As the end of the year is approaching, sales professionals in every industry are eager to lay a solid foundation for success in 2019. One of the most common business-related New Year\u2019s resolutions among managers is this one: \u201cI will hold more one-on-one coaching sessions with the members of my team this year.\u201d It\u2019s fine as far as it goes \u2026 but is it enough?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are at least two scenarios under which you could imagine you\u2019ve fulfilled that goal \u2026 and still end up letting down both the team and the organization!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first situation is the common one where the manager defines \u201ccoaching\u201d as \u201ctelling the salesperson how to do it.\u201d These one-on-one \u201cwhat you did wrong\u201d sessions always seem to follow unexpected emergencies, major oversights, and lost deals. So yes, the manager may hold more such sessions this year than last year. But the result, in all likelihood, will be that the salesperson comes to associate a trip to the manager\u2019s office more firmly with two childhood experiences that aren\u2019t at the top of anyone\u2019s list of positive memories: getting in trouble and being lectured by the teacher. Is it really all that surprising that these \u201cwhat you did wrong\u201d meetings usually don\u2019t improve the numbers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Almost as universal is the case of the sales manager who sets up a schedule for monthly one-on-one coaching sessions with each sales rep \u2026 without connecting those discussions to any goal or setting any agenda ahead of time. These \u201cinformal\u201d meetings may begin with the manager smiling broadly and asking something along the lines of \u201cSo \u2013 how\u2019s it going?\u201d Although this approach usually avoids the problem of evoking negative memories, it still brings with it major problems. The meeting is a terrific waste of everyone\u2019s time, and it tends to result in the same basic conversation happening over and over again, month after month. These meetings don\u2019t generally result in any sustainable improvement, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re responsible for managing a sales team, one of the very best ways to lay a great foundation for the coming year is to conduct well-planned coaching sessions that avoid both of these common mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How? Schedule one-on-one meetings so they\u2019re being held at strategically relevant times for the company and<\/em> the salesperson \u2013 not during or immediately after a short-term crisis. Schedule the meetings in support of a unique goal that\u2019s personally important to this salesperson. And schedule the meetings with a clear agenda, one that includes measurable accountabilities for getting the salesperson closer to that goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, let\u2019s assume you\u2019re working with a salesperson, Mike, who wants to be able to afford to buy his fianc\u00e9e an expensive diamond engagement ring by the middle of June. And let\u2019s also suppose your company has planned a big first-quarter market expansion initiative. The next coaching session with Mike shouldn\u2019t be all about \u201cHere\u2019s what you did wrong last time.\u201d Nor should it open by inviting Mike to deliver a monologue on a topic of his choice. Instead, it should reinforce and confirm the importance of getting Mike enough money in his bank account by the first of June to propose marriage!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then you can move on to identifying the specific behavioral benchmarks Mike wants to hit each month in order to meet that goal and, at the same time, exceed the targets for the expansion campaign. Before your session concludes, it should deliver clear, mutually acceptable agreements on two or three measurable activity goals that Mike is willing to assume personal responsibility for delivering on by this time next month. Those commitments can serve as the starting point for next month\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s what a good coaching session looks like. That\u2019s a foundation for success in the coming year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n