To establish a strong administrative system based on a "coaching culture" can help build a more successful practice.Coaching staff members on consultative selling methods, then establishing a strong administrative system based on a "coaching culture" can help build a more successful practice.
Coaching-from sports to business management-is recognized as one of a manager's most important activities along with recruiting, motivating, and assigning accountability. In order to help people capitalize on their strengths and overcome personal obstacles to attain their next level of expertise, a coach must focus on high return on investment (ROI) skills, implement a strong selling system, understand the hand you've been dealt, and track metrics.
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This article examines deterrents to coaching and de-mystifies the process by providing ideas and tools that help create a coaching culture for generating a high ROI. In Rethinking the Sales Force, Neil Rackham & John deVincentis note, "Studies of high-performance consultative sales forces consistently show that systematic high-quality coaching is the most important single tool for developing performance."
When to Coach Your Sales Team
High-performance business managers crave high-performance staff members. But when should you put on your coach's hat? While the vast majority of people need some form of coaching, a person involved in the dispensing of hearing aids is sending a strong signal when he/she:
o Always asks for "special" low pricing;
o Lacks motivation and drive;
o Lacks confidence and has difficulty recovering from rejection;
o Continually accepts stalls and put-offs;
o Finds it impossible to recommend top-of-the-line products.
o Lacks motivation and drive;
o Lacks confidence and has difficulty recovering from rejection;
o Continually accepts stalls and put-offs;
o Finds it impossible to recommend top-of-the-line products.
Of course, these are only a few examples from an extensive list. But even if you notice only a few of these signals, keep in mind that increased product "commoditization" makes staff members a critical point of differentiation-your company's competitive edge. If you accept this proposition, then coaching takes on the utmost importance.
Considering the positive results derived from effective coaching, why does coaching often get overlooked?
Lack of experience. Many managers don't know how to coach in a consultative-selling environment. First of all, they may not have been coached in it, or perhaps they experienced previous success in a more clinical or transactional environment (e.g., they did the testing and diagnostics, and the fitting, counseling, and aural rehabilitation process was left to another professional). Consultative selling is very different from a transactional sale; it requires management's involvement beyond hiring professionals who "know it all." In today's business world, change is constant and staff members need to be strategically and tactically "on board." Entrepreneurs need to learn how to coach their personnel on the effective counseling and dispensing related to appropriate products/services.
Lack of training. In other businesses, many sales managers are promoted because they were naturally talented, top sales performers. In a hearing care office that requires consultative selling skills, however, these complex "people-oriented" skills must be learned. Without appropriate training in how to coach, entrepreneurs too often play the role of the "white knight" rescuing the deal. They simply can't see themselves as a developer of sales people who consistently outperform their manager. Frequently, these same business managers are frustrated by a staff member's inability to produce the results they are accustomed to generating themselves.
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