What do you think he’d say?

No question about it . . . any one of these great coaches would say, “Preparation is everything.”

If preparation is everything (and you know that it is), what, specifically, should you do to prepare for your all-important first practice session where you introduce the Sales Coaching concept?

• Define the primary objective in your first sales practice . . . the questions: Be smart and start at the beginning: Your primary objective is to introduce the Sales Coaching Concept to the sales team. Of course, you’ll be presenting this concept to some folks who admittedly know nothing about it while others on the team may think they already know everything there is to know about Sales Coaching and others will believe they already know everything there is to know. So, what do you think? How will your team react? Will the Sales Coaching Concept be a tough sell? Can you convince the majority of the team that Sales Coaching will increase sales, profits, earnings, and commissions? And, if your team is skeptical, is it because folks just don’t believe in the concept or is it because they don’t understand the rewards and how those rewards apply to the team and the individual. How will you introduce Sales Coaching to your team? Will you simply drop the concept on the group and make a plaintive announcement with the expectation that Sales Coaching will be accepted and implemented immediately? Or, will you start slow, explain the concept, open a dialogue, and patiently work toward consensus? What are your performance expectations . . . for yourself, for individual Sales Players, for the team? How soon do you expect to see an impact on sales and how significant do you expect that impact to be? How much is the company willing to invest – in terms of time, money, and energy – to make sure Sales Coaching works for everyone involved? And, how much (in your opinion) should the company invest in Sales Coaching before it can realistically expect a return on that investment? Last but not least, how do you think this book should impact the every day lives of individual Sales Players and how do you think it should impact the team as a whole?
• The first sales practice . . . the answers: Without pointing fingers, let every Sales Player know precisely what your performance expectations are . . . for yourself, for each individual, and for the entire team as a group. Prepare a list of prioritized expectations, edit the list carefully and thoughtfully, and, even though you should take your list of expectations to the first Practice Session, we suggest you take the time to memorize it. Why? Because you’re likely to get peppered with lots of questions in the first sales practice and you don’t want to get distracted, struggle for answers, get sidetracked, and forget to cover something important.
  
• Paint an honest but positive picture . . . Nobody likes change, especially sales people. So, let’s face it; you’re likely to get passive, perhaps even aggressive resistance from your Sales Team to the Sales Coaching Concept. So, consider how individual personalities might possibly shape the group’s reaction – positively or negatively - as you decide how best to present Sales Coaching to get broad support. Clearly communicate the potential for growth and success that comes from utilizing the Sales Coaching approach. Talk about the fact that Sales Coaching is more than theory . . . it is a proven, relatively easy-to-use, positive tool each Sales Player can use to consistently increase sales, profits, and income.
  
• Explain the technical stuff . . . Don’t pull any punches here. Be honest about why you need to make a change. Talk about specific causes for lower-than-acceptable sales, profits, and income. Outline the specific techniques that individual Sales Players – and the team as a whole – can use to increase sales, profits, and income. Though you want to be completely honest, don’t allow this part of your practice session to become about who’s selling and who isn’t. There is nothing to be gained by allowing anyone to slam individual or collective feelings. While the team will respect your honesty, individuals will at the same time appreciate your sensitivity. Nevertheless, we caution you . . . if and when you’re forced to make a choice between honesty and sensitivity, the respect you get from being honest will be far more important to your ability to coach than appreciation will be . . . so tell it like it is.
  
• Eliminate negatives with positives . . . Let Sales Players know that you have absolutely no interest in criticizing individual mistakes, errors, or shortcomings. Make it clear that your only interest is to equip each Sales Player to sell more, more profitably, more often. Build consensus by actively soliciting viable solutions to any obstacle that may threaten the team’s overall ability to increase sales, profits, and income. Never lose sight of your primary goal: To build a winning sales team.
  
• Establish new relationships with Sales Players . . . You are now someone you’ve never been before. You are no longer the Sales Manager. You’re not the VP of Sales and Marketing. You’re not the General Manager. You are now the Sales Coach! And, as Sales Coach, your first responsibility is to emphasize the human side of coaching. By that we mean never criticize, put down, or put a Sales Player on the spot – even if you think you’re kidding – in front of anyone else. Make sure that every dialogue develops communications not confrontations. Though you’re still the boss, you will find that a new dimension will have been added to the collective as well as to individual relationships, a leveling of positions that, handled properly, will allow you and Sales Players to work more closely than ever to achieve common goals.

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