Selling Power Magazine Article

Sales veterans are a unique breed. They have seen the profession evolve over many years, and they’ve learned a thing or two along the way. They are survivors who have adapted to the changing sales environment, or they wouldn’t be here today. Some have achieved a kind of legendary status in their company or industry.
 

As a result, it is natural for time-pressed managers to feel that they should concentrate their limited coaching time on newer, less-experienced reps and leave the veterans to keep doing what they’re doing. It is also natural for new or young managers to experience feelings of intimidation and a reluctance to coach someone with a long sales history, wondering what they could offer a sales veteran.
 

But veterans need coaching just like anyone else, especially these days when the sales profession is changing so rapidly and radically. “That old adage about when you stop growing you start dying is true,” says Howard Tuuri, president of Tampa-based Sales Development Coaching. “Change is difficult – and that’s especially true in sales when veterans have a track record of success and what’s necessary for success going forward conflicts with what they know or think they know.”
 

Tuuri points out that sales veterans are working in an era unlike any previous one. Buying processes are longer and involve more high-level people than ever before. Customers are more educated about your products, competitors, and industry. The way in which prospects communicate and share ideas has accelerated to real time and moved to myriad online venues. Entire industries have changed. It is not uncommon for a sales veteran who has a long history of generating a major portion of his or her revenue from only one source to see that source disrupted in recent years.
 

It’s now evident that what was predictive of success previously is not predictive of success anymore. Coaching can help your veterans navigate today’s turbulent sales environment. Here are three things to keep in mind when coaching a veteran sales rep, particularly if you are a new or younger manager who is feeling intimidated by your sales rep’s age and the experience gap between you.

1. Let the veteran determine how he or she would like to be coached.
Plant the seeds for a coaching relationship by asking your sales veterans, “If I see a way that might improve your performance and want to talk to you about it, how would you like me to handle that?” That’s usually a very productive conversation, says Tuuri. You are communicating that you respect their experience and position but that you have a job to do, too. Professional salespeople will understand and appreciate that.

2. Think activation, not education.
Your job as a coach isn’t to have all the answers; rather, it’s to “activate” your reps by asking thought-provoking questions and figuring out what motivates them, says Tuuri. So approach your vets with a sense of curiosity about their performance and what makes them tick, rather than with a sense of having to know everything. Is your vet driven by perfectionism? Competitiveness? Reward? “Once you really understand the person you are coaching, you can then press the buttons and activate the motivation that is already there,” says Tuuri.


3. Understand the value of a fresh perspective.
In a world that is constantly changing, the perspective of someone new or younger can be invaluable. For instance, if you are a manager in your 20s or 30s, social media and other communication and technology tools likely seem second nature, and you can probably think of hundreds of great ways to leverage them. Most veterans will value any coaching you can offer to help them integrate new tools into their sales efforts. At the same time, genuine curiosity that arises from not knowing something can challenge the paradigm and help veterans grow. When you ask questions such as, “Why are you doing it this way?” and “Why did you take that approach?” you can prompt introspection and positive change.
 

Most veterans understand the value of coaching and will be open to a coaching relationship if you approach them in the right way. But even reluctant – or downright obstinate – vets can be won over, as Tuuri saw firsthand several years ago. At the time, he was head of sales for a company launching a new technology. Impressed by the technical knowledge and leadership ability of one his junior salespeople, Tuuri promoted that salesperson to the role of manager to oversee sales of this new technology. Colleagues thought the move was a mistake, arguing that the new manager would be unable to earn the respect of certain longtime sales veterans on the team.
 

One of the seasoned veterans made it clear early on that the manager had nothing to teach her and she wouldn’t sell the new product. The manager nonetheless built a relationship with her. When he learned the vet was a scorekeeper who kept close tabs on her performance relative to others, he began posting a weekly ranking of sales performance. When the longtime rep saw her name far removed from the top of the list, her competitive spirit kicked in, and she actively sought the manager’s coaching. A year later, the vet was the top revenue producer for the product she had vowed not to sell.
 

