Here is how to go about building a solid sales coaching framework

Set the Goal: Sit with the team of decision-makers and decide on the ultimate goal which you want to achieve through coaching. You may set a weekly goal, monthly goal, quarterly goal, or annual goal. For example, your goal might be to increase the number of deals that your reps close in a particular quarter. Define this goal clearly in your coaching framework so that it’s clear to everyone-- from the top management to the front-line sales reps.

Define KPIs: Break down the goal into smaller KPIs/ metrics/ behaviors. Progress in these metrics should ultimately lead to the achievement of the final goal. For instance, if your goal is to increase the number of deals that your reps close in a quarter then the KPIs should be:

• Number of leads entered by a rep into the sales pipeline
• The lead conversion rate etc
• Make sure that you tie all your coaching efforts to these KPIs

Forms of Coaching: Use a combination of these two forms of coaching to increase the effectiveness of your coaching efforts.

• Manager to rep: This is the famous, well-known form of coaching which takes place between the manager and his team of sales reps. This is one-side coaching where the manager coaches the reps and monitors their performance.
• Peer to peer: This form of coaching facilitates peer-to-peer collaboration amongst the team members. Here you need to pair two sales reps as a team. Then, encourage them to:
  • Listen to each other call recordings or coaching videos
  • Grade each other’s performance
  • And give feedback to improve each other

This provides a safe and comfortable space for the reps to learn from their peers and improve their skills

Maintain Consistency in coaching: Make sure that the coaching happens regularly and consistently. Preferably once a week. Managers should ensure at least one coaching session per week for all the employees in their team.

Let your Sales VP know that at least 25% of the day-to-day time of managers will be spent on this. And make sure they are OK with that.

Enable them with:

• The training materials and a standard coaching template that teach how to coach
• A tool that reinforces these lessons
• And, the data regarding each reps’ performance

This helps them to drive the coaching on the right track without getting lost in search of the relevant data and information

Here how the managers can get their reps to take the lead in the coaching sessions:

• Share the call recordings, demos, or coaching videos of the top reps with all the team members. Now ask the reps to listen and compare their calls with the top reps’ calls. Then they should come up with a list of things things that they need to work on to improve.
• Another way to get your employees to lead the coaching is by asking these two crucial questions during the coaching session:
  • What went well?
  • What would you do differently?
  This prompts the reps to identify their skill gaps by themselves and speak about them

Once the reps say what is it that they want to work on, the managers can then pick one little part of it (one or two key improvement areas) and work with the reps to perfect them. Once that is improved they can then move on to the next key improvement area. This way, the improvement can be done one step at a time.

Here are some ways to measure the impact of your coaching efforts:

• Measure the crucial metric/ metrics (using a platform) of the coaching program and see how much the reps have improved in it over a period of time. For example, if you have done coaching on discovery questions, then measure: How many discovery calls of each rep got converted to a second meeting in a span of 3 months
• Extract regular feedback from the front-line sales managers about their training. Determine if they are being trained properly to be effective coaches
• Put in place a sales advisory board where you talk to the front-line reps, once every month, in a manager-free zone. Here, you need to ask them
  • What do they think about their coaching sessions?
  • What are some problems?
  • What do they want attention paid to?
  Take this feedback anonymously to the managers so that they know where their coaching needs improvement. This creates transparency which helps to put things on the right track if they go wrong
• After every meeting, make sure that you survey both the coach and the rep about the coaching session.
  • From the coach, you want to know
    • How the sales rep has received the coaching?
    • What is his current level of skills and knowledge?
    • Is he likely to utilize coaching to improve himself?
  • From the sales rep, you want to know
    • How helpful he thought the coaching was for him?
    • How helpful was his coach?
    • Did the coaching session cover everything that he wanted?
    • Does he have an action plan after the coaching to improve his performance?
This survey helps you get the perspective of the manager as well as the employee.
• Keep a track of each reps’ overall sales performance and see if each one is improving continuously.

Here’s how:

• Graph the crucial metrics and keep a check on the progress of each rep. If you do not see any progress in a particular rep’s performance then you need to figure out if the rep isn’t using the coaching or if the coaching is poor.

  One way to figure this out is by looking at the performance of all the reps under that manager. If you notice poor performance across the board then it’s probably an issue with the manager. If the issue is only with that one rep then dig in deeper by listening to the call recordings of the rep and analyze the core problem. Then provide your insights and findings to the rep and her manager and suggest a course of action to fix it.

• Also, once someone is coached on a particular KPI, ask the managers to set up a tracker/ scorecard to track that rep’s performance in that particular KPI. If the manager sees no improvement then he needs to refocus on that rep and coach her further to close any knowledge or skill gaps.

  For instance, if a manager coached a rep on Monday and listened to her call recordings throughout the week and nothing has changed, then he should have another meeting with the rep to reassess and discuss what can be done to uplift her performance.

Final Words: We hope these pointers come in handy for you to build a strong, impactful, reliable and meaningful sales coaching culture at your organization