The key to improving your sales force productivity

(Hiring the right type of persons is the first key) and providing the right coaching is the second key and in this blog post I am talking about the second key. 

It has been found that ONLY 3+ hours per month of coaching can

• improve quota attainment by 22%
• improve close rate over 14%
• decrease sales rep turnover up to 12%.

I am giving below the 3 Tactics of coaching which are :

1. Grab the moment for coaching as it occurs. Do it without wasting time. A great situation suitable for coaching can happen anywhere, anytime, anyplace.  This informal coaching can be personal or even on telephone. But 89 % of all coaching happens on the job and not in the class room.  
2. Coaching works best when the sales rep trusts you to have his best interest in your heart. You must demonstrate this by pointing out your positive experiences first. Research shows that the brain can listen and accept constructive criticism only when you can establish the ‘trust’ by citing examples of good and positive behavior. The reps' defense  and fear of rejection drop when they actually listen more to the criticism in a constructive manner.  BUT, the positive feedback must be sincere. Telling someone they look good today is not a positive comment.
3. Be as specific as possible and this needs your interacting closely. Example : when you tell someone they need to work on their questioning skills, give a specific example. Otherwise your coaching will remain in the cloud. To make it real and actionable, you must cite specific details of when you OBSERVED this behavior.  Actually coaching requires details. And the more specific, the better. And use reports and aids to help you. Show them how a daily (or some other report) can be used. It is not possible to be specific without seeing, hearing and listening to a sales rep. You need to interact every week with either a field ride to a customer or a one on one meeting.  These are the moments you observe. These are the times when you coach.  And these are the specifics that allow you to provide the feedback necessary to improve results.