Turning Your Sales Manager into a Great Sales Coach
By Mark David
Originally published in The American Salesman
June 2000, Volume 45, Number 6
High-performance employees consider their manager a resource.
Managers represent a wealth of knowledge, experience and objective
ideas. In order to tap this resource, many top performers help
guide their managers toward becoming great coaches so that their
coach, in turn, may guide them to a greater level of success.
Vision
The best way to turn your manager into a great coach is to tell him
or her how you want to be coached. How you want to be coached all
starts with "Vision"-not the company's vision, the president's
vision or your manager's vision, but your Vision. Help your manager
realize that your Vision is the motivating factor for your
productivity.
Vision is a mental picture of your desired future state. Your
Vision represents what you are working for: not just monetary and
business goals, but personal goals as well. Make the effort to
share your Vision with your manager. Giving your manager this
information will allow him or her to speak to you in your language
about the things that are most important to you.
Your relationship with your manager is like a relationship with a
good client or prospect. A prospect will tell you what their world
looks like, how it operates and, most of all, their current and
future needs. This data allows you, the sales professional, to
customize a solution. In the same light, your manager is better
equipped to help you when he or she knows what your world is like
and what your current and future needs are. By giving your manager
this information you not only create a long-term partnership, but
also give them the specific data they need to do their job most
effectively. Their job is to help you become a more successful
professional.
One-on-One Meetings
If a sales professional is to utilize their manager as a sales
coach, then one-on-one meetings are essential. Be sure to schedule
a one-on-one meeting with your coach once each month. These
meetings can take place face to face or by telephone. It is of the
utmost importance that these meetings be considered a priority and
that they actually occur on a regular basis if they are to be
effective.
During the course of the one-on-one meeting, be sure to re-visit
your Vision with your coach. Explore why personal and professional
development is so vital to achieving a Vision. Realize the fact
that your career is the vehicle driving you to your Vision. If need
be, make adjustments to your daily tasks or your Vision to be sure
that they are in alignment. The key is to know that what you are
doing today coupled with your continued growth and development will
get you and your coach to your desired future state.
The next step in the meeting is to create a simple development plan
based on leveraging your strengths and shoring-up your weaknesses.
Strengths are the things that tend to come easy to you; they are
the things you do well and generally enjoy. Strengths also produce
results both directly and indirectly.
Tell your coach what you believe to be your strength. Ask your
coach for his or her opinion and be prepared to hear agreement or
disagreement. Tap into your coach's ability to see things that you
can't. Once in agreement, together you and your coach can create a
simple plan to leverage this strength. In other words, identify
additional ways you can use this strength to maximize your results.
Keep in mind that time may be limited; therefore, this plan should
be realistic and easy to implement.
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