creating a coaching culture

Creating a Culture for Coaching

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What is Sales Coaching?

All of the training in the world cannot “fix” the larger issue at stake for most organizations—that there is simply little to no reinforcement of that training through effective, ongoing coaching.

And what is coaching after all? In most companies today, it is a dirty word because of several myths that have grown over time.


Myth 1: Sales Coaching

Of course, coaching opportunities exist when things go wrong—but they also exist when things go right.

In fact, the more coaching you do when things go right, the more “right” things will happen. Nothing breeds success like success.

Myth 1: You only get coached when you have done something wrong.



Most managers spend hours on one coaching session, trying to get the employee to change 6 or 7 seven things and bombarding the agent or employee with tons of information.

Truly developmental coaching, which focuses on one (maybe two) key things to change, can be done highly effectively in as little as 20 minutes or less.

Myth 2: Coaching takes too much time.



Well, that is true if done in its current format. However, try to find one professional athlete that is not paying someone big bucks to be their personal coach? And what about all of the “Life Coaches” that are making careers out of helping people plan their lives?

If we are to believe this myth, we have to assume that no one in an organization appreciates or wants good, honest feedback that will help them improve their performance.

In reality, we know just the opposite to be true. There is a gigantic need for coaching, only not in corporate America it seems.

Myth 3: People don’t like being coached.


Sales Coaching: What is Working?

In its purest sense, it is the opportunity to share feedback with someone on their performance—what is working, what’s not—and to put together a plan of action for taking that performance to a higher level.

Einstein was on to something—doing the same old thing the same old way but expecting different results just does not work.


Why Coach?

• Because it makes good business sense

• Because skill development just does not simply happen

• Because stellar organizations have realized that investing in their people is the best investment of all• True developmental investment, that is


Sales Coaching: Three Key Reasons

1. To accelerate learning2. To effect behavioral change3. To improve results

If you can accelerate a person’s learning curve, get them up to speed quicker and learning more efficiently, that is step one.

If you can get them trying on new hats, experimenting with new ways of doing things, you can start to change their behavior.


Taking Time to Build a Sales Coaching Culture

First of all, recognize that this does not happen overnight. It takes time to build a culture, especially if the existing culture is viewed negatively, or if various attempts have been made at building the culture but have never beenfollowed through on.

It is much easier if no culture exists at all. Having said that, it can be done, and the foundation can be laid in as little as 30 days.


Creating a Coaching Culture

a) Coaching has to start at the top. If senior management is not coaching middle management, why should middle management coach lower management, etc.? There must be a “Do As I Do” environment or failure is bound to happen.

b) How much time is the company committed to doing coaching? Most managers will tell you that they spend less than 10% of their time developing people, when the numbers should be closer to 80%. We are talking development here, not performance evaluation. Know the difference and commit the right amounts of time to it.



c) You don’t have to spend equal amounts of time with each agent or employee. Your top performers do not need a ton of coaching, but dedicating 10% of your coaching time to these people not only gives the recognition they deserve, it also allows you to continuously challenge them to get to higher and higher levels.

Middle performers need the most developmental coachingbecause there is the greatest room for growth here. Left to

their own devices, their productivity and performance can slip and you want to ensure that they are on the path to exceeding performance.



d. Be hard on the issue, not the person. Let this be your coaching mantra, for when it comes to giving feedback, it is “how” feedback is given that often overrules “what” feedback is actually being passed on. Let’s figure out where your questioning efforts are working for you and what is getting in the way.” This mantra is simple in theory, but extremely challenging in execution. It takes lots of practice, so start practicing NOW.

e. Schedule time to coach. Carve out portions of each day where nothing else gets done but coaching. Managers who start to see progress and improvement find additional pockets of time to keep doing this because it makes a difference. Before you know it, you will be dedicating more and more time to coaching and less and less time to putting out everyone else’s fires.



f) Let the agent or employee do the talking and the thinking. The biggest mistake that managers make is that they do all of the talking during a coaching session and not enough asking or listening. By asking more and better questions, the manager is guaranteed a deeper understanding of what and how they think. By having them come up with ways to fix the situation, they own the problem and the resolution, not the manager.

g) Teach people to self-coach. In a true coaching culture, you not only coach downward, but upward and sideways as well. It will empower people to work on their own development and save the manager coaching time down the road—a win for everybody. Three simple questions will do the trick: What did I do well? What could I do differently? and Where can I go to learn more?


Sales Coaching: The Bottom LineCreating the right culture, especially one on coaching, does not happen by chance.

It starts with a vision and a deep commitment to developing people. It also needs a framework to ensure consistency of effort, plus a core set of skills that allows managers to role model what needs to be done at all levels.

Finally, it requires a genuine concern for helping people succeed and for recognizing progress, no matter how small. People are starving for good, honest feedback—it is management’s job to find the most effective way to deliver it.


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