Successful coaching begins with recruiting the best. Do the candidates you hire have what it takes? Are they self-motivated, honest and responsible? Do they like your products? Are they coachable? Do they have a concern for other people.
Can they sell at the right levels and in the right way? Will they sell?
Here are 10 fundamental characteristic of effective sales leaders. Those that mentor and coach with outstanding impact:
- Have a passion for teaching, mentoring and helping people get better (They believe that people can grow their sales and life skills and earn incomes that help them have better lives.)
- Pursue achievement goals themselves, even physical ones. (They read books, seek knowledge and push their own growth each day working to develop important life habits and coaching skills.)
- Understand their own personalities and how to adapt to those of others. (Emotional intelligence begins with understanding ourselves and then adapting to other people.)
- Get to know others before coaching them. (They listen first. To coach or mentor someone implies we know a person’s needs and wants and problems and that we learn about their desires and motivations.)
- Master a sales or activity process well enough to teach it. (With a process, we can point to steps and tools and skills to learn. With one, we can look at what step to improve and how to improve it. Without one, we pound on the rep for results.)
- Keep track of progress without anyone asking. (A sales leader keeps updated with the facts and numbers that show activity and skill progress. He monitors the number and state of the prospects in the “funnel.”)
- Can be assertive enough to sell an operating vision and to handle confrontation. (A great sales leaders is always asserting something to a person or a team, a positive vision or corrective action: and, it’s always done for the benefit of customers and sales reps.
- Install standards that help people and then enforces them. (Dress, attendance, pricing, sales process, minimum sales and income levels and customer follow up are all examples of standards on sales teams that achieve high sales and customer loyalty levels.)
- Helps everyone operate as a team. (No individual is better than another. Everyone is treated the same and helps everyone else succeed. No one is above the team and its cultural standards.)
- Communicates one-on-one and in front of a group. (Coaching occurs when out with customers, while having coffee or a meal, on outings or in front of teams. The best communicate well in both of these settings – one-one-one and with groups.)
Is coaching the right fit for you. If not, promote yourself to rep. Really, that’s O.K. and could be the place for you. The best coaches are teachers and they love to see people achieve as a result of their influence.
Now, start working to be better for those you coach. You can do this important work and make the crucial difference in the lives of others.