- Great Salesforce teams embrace a culture of coaching and mentorship led by their managers
- Although many sales managers know how to coach people, not all them actually know when and where to do it
- What sales managers need to do is create an environment of coaching, letting team members know that their managers aren’t just bosses, they’re also teachers and coaches
One thing that sets effective sales teams apart from the rest is a proactive approach to coaching. Unfortunately, very few sales managers embrace a philosophy of mentorship, failing to do as much coaching as they need to.
The problem isn’t so much that sales managers don’t know how to coach their teams, but more that they don’t know when and where to coach them. And that problem usually stems from both managers and team members failing to recognize that they’re in a coaching situation.
For example, when a team member asks their manager a question, that manager sometimes doesn’t realize the question is actually a coaching opportunity. Instead, managers respond to this situation by fixing the problem and going back to doing whatever it was they were working on, similar to how firefighters respond to fire.
For effective Salesforce coaching to happen, managers must go beyond a firefighting mindset and be more proactive in nurturing a coaching environment. Here are 3 best practices to do just that.
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Build Trust with Your Sales Team
Sales coaching works only when sales teams trust their managers. So, sales managers must learn to take off their management hats once in a while and get down and dirty with team members.
Effective coaching can only happen when you create an environment where sellers can talk about their behaviors and challenges without the fear of being judged. To do that, you must first get your team to trust you.
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Ask Questions
Many Salesforce team managers only ask questions because they need to check on their team’s progress.
Another way to think of questions in the context of coaching is to ask effective questions on how to resolve issues and perform tasks. This approach allows salespeople to learn solutions to problems on their own, which in turn, leads to better execution of solutions and effective learning.
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Guide the Focus of Your Team’s Attention
Effective Salesforce coaches know how to work with salespeople, coaching them to up their game one step and area at a time instead of spreading themselves too thinly. These sales managers know that true learning happens when reps have the time and space to improve in one area at a time.
Although this sounds like common sense, you’ll be surprised just how many managers take the shotgun approach of tackling multiple areas in one year, which only leads to no lasting lessons being imparted to salespeople.
Remember, effective sales coaching is the key to improving sales performance. For more Salesforce guides and insights, be sure to follow this blog. If your organization needs topnotch Salesforce talent to mentor your team, let The Crevalle Group connect you with our network of Salesforce professionals looking for employment opportunities.