Fundamental #2 – Understands the key behaviors to successful selling and how to coach others, is part of our series, The Making of a Highly Effective Sales Manager
I’m stepping through each of the 5 Fundamentals of a Highly Effective Sales Manager, offering depth around what each means to me. You can catch up here.
In any coaching endeavor, be it a sport, music, or something else, our teachers must understand the fundamentals and focus coaching on the behaviors that drive the result. The “coaching” piece, in our professional life has a tendency to get lost because we have a “manager.” There’s so much wrapped into that title, and between all of the to-dos required, sales organizations frequently lose sight of the criticality of coaching to the fundamentals that drive the result.
To coach selling, you need to be able to understand the mechanics of selling and break them down. I’m a golfer. Or, at least I try to be one. So I study the mechanics of a golf swing. I look at the grip, how you transfer your weight, the finish. I certainly may not be the best golfer, but I know what a good golf swing looks like.
Try this …
- Pick something you’re good at outside of work: playing a sport, an instrument, etc. Write down the five fundamentals that make you good at it, such that you could explain them to someone else.
- Now ask your team to do the same. Run a meeting where each person shares. Use these fundamentals to bring it back to selling and creating an understanding around why your team’s selling fundamentals matter. By the way, we actually did a version of this at CommercialTribe to discuss why aligning on the key behaviors is a foundation for coaching and development. .
- When you can identify the behaviors of successful selling, see them, and actually give someone feedback, it’s magic. But you’ve got to be on the same page as to what behaviors matter, or it just won’t be received the same way.
What may feel like subtle adjustments can create a disproportionate lift in performance.
Take the next step toward highly effective sales management. Download our free template to create a formal sales management coaching program.
