To Train or to Coach? You Decide

When sales managers look for increased profit or productivity – in other words, more closed business – they may look at a number of areas that demand improvement:
• Slumping sales
• Weak profit margins
• Training or coaching that’s ineffective or absent
• Too few highly skilled reps
• An uninspiring compensation plan
• Ineffective sales tools
• A sluggish sales process

That’s quite a list. If managers can’t tell exactly what’s needed to optimize the team’s performance to increase sales, here is some expert insight that should help pinpoint where to apply budget and talent and when to train or coach.

Addressing where managers can have an immediate impact, Alice Heiman, founder of Alice Heiman LLC, says, “Lots of managers don’t know. Companies keep them too busy, so when numbers are down, they just yell.”

The problem could be pricing, marketing, the state of the industry, or the state of the entire economy. “You need only training when you need to change your reps’ behavior,” Heiman stresses.

Salespeople may not be calling on the right people or asking compelling questions, or they might not be closing deals because they simply are not asking for the close. Heiman quips that, in short, “they are doing something wrong or not doing something right.”

The only way managers know this is to spend time coaching salespeople, joining them on sales calls or listening to their telephone calls. “You need to observe them,” Heiman says.

“If you can measure competencies needed to be successful, then you will know if it’s an execution issue,” says Tom Stanfill, CEO of ASLAN Training. For example, managers must measure their reps’ competence in discovering essential information about prospects, regardless of how they do it. If discovery results are inadequate, training may be the answer.

To distinguish a need for better hiring versus training, managers must assess reps’ talent, skills, and knowledge. “Skills and knowledge can be taught,” Stanfill says. “Talent is what they bring to the table. Talent I can’t fix.”

“Look at new customer acquisitions,” urges Jeff Seeley, CEO of Carew International. “How many are you getting a year? Are [new customers] brought in by just a few reps, not others?”

Carew interviews sales leaders, managers, and reps to find out about their customer relationships. For example, Carew will dig to determine if the firm is a preferred supplier. “Many think they are preferred, but they are shared or peripheral,” Seeley says. Probing questions include finding out if the firm is frequently surprised by customers. Are reps spending more time with computers than on understanding customers? Does each manager say his or her own reps are fine but other reps need help?

When a manager determines that a rep lacks a specific skill, that can be a coaching opportunity, but if a manager lacks the same skills, you have to start by training the manager. Jim Brodo, senior vice president of marketing at Richardson, says training is particularly important at several points. On-boarding new salespeople requires product training, as well as training on systems, processes, and skills. When a new product is launched, reps must learn features and benefits and how to have productive conversations with customers about its value.

When a firm goes through a strategic shift, sales roles shift, and new competencies must be learned. Training may also be needed when preparing for a major deal presentation or meeting. Lastly, promotions are a good time for training the promoted individual in new skills.

Will Brooks, executive vice president of The Brooks Group, says certain symptoms indicate a need for training. Are there inconsistent sales approaches across the sales team? Inconsistency prevents using a common vocabulary for discussing sales opportunities, yields inconsistent sales results, and creates coaching problems for managers. Other red flags include the following:

• Low profit margins occur if the team is not trained in uncovering buyer motivations and making recommendations tailored to prospect needs.
• If reps gravitate toward simple products that sell themselves, avoiding selling full solutions, training is indicated.
• If sales cycles are too long, reps stall short of the close and need training on how to finalize sales.
• If reps work with too many unqualified buyers, they don’t know the characteristics of qualified buyers and need training.
• If voluntary turnover on the sales team is high, reps may be dissatisfied with training.
• If sales meetings focus entirely on products or quotas rather than skills, managers may not know how to train for sales skills.

Robert Kear, chief marketing officer of Sales Performance International, says training and coaching should be continual, based on the goals of each company. Competency models can determine which capabilities are the most important causes of specific business outcomes. The right training content can be determined for each goal. Sales playbooks and coaching can focus on areas in which the sales effort will pay off the most. Because change is constant, managers should continually monitor their sales talent, learning progress, field application, and results.

Training is most useful when there is a significant group of sales reps who need a common skill, notes Norman Behar, CEO of Sales Readiness Group. Coaching is most useful to either reinforce training or help individuals who lack a specific skill. That means coaching should be ongoing. Training should happen when a group of three to 30 reps needs to work on a particular set of skills. This training need may be most pronounced when a deficiency in skills is hurting win rates or profit margin. For example, too much discounting flags the need for training in selling value. Low win rates indicate a need for training in gaining commitment.

Behar says training usually needs to be annual or semiannual, but managers need to coach each rep much more frequently, at least once a month. Coaching can be done in the field or by debriefing reps after a call. Managers should always coach by reinforcing positive features before serving up criticism. “Reps are often harsher on themselves in coaching sessions,” says Behar.

Alyson Brandt, president of Fusion Learning USA, cites four indications that training is needed. First, customers are not getting the unique insight and perspectives that they expect from truly valuable providers. Second, the competition is getting more wins, and your reps have to up their game to nullify that trend. Third, your firm is changing its sales strategy, looking for more prospects in the funnel, a different mix of prospects, or perhaps a more global relationship with major accounts. Fourth, you have been getting limited benefits from a new technology such as a CRM system and need to train reps on how to exploit the new tool. Above all, Brandt says, high-performance sales organizations monitor activities, not just results, and integrate training with other initiatives, such as recruitment, compensation, and technology.