Among leading sales operations, the enthusiasm for sales coaching has never been greater. While some may dismiss the coaching craze as just the latest “shiny thing”…or simply a codification of what good managers have always done…it has nevertheless become a top priority. And in nearly every industry where there are sales managers with direct reports, coaching has now become the order of the day.
And that’s a fantastic start. But just a start…
Encouraging sales managers to coach their direct reports is only a small part of the equation. After all, most sales managers already possess a level of desire to provide this sort of help. And, most sales managers already possess the requisite motivational and interpersonal skills to be an effective coach.
So to a large extent, most sales managers already possess the “why” and “how” of coaching. What they’re really lacking, however, is the “who, what, when, and where” in order to apply their coaching skills most effectively.
Here’s how one seasoned (grizzled) sales manager put it:
Of course, he was being a facetious. Well…probably. Ok…maybe. Regardless, his point was that sales managers need help to understand where best to apply their coaching skills and abilities. And as we discuss in “The Sales Ops Guide to Enabling Sales Managers” webinar, this is where Sales Operations can really shine and provide tremendous value.
Through focused sales analysis, Sales Ops can provide sales managers with very specific, data-driven targets upon which to direct their coaching efforts.
By taking a few additional steps to process the sales data and reports a bit more, Sales Ops can deliver prioritized lists of specific “coaching opportunities” for each salesperson under the sales manager’s purview—from customer retention alerts and best prospect targets to cross-sell opportunities and additional follow-up activity recommendations.
The point is that without the proper focus—i.e. information about “where to put my foot”—sales coaching can turn into little more than just another motivational exercise. And while general motivation is certainly important in any sales environment, it’s easy to see how coaching toward specific data-driven opportunities and actions is far more valuable.
And should you choose to accept the mission, Sales Ops is in a unique position to provide help on that front!
The Sales Ops Guide to Enabling Sales Managers
Sales managers are critical points of leverage and enablement. In this on-demand webinar, learn a variety of strategies and tactics that others have used to influence sales managers and drive performance improvements at-scale.
How to Use Sales Analysis to Drive More Growth
Sales analysis often has much more potential than it is given credit for. This on-demand webinar explains how to using the analytical processes and underlying data to reveal powerful insights and opportunities for growth.
