Sales Coaching for Accelerated Results

by Cindy Stradling CSP, CPC

Coaching is about change. Change comes from a dream of something better.  Coaching engages your imagination and at the same time is immensely practical in the real world.

When we dream we use our imagination, we soar beyond the confines of our lives into a wider world where many things are possible and we are not restricted to the cards we have been dealt.  We are free to take any wild card and transform our hand.  Dreams take us beyond ourselves.  Every change in our life starts as a dream, We use our imagination to project ourselves into the best of all futures.

What is Sales Coaching?

Coaching is about giving salespeople the opportunity to generate their own insights, solutions and possibilities that will have them drive their results.  It is an advise free conversation and process of discovery.  Coaching is based on the belief that the question is the answer. Coaching is a process of inquiry that is interactive and collaborative.  Coaching builds accountability when it is performed in a safe environment for people to honour their commitments.

Coaching helps tap into a person’s unused strengths and talents that advances their personal growth and learning.  Coaching helps people discover their personal best.

Effective sales coaching is a co-creation without attachment and wanting more for your sales people than they want for themselves.  Coaching is about the sales person not the coach. If you find yourself thinking about or using the word “I” a lot while you are coaching – it has become about you.  Sometimes new coaches make it about themselves and wanting to “do it right.”

Often new coaches are so committed to providing results they give the person the answers prematurely.  Give the sales person the space they need to arrive at their own conclusion.  Sometimes just listening is a powerful coaching process and may be all that is needed. Providing a safe place during a coaching session where the sales person can talk freely and openly without feeling vulnerable is one of the most powerful coaching strategies.

Coaching salespeople is about what they want for themselves more that what you want for them.  People unintentionally lie to themselves and believe the lies to be true. 

Sometimes people are afraid to admit they don’t have the skills. Good coaches need to constantly gauge the resistance level, if pushed too hard salespeople will either shutdown or push back.

Finding out what the salesperson’s expectations are from the coaching, the value they expect and how they would like to be coached will greatly impact the results.

Once the sales manager takes full accountability for themselves as well as their team members, they will then be able to empower others to be fully accountable for themselves.

Making your people right, even when they are wrong makes a huge impact on their productivity and attitudes.  To see the rightness in salespeople, you must believe that people are doing the best they can at any given moment.  If their best doesn’t meet your standards, you always have the choice to make changes.

Managers may think they don’t always have time to coach their salespeople, but think about the things that are taking you away from coaching and meeting with your salespeople in the first place.  Many of the issues and problems that need to be dealt with are often actually a result of not coaching and connecting with our salespeople.

Coaching is about having the salespeople grow on their own.  Questions broaden their peripheral vision so they can best respond to the events or things that are coming at the.  Ask your salespeople how they want to be coached. Three fundamental rules of sales coaching:

1. Let your salespeople do all the work.
2. Let your salespeople do all the work.
3. See rules one and two and let your salespeople do all the work.

“Inspired” Leadership
by Cindy Stradling CSP, CPC

 “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” 

By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Definition from Dictionary.com

in·spired [in-spahyuh rd] Show IPA, adjective

1. aroused, animated, or imbued with the spirit to do something, by or as if by supernatural or divine influence: an inspired poet.
2. resulting from such inspiration: an inspired poem; an inspired plan.
3. inhaled: inspired air.

Can you think of someone who has inspired you? Was it a teacher, parent, friend or leader in your organization or community?  What were the qualities that this person demonstrated that connected you to them?  Do you exhibit these qualities yourself?

 When I deliver my sales or presentation skills programs, participants often tell me I am inspiring. I simply tell them I love what I do and love watching others grow and that inspires me.  They in turn they get inspired as well.  I think this is a critical component when inspiring others to action.  When you are engaged in activities you love to do, you generate a more positive energy and people can connect to that.  I think much like laughter is contagious so is inspiration.  If you are a leader you want people to be inspired by your vision and connect to make the vision a reality.

 At times when things don’t go as planned, others watch to see how you handle these challenges.  You can inspire others by the integrity, attitude and actions you take in difficult times.  It is easy to be inspiring and passionate when things are going well, it is when things derail is when leaders need to “walk the inspired talk” or “practice what you preach.”  Inspired leadership means being willing to express your passion and excitement.  We are naturally curious and when you share openly personal triumphs and challenges it engages people.  Be curious about employee’s passions and what inspires them as well.  Be open to provide them guidance. It is impossible to inspire others if you are not inspired yourself. It goes without saying inspired leadership requires consistent, positive attitudes and actions.  When failures or setbacks occur, be prepared to review with an open mind and no judgement.  People need to feel safe to step up and take responsibility for their actions and outcomes, and inspired leaders create a space where employees can grow.

 Here are five tips on how to inspire others:

1. Be Compassionate – put others success ahead of your own. People feel inspired when they know you are pulling for them!
2. Be the Change – others are truly inspired when they see a leader being vulnerable and asking for support. This will endear employees to a leader versus someone who sends the message that they have no weaknesses
3. See the potential and believe in others: I love this quote by Mark Twain it pretty much sums it up perfectly “Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.”
4. Accept others without wanting to fix them – this simply doesn’t work and it won’t inspire anyone.  As a coach I have experienced many clients who want to “fix” one of their employees. It isn’t until they are able to accept the employee the way they are and the way they are not, that they can begin to inspire change and address their areas for growth.
5. Just Be Great – a few years ago I create a very short exercise where I had participants create Just Be Great cards for themselves.  They were to create an acronym that was personal to them using the letters GREAT. It was a huge hit.

