Here's How to be an Ace Sales Coach

BY Lisa Rigsby
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Are your team members asking you to be an ace sales coach? Think about the types of sellers you have on your team and how they'll benefit from individual sales coaching. More than likely, you’ve seen them pitch a prospective client. How many of them close that pitch? How many seem to get lost toward the end with nowhere to go? There are four key reasons why sales reps walk away scratching their heads and wondering where they went wrong.

All managers want a definitive answer when they ask reps what happened on their sales call. Obviously, a closed sale is the best result, but an objection or follow-​up plan are also outcomes you can work with. These details can help you be a better sales coach.

An Ace Sales Coach

In order to ensure sales calls don’t end with the dreaded, “I’ll think about it and get back to you,” focus on these four areas:

  • Proper Discovery - If you haven’t done proper discovery, and you don’t know the buyer’s needs, you fall back on discussing the functions and features of what you are selling. Half of all presentations fail to connect with buyers because they are focused on the product or services the sales rep is offering rather than the buyer’s needs.
  • Perceived Value - Value is a perception. If you don’t know what your customer needs, you can’t build value in their eyes. What the buyer perceives as value is more important than what their sales rep tells them is valuable. 
  • Perceived Need - If your buyer doesn’t see value, that means you didn’t uncover a need that will make them want to buy. If your buyer doesn’t have a need, you don’t have a sale. 
  • Call to Action - Nearly half of all sales calls end with no call to action. As mentioned above, reps need to ask for the sale, the objection or the next appointment. If there is no call to action after every engagement, it’s highly likely there will never be a sale.

With economy uncertainty likely to continue indefinitely, time is a luxury that many sales teams just don’t have. That’s why it’s more important than ever to not waste the opportunities that are given. If you have salespeople on your team that need to improve on any of the things mentioned in this article, check out this podcast for tips to help you get buy-​in on changes. And you might want to use a coaching system that you can personalize to the needs of your team members.


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