At The Sales Coach Network, we are passionate about showing sales coaches how they can reach their potential and attract new clients. We offer UK-based sales coaching, and we will show you how coaching can improve business performance. Our UK sales coaching services are accessible and good to go, as soon as you are.
What is sales coaching?
Sales coaching uses a combination of knowledge and support to bring about positive results. Honing it can help to improve the overall performance of your sales team. And using the right coaching will enable your business to achieve far more.
It is a formal process that involves ongoing, individualised teaching on the part of sales managers to improve salespeople's performance. Rather than a manager telling their team what to do, sales coaching includes: guiding sellers to discover how to achieve their objectives; correcting behaviours that don't have an impact; and reinforcing behaviours that lead to success and developing the skills of your sales team, not just boosting numbers.
Sales coaching is essential for many reasons. Firstly, it helps sales teams to continuously improve their performance through feedback, practice, and repetition. It also allows sales managers to improve sales processes, training techniques and pinpoint progress and areas of improvement for their teams.
Successful sales coaches don't just set goals and tell people what to do. The best coaches empower each individual team member and inspire them to do their absolute best. They do this by maintaining a positive attitude and calm composure while also offering encouraging words.
Sales coaching can lead to performance improvement for sales representatives and sales teams. A great coach can help a salesperson build confidence and maintain a successful sales rate.
Coaching has been known to boost confidence, improve work performance, and build effective communication skills. The benefits can be even more vast and specific to an individual.
What kind of companies benefit from sales coaching?
Sales coaching can benefit any company, small or large, and focuses specifically on the individuals within a given team.
Sales training helps company teams be more efficient by teaching them how to market their products or services, organise their sales cycle, and close more sales. By learning these essential skills, company team members can work together more effectively and efficiently to reach their sales goals.
When should you consider a coach for your business?
If it feels as though you or your business have plateaued, it could be the right time to invest in some sales coaching. It can be easier for an outsider to spot room for improvement versus someone within the organisation.
You might be struggling to reach or convert your ideal clients. You also need to have the marketing skills to be able to attract your ideal clients and convert them into actual, paying customers. If you're not attracting and converting clients, it might be time to hire a sales coach who can support you.
What qualities should you look for in a sales coach?
The best sales coaches possess a unique blend of skills, including the ability to motivate, teach, and inspire their sales team to exceed their goals. In this regard, it is crucial to identify the qualities that a top sales coach should possess.
Here we have compiled the most important qualities that you should look for in a sales coach to help you build a successful and high-performing sales team.
Dedication to Teaching and Developing Salespeople
Even with busy schedules and full checklists, winning sales coaches set aside time for teaching salespeople. They understand that to develop their salespeople, they must look for opportunities to teach them and regularly spend time in-field with them so they can let them know what they are doing well, and how they can improve. Winning coaches are invested in the success of their salespeople and always look for ways to improve performance.
Relatable and Personable
Top coaches get to know each salesperson they manage and can individualise their approach to each person on their team. The best managers know each person's strengths and weaknesses and build customised coaching plans. They know what motivates each person, their goals, and how they like to learn information.
High Standards and Clear Expectations
Great coaches set high goals and move the benchmark over time. They are competitive and set their team up to win by providing them with clear goals and expectations and by holding them accountable.
Frequent Feedback on Performance
They frequently provide feedback on performance, so everyone knows exactly where they stand, but it's not just negative feedback and criticism. Top managers give out plenty of positive feedback. They let people know what they are doing right and review winning moves, so their salespeople will repeat those positive behaviours.
Focus and Clear Plan of Action
Good leaders have a great deal of energy and focus, and they are able to keep their people focused on goals. They always have a clear plan of action and make sure they communicate that plan to their team. They increase productivity by maintaining focus and delegating responsibilities to the right people. They do not delegate based on who is available—they delegate based on talent and who is equipped to do the task.
