Joe is one of the members of a group learning session that I give to sales managers who have taken my course.

As part of the coaching process I ask for feedback from managers. I question how well they apply the concepts that they had learned and if they are seeing the benefits of the training.

Based on thier feedback I was feeling really good. I gave myself a high five and a couple pats on the back. Way to go dude you are really making impact with these guys!

We were working through real life examples when… Joe gave a recount of one of his successful coaching sessions.

It went something like this: “In my last field visit with one of my reps, I gave her feedback on her closing skills. I then began to give her a couple things she should work on and noted it on her field visit report”.

Ok so far so good. There is verbal and written feedback…

The group thought that Joe did all the right things, he observed, asked questions and gave written and verbal feedback to close off the day with his rep. As I reflected on Joe’s example, I thought to myself… what is the likelihood that the next time Joe works with this rep that she would have taken this coaching session to heart and diligently worked on her closing skills?

Based on my son’s grade four understanding of probability…he would say to me, “highly unlikely dad”.

The reason why I say that, is that Joe needs to make a fundamental mindset shift in his coaching to become a great coach. That mindset shift relates to the fundamental rule below:

Rule #1: Unless there is self awareness and recognition that there is a need to change… the likelihood of change is remote.

I think you did a wonderful job on your last field visit. However, your rep did not have the guts to tell you that she didn’t buy in to what you were saying. You would have been much more impactful if you asked her to determine what area she needed to work on and let her tell you what she intends to do between now and your next field visit.

Companies will look to cut costs and the first place to start is the sales force. The sales force is your company’s most expensive promotional resource. You will have to make some critical decisions: Do you cut costs or improve the performance of your existing sales team?

Cut back, down size and cut costs:

I don’t need to give you advice on cutting back. It’s easy to cut back on sales people, promotion and training. While radical surgery may be financially prudent in the short term it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: first sales decline, then performance suffers and finally moral drops, completing the downward cycle.

How can you improve the productivity and performance of your sales force?

I believe that too many sales organizations operate well below their potential. Quick fixes abound during these times, but the secret to surviving difficult economic times is simple…

Unlock the potential in your sales organization and watch that potential turn into sustainable performance!

1) Invest in your front line sales managers

Who else is at the heart of change, productivity, accountability and performance in your organization? The front line sales manager is the key to unlocking the potential in your sales organization and turns that potential into performance. Your success depends on these managers.

Coaching is the single most impactful activity that front lines sales managers perform. Studies show that effectual coaching can impact sales performance by as much as 19%! Great front line sales managers do a far better job hiring, developing and retaining top performing sales people.

If you had $1 dollar to invest in your business the first dollar and best dollar would be invested in your front line sales management team.

2) Turn your farmers into hunters by focusing on unlocking the potential within existing customers

Many of my clients tell me that their sales team are made up of a bunch of service people or farmers. The challenge in difficult times are that new customers are risk averse to trying new suppliers and that the cost of getting new business may come at the expense of profitability. The most economical way to grow your business is through existing customers. Train your farmers to cultivate more business with their existing customers. Programs targeted at growing and expand business opportunities can help stimulate sales people who have become complacent and find it challenging to go out and get new business.

3) Maximize the ROI on your training budget

Maximising your ROI on training really means ensuring that what ever training you do creates sustainable changes in behaviours that impact on business performance.

The challenges relate to a lack of accountability and follow up. Are there systems in place to measure newly learned behaviours or follow up programs to sustain lessons learned? The answer is no. Studies show that 90% of training is forgotten in the first 30 days unless reinforced. Are you one of the many companies investing in T&D and little or no ROI?

Unless there is a plan that measures and reinforces changes in behaviours you are wasting your money! You must ensure that there is a plan to reinforce learning’s and you hold individuals accountable for demonstrating newly learned behaviours.

Maximize your investment in training and development with a program that measures and reinforces the learning’s and they will become business practice.

4) Strategically invest your resources

As you look how to manage your resources more effectively, the key is to strategically target your promotional dollars to maximise the ROI. Each sales person needs to be much more strategic on where they allocate their limited resources. This involves building customer specific plans based on factors such as existing business and potential business and holding sales people accountable to executing their plans.

Strategically investing your promotional dollars on the right customers and holding sales people accountable will be one of the keys to unlocking your star results!

Feel free to comment on the article above or post a question to other sales executives

Steven Rosen, B.Comm. MBA, Sales Performance Expert