“Think of everyone on your sales team as carrying a portfolio. If you can put something new into each portfolio, they’ll all have more value,” Tuuri concludes. Your goal as a coach is to put more into your reps’ portfolios. What they decide (continued on page 2)

to do with it is up to them. 

 

The Coaching Model

Howard Tuuri uses and recommends the following four-step coaching process.
 

1. Assess each individual. For each rep, gain a thorough understanding of three things: 1) What are his or her individual talents and interests? What are this person’s natural strengths? This can be determined through conversations or scientifically through a formal talent assessment. 2) What are this rep’s expectations and goals? This includes both personal expectations and expectations of the coach. It also includes both sales goals and career goals. 3) How would this person like to see the coaching relationship evolve? Understand how each rep likes to be coached and how he or she prefers to communicate.
 

2. Establish and prioritize outcomes. Translate goals into specific outcomes, and understand the relative importance of each one. For instance, a highly competitive rep may decide that his or her goal for the year is to be the company’s top producer. Another rep may have a goal to move into a managerial position within the next three years. Those are two very different coaching conversations. With multiple goals, establish which is most important and in what order the rep wants to achieve them.
 

3. Collaborate on a plan. Coach each rep in creating a plan to achieve his or her stated goals. Establish a long-term achievement date, and then break down the goal into monthly (or more frequent) milestones/activities. For instance, for the rep who wants to be the top biller, you might start by looking at what last year’s top producer brought in and examining the gap between the two performance levels. From there, you can begin asking myriad questions about the changes the rep thinks he or she will need to make to close the gap.
 

4. Execute and monitor. Schedule regular coaching meetings to review progress, and keep the rep focused on the long-term goals. Adjust plans or goals as needed. While each conversation will be different depending on the rep, one rule holds true: establish a set time and date for these individual meetings and treat them as you would a meeting with an important client.

 

Coach's Tool Kit: The Third-Party Advantage


If you simply don’t have time to coach your veterans or feel unable to build a productive coaching relationship with them, consider bringing in an outside coach to help them continue growing. An outsider can bring a fresh perspective and may see things with greater clarity than will a manager from inside the company. The general principle is similar to when children are listening to adults: they often become deaf to messages from their parents, but the same messages coming from another trusted adult may find receptive ears.
 

To help you decide whether it’s time to consider a third-party coach for your veterans – or any of your reps – ask yourself these questions:

• Are you engaged with your sales reps, and are they engaged with you in a productive coaching relationship?
• Do you know what motivates your reps, and are you activating those motivations?
• Are you able to devote at least 50 percent of your time to coaching and developing all your reps, including your veterans?
• Have you had coaching training, and are you using a proven coaching process that is adapted for each individual on your team?

If you answered no to any of these questions, an outside coach may be better suited to help your sales veterans meet their full potential in today’s turbulent and changing economy.

 

Common Challenge: Take off the Blinders


The longer an individual remains in the sales profession, or any profession, the more likely that person is to become mired in a rut. Habits and routines are established. Perceptions are formed. And with age often comes contentment with a certain level of performance. As a coach, drive your veterans to leap out of ruts, reexamine long-held perceptions, and seek significant change, urges John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach and author of many books, including Coach Wooden’s Leadership Game Plan for Success: 12 Lessons for Extraordinary Performance and Personal Excellence (McGraw-Hill, 2009).
 

This lesson was driven home for Wooden during the 1961-62 basketball season. At the time, the facility at UCLA, called the Men’s Gym, was crowded with other sports activities and badly ventilated. Wooden had come to accept the gym’s hardship conditions as detrimental to UCLA’s shot at winning a championship. When the team made it to the Final Four that year, Wooden realized that the gym wasn’t limiting his athletes’ abilities, and he reexamined everything he was doing and figured out how to do it better. The result: UCLA began an undefeated run of championship seasons.
 

Wooden, whom ESPN called “the greatest coach of the 20th century,” says coaches can drive their teams to higher levels of performance by 1) never being content with performance or results; 2) removing all excuses for getting to the next level (“Don’t say no, ask how,” says Wooden); and 3) engaging in robust exchanges of ideas and opinions that challenge the paradigm and allow you to see things from new perspectives.