The GREAT acronym I created for myself was:

G – gracious and grateful
R – respectful of others
E – engaged and empathic
A – acknowledge others freely
T – tenacious

When I am being all these things I know I am being great for others. 

Take a minute now and create your own acronym for the word GREAT and the next time you have a challenging situation, use it and say to yourself “Just Be Great!”

Timeless in Sales

by Cindy Stradling

For many decades sales people were taught to create and deliver persuasive presentations that were often called “pitches.”  Sales training programs taught many closing techniques and would repeat the mantra – the ABC’s of selling = Always Be Closing.  Those days are gone and effective sales people of the 21^st century involve a much more collaborative approach.  This approach includes focusing on the customer’s needs versus the old days of using manipulative tactics to close the sale so the sales person could meet their sales targets, regardless if it was a good fit for the customer.  I never sold like this, it simply didn’t fit with my personal values.

Like everything else in our society today, sales is evolving and changing.  Clients want to work with suppliers who are aligned with their values.  They want trusted advisors and organizations who are interested in win-win partnerships.

I have been in sales for 20+ years and I have noticed many differences and yet there are some things that have never changed.  People buy from people they trust and like, that has been my reality since my first cold call.  People want to know they can count on their salespeople to keep them informed and provide them with the best solutions possible.  I am pleasantly persistent when it comes to follow up and staying touch with both clients and prospective clients.  I think this is one of the keys to success in the long run.  Customers have told me the reason I won their business because I never went away when things got delayed or they were not ready to buy.  Often sales people will give up too soon. 

Good salespeople will always qualify a prospective client before starting to prospect them as a possible customer.  Effective selling involves asking great questions versus the “gift of the gab” approach of the sales people of the past.  Another thing that is never changed, in my opinion, is customers expect salespeople to be professional in their approach to business.  Although the business attire in some industries is more business casual than in the past, the sales person still needs to be professional.  They need to be punctual, respectful, articulate themselves well and listen intently to the needs of their customers. 

There are many new and different ways to meet and connect with potential clients today.   Social media has opened up many doors that would not have been accessible in the past.  A few of the younger salespeople I have spoken with do not use any other method than social media.  Seasoned sales people like myself need to incorporate social media as part of our business development strategy.  I still do cold calls and prospecting like I have since the beginning and for me it still works.  I have also started to work with LinkedIn as part of my business development strategies.  I challenged one of my students who didn’t believe in cold calling to give it a try, since she had never done it before.  We talked about what she would say and who she would call.  She reported back to me that it was easier than she thought and that the few people she did speak to her, didn’t yell at her (like she thought they would) and they were all very professional and one person asked her to call back in a few weeks that she was interested in speaking with her when she got back from her vacation.  She now incorporates cold calling as part of her business development strategy.

So what is my point to all this?  It is simply to say that some things are timeless in sales no matter what method(s) you use for prospecting and business development.

• Professionalism
• Persistent
• Great listening skills
• Collaboration for a win-win
• Authenticity and honesty

Does Your Verbal and Non Verbal Communication Jive?

by Cindy Stradling CSP, CPC

We all know that we communicate both verbally and non verbally.  Even when we are not talking, we are communicating with our bodies.  This includes our gestures, eye contact, facial expressions and even how we are standing/sitting (posture).

Have you ever had the experience when someone was telling you something and there was something “kind of off” or you weren’t quite sure why but you didn’t connect with their message.  Often this is because our non-verbal communication actually speaks louder than the words we use.

According to Albert Mehrabian, best known for his publications on the relative importance of verbal and nonverbal messages,  he stated that  7% of our communication is the words we use, 38% is based on the tone of our voice and the remaining  55% is our non verbal communication.  We cannot fake our non verbal communication and when there is a disconnect in messaging, the listener will more often than not will believe the non verbal.

I can remember my first management job where the Purchasing agent reported to me.  She would often leave my office looking confused and frustrated.  I thought she was just going through something in her personal life and really didn’t think too much of it.  One day she came into my office and presented me with her resignation, I was shocked.  I thought she was doing a great job and I thought we got along well.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  She explained that she couldn’t work for me anymore because the words I used communicated that she could take her time to finish projects but my tone and body language communicated that I wanted it done NOW!  She said she actually felt like I was screaming at her.  That was a big eye opener for me as I wasn’t aware of the mixed messages I was sending her.  From then on I was very careful to make sure what I was communicating both non verbally and verbally was what I wanted to say.  This was no easy task as we do so much of our non verbal unconsciously.  I did some research on the topic and found out very quickly I was not alone, many people have faced this same challenge.  I learned that how others perceive and respect you has a lot to do with your non verbal skills, not just when you are giving a presentation, but how you communicate every day.

One of the ways to manage your non verbal communication is to learn to manage your stress levels.  If you have to communicate with someone when you are really stressed out, it is best to take a break first.   Because our emotions control our non verbal language you can actually send a mixed or confusing message to your listener when you are stressed.   One of the recommendations is to develop your emotional awareness.  By being tuned into your own emotional state, it will help you accurately read others body language, respond appropriately showing you are listening and create trust by sending congruent messages. 

Here are a few tips to evaluate non verbal communication:

• Tone of Voice – how intense is it?  Is it warm?  Does the person sound strained or confident? Is there care or concern in their voice?
• Eye Contact – is the amount of eye contact comfortable or does it feel intense?
• Posture – how are the standing/sitting?  Do they look relaxed or uptight and stiff?
• Timing – does the conversation flow easily and do the non verbal cues support the flow?

The one thing I have learned over the years is to trust my instincts when it comes to listening to whole person.  If my instincts tell me something is not quite right I believe them.

I recommend doing your own emotional awareness assessment to make sure when you communicate your message will be heard, understood and believed.