Foster a Coaching-Friendly Sales Environment

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There is a time to manage and a time to coach. These may overlap—but they’re still distinct.

George Brontén, Founder and Co-CEO of Membrain.com, says this:

“Salespeople often feel like they’re being coached much less than their managers think they are coaching.

“It can look like this,” he says. “A salesperson is struggling with bringing an opportunity to the next stage of the sales process. They go to their coach. The coach, being an experienced salesperson themselves, sees what the problem is and immediately tells the salesperson what they need to do.”
In this scenario? The salesperson is being managed—not coached.

“Coaching, in this instance, would involve asking the individual open-ended questions that help them discover what they need to do and the internal motivation to do it.

“If additional skills are required, it helps the individual discover what those skills are and identify opportunities to develop them.”
Manage when you need an individual to align with the company’s goals and produce the results they’re being paid to produce.

Coach when your rep needs to develop specific austria telegram data sales skills or define big-picture motivation. Coaching is more person-driven—even with an agenda.

Some reps just aren’t coachable. They disagree with your process—and disregard your advice.

Sometimes, it’s not your fault. But you can make sure it’s not your fault by establishing a healthy coaching environment.

According to Dave Kurlan, Sales Performance Expert, there are three key conditions:

The sales manager must build a strong relationship with each rep, one that can withstand constructive criticism.
Salespeople must trust their manager’s intentions.
And salespeople must respect their manager’s coaching.
How to foster that? A combination of things. Of course, you must keep those doors of communication open—and stick to your consistent coaching schedule.