Empathy
Winning sales coaches care about the success of their direct reports. They're able to build good relationships with their salespeople and demonstrate empathy. In turn, each individual feels personally cared about and knows their manager always has their best interests in mind. The best managers enjoy helping their people and do so regularly.
Ability to Share Vision and Motivate
They share their vision often and give people a sense of direction and a reason to work hard. They are decisive and able to move people forward in a way that makes them feel good. The best coaches constantly strive for improvement, and they can use both emotion as well as facts and figures to gain buy-in and move people to action.
Analytical Skills and Outcome-Driven
Great coaches think a few moves ahead and are good at anticipating events. They have a strong sense of business and a trustworthy gut instinct but rely on measurements and data to ensure they are making the best long-term decisions. They always consider the many consequences of any action before committing to a plan. They can troubleshoot and are willing to help their direct reports do the same. They are also very outcome-driven and focused on the KPIs that will confirm they are on the road to success.
How effective is working with The Sales Coach Network?
Strategic account executive Karl Boehm says: "As a result of us working together, I've been able to more quickly ensure that I'm speaking with the right people. The sales cycles have also sped up on the basis that we've been able to help a prospect reach a decision point in each meeting.”
"I can't understand why you wouldn't do this. I regard selling as a profession. With all other vocations you'd be required to continually educate yourself."
"If you want to continually stay at the top of your game, you absolutely must invest in yourself. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain."
Head of sales operations Sharon Taylor adds: "We were often selling solutions before we really knew what people's challenges were, so we'd just go in there and 'bang our corporate drum,' but really that wasn't what the clients wanted. So, we were just trying to sell the wrong thing.”
"Our appointment with Les at The Sales Coach Network was to help us move away from selling generic products and services to being client-centric. And I think you've taught us to become curious about what the client's current situation and challenges are, and then look to achieve a partnership with them. That's what we wanted to achieve, and you've enabled us to do that."
"We really are qualifying our opportunities now. We're not just chasing any old bit of business. Our salespeople are hungry, they want to win, but being very focused on the opportunities that we're working on has enabled us to improve our win rates, so we are winning more deals and we've got a really healthy pipeline."
Top 6 Benefits of Sales Coaching for UK Businesses
1. Helps learning and retention. Sales coaching is educational and allows team members to retain information more effectively.
2. Improves skills and behaviours. It is always important to 'upskill' your sales team, and coaching could well be the answer.
3. Better and more consistent results. Sales coaching will undoubtedly improve outcomes for the team, both in the short- and long-term.
4. Accountability for personal growth. Sales coaching allows individuals to take responsibility for their own journey.
5. Gain an edge over competitors. You will make gains over your rivals by investing in sales coaching, giving you a competitive advantage.
6. Maximise investment in sales training. This is an investment that can only pay off. It is all about investing wisely in the right places.
A great sales coach listens during one-on-one engagements with salespeople, asks open-ended questions, guides a salesperson towards self-identification of performance issues, develops targeted solutions to foster individual seller performance improvement, focuses sessions on personal development and soft skills, supports and motivates reps through honest feedback and plans an intervention before a team member fails to meet quota.
Sales coaching can be a valuable investment for any UK business looking to improve their sales performance and drive business growth. By implementing a sales coaching programme, companies can see real results and take their business to the next level. It's important for businesses to invest in their sales teams and to have a clear strategy, and sales coaching can be a powerful tool to achieve that.
So, there you have it. We have explored what sales coaching is and how it can benefit you as a UK business. There's no time to lose, and whatever the nature of your business, opting to invest in sales coaching is an overwhelmingly positive step. The Sales Coach Network doesn't only work in the UK, of course – we can offer you support from anywhere in the world using remote teaching methods. But there is no doubt that coaching can be particularly effective for UK companies; it's a world we know inside out.
By working with The Sales Coach Network, you have the opportunity to become an 'enlightened seller'. We work with a team of vastly experienced coaches that will guide you along every step of your journey. Download our brochure or book a call today to start taking that journey.