collaborate
  • Asking questions to shape your decisions
  • Listening to feedback
  • Communicating clearly
  • Setting mutual goals

Without these things, your sales coaching journey will end before it even begins.

Benefits of sales performance coaching

When reps show promise in their sales positions, they are often rewarded with a promotion to a management or trainer position. While it’s essential to reward and acknowledge the growth of your employees, it’s equally important to equip them with all the skills they need for that new leadership position.

You can empower employees to succeed in their new managerial roles through a sales management training programme. That’s because there are specific necessary skills that benefit those in a sales leadership position that are not required to be a successful salesperson. By bridging this gap, sales management training sets up your company and its leaders for success.

New and experienced sales reps alike need help from time to time, and without being able to ask for help, they lose the ability to learn. Additionally, teams without sales coaching fail to meet revenue and performance goals.

Not having to worry about these issues is just one of the many benefits of sales coaching. The good news is if you step in and offer help from time to time, reps likely won’t feel so isolated. Sales mentoring and coaching is a great way to help reps learn how to problem solve and grow the skills they need to do their job well. Your sales team feels motivated to do better when they know you have their back. But don’t take our word for it. Take a look at these sales coaching statistics for proof.

48.2% of sales reps claim not to receive proper coaching, but 82.1% of their leaders claim to be providing it. Maybe this means that sales managers aren’t making it evident that they are trying to coach the sales representatives. Or, perhaps sales reps misunderstand and think that they’re merely having a conversation with their sales manager. But, when reps know they’re being coached, they integrate what they learn around 80% of the time. And, when they’re aware that they are being encouraged to change and grow, they dedicate themselves to doing so. It’s not that they are unwilling to learn; they just don’t realise that anyone is trying to teach them.

Key elements of effective coaching for sales performance

Coaching for sales performance is more than knowing when to help your sales team. There are several critical elements to individual sales coaching you need to employ to make things work.

First up is clarity. This is arguably the most important one. As mentioned before, sales reps heed advice when they know someone is offering it to them. Tell your employees about the new coaching programme, why it’s taking place and the overall goals of coaching. Don’t bother with nuance, as being direct is the key here.

Be clear about your organisation’s purpose because your employees can’t do their job if they’re unsure of what they’re supposed to be doing. It’s impossible to work well together without an established, mutually beneficial goal. Laying out the basics is an important step to any good lesson.

The saying “old habits die hard” exists for a reason. Once you have established a change in your employees, you need to reinforce it if you ever want it to stick. Your employees have gotten used to doing their job a certain way, so they’ll need help transferring into a new work style.

And finally, don’t forget to assist your reps when they need you. Showing them how you want things done is one thing, but guiding them to do so is far more likely to succeed. They might forget what you want them to do differently or how to do it. Sellers struggle with changes and unfamiliar assignments when they’ve gone without them for so long. It’s your job to help them stay on track.

At the end of the day, individualised sales coaching shows your team how much you care about their progress. It helps show your sales team you are willing and able to help them. Having someone there when they get lost makes them feel less isolated, and individualised sales coaching makes them feel more welcome to come to you for help.

Sales coaching tips for success

If you still feel unsure about moving forward, here are some sales coaching tips to make the process easier. Here, we’re discussing mainly manager-to-seller coaching, but encouraging your sellers to help each other with peer-to-peer coaching is also important. Be persistent and remember that learning and implementing change can be a long process. Sales coaching takes time and dedication. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day!

The best sales coaching practices help sellers identify their objectives, meet their goals and focus on assisting them in learning. Individualise your sales coaching plan template based on the sales representatives involved and their individual needs. Some good models to inspire your plan are CLEAR, GROW and OSKAR (as explained above).

Feedback from sellers is also essential. Ask them for their feedback on your coaching programme, and use that insight to fine-tune the plan going forwards. Ignoring their feedback means assuming everyone needs the same thing to help them grow. Everyone is different and their coaching plans should be, too.

We have the sales coaching tools for you

Even the best sales coaches can still struggle to get results when they don’t have the necessary sales coaching tools. Assessing your team is hard, but delivering ongoing and practical performance training is even more challenging. That’s why you need coaching software designed for sales leaders like you.

Our training and coaching software is a great tool for sales organisations. We can help you view and track employee progress via a uniquely tailored skills training programme. Additionally, you can also assess and discover where individual reps excel and where they need additional training and coaching. Check out even more features and benefits here.