Developmental Coaching Skills
Overview
Of all the things Managers do to develop their people, coaching is now widely observed as a core part of professional development and a critically important tool to support salespeople. Defined as using your skills, experience and know-how to help your people improve their performance, coaching consists primarily of giving people feedback to reinforce what they do well while suggesting specific ways and means to improve.
Coaching for Improved Sales Performance is a highly interactive course that teaches participants a model for “developmental” coaching that is designed to help sales managers provide specific and action-oriented feedback to help salespeople become more effective.
The Coaching Cycle consists of three major phases and three interim activities for the Coach. Phase One is Data Collection, based upon firsthand observations made under representative circumstances. Phase Two is the Feedback Session or Coaching Session. At this time, the Coach reviews and identifies key behaviors to continue using, as well as new behaviors to enhance future performance. In Phase Three, the Coach monitors the desired behavior change through informal observations and regular discussions.
The overall objective of the course is to make participants feel comfortable in the coaching process, both as the coach and the person being coached. Participants will have the opportunity to practice the skills and techniques in videotaped practice sessions, followed by facilitated feedback and debriefing sessions.
Course Objectives
- Effectively prepare for a coaching session.
- Positioning the coaching session with the salesperson
- Apply a coaching sequence and the skills required to achieve the desired outcome.
- Give feedback to a salesperson in a balanced, non-threatening and helpful way.
- Offer salespeople ideas as to how to be more effective in the selling role.
- Manage resistance salespeople demonstrate when a manager suggests changing or modifying their sales approach.
- Reach agreement with a salesperson as to where improvement is needed.
- Gain commitment by working with the salesperson to develop an action plan.