Sales Management Coaching vs Management Training
/Sales management coaching markedly improves sales organizations. Yet few executives leverage this valuable tool. Sales management coaching differs from sales management training. Coaching involves working one-on-one with the sales manager, to identify areas where they excel and areas where they need improvement. A coach develops a customized plan to help a sales manager improve their capabilities and performance, as well as those of their team. Some examples of how a sales management coach works with a sales manager include:
- Acting as a sounding board for ideas and initiatives
- Listening non-critically and offering feedback about issues within the organization
- Strategizing on ways to continually exceed quota
- Improving their ability to provide salespeople with actionable advice
A sales management coach assists in developing a plan for:
- Increasing each rep’s (and their own) earnings
- Leading a staff of varied talent and tenure
- Understanding the motivations of individual salespeople
- Maximizing the talents of the team superstar
- Transitioning from individual contributor (sales rep) to manager
By contrast, sales management training involves the teaching of a particular methodology to a group of sales managers in a classroom or online environment. An emphasis gets placed on specific terminology, a defined process, and templated sales management tools.
Sometimes people have the self-awareness to realize on their own that they could benefit from coaching. Other times, a manager suggests it because they realize it will help the individual improve their skill set. Many sales managers who have been coached look at the one-on-one work as a career enhancing experience
What else does a sales management coach do?
