Making Sales Coaching Fun

Do you and your people get fired up about sales coaching and training? If the answer is any form of “no” then read on and allow me to share some ideas for making sales coaching fun and something you look forward to.

Let’s make a distinction before we get too far. There is sales training and there is sales coaching. People ask me if there is really a difference. Definitely!. Sales training is about instruction and learning new concepts, whereas sales coaching is about application and performance. Sales leaders should look to accomplish both for maximum effectiveness.

Suppose you’re doing some self-directed sales training using an online course, videos, books, etc. These are training activities to help make you smarter about a subject or better at understanding a concept. You are gaining knowledge with the intent to make improvements on your own.

Sales coaching, on the other hand, means someone is taking the time to observe, correct, and encourage. They are allowing for struggle and in many cases, failure. Coaches work alongside their people to maximize the learning experience, correcting them when they stray from the path and requiring them to repeat the process to get better each time.

Sales itself is something we do with someone and for someone. Sales coaching is no different and the same logic is easily applied. Instead of our prospects and clients, we are talking about our people, our team, our players.

Here are three things to focus on if you want your salespeople to benefit from your coaching.

Your Attitude

Anthony Ianarinno shared during a recent Sales Leadership Summit interview, “As sales leaders, we can have a day off, but we can never have an off day.” This is especially true for sales coaching. As a sales leader, you are 100% responsible for bringing your best and most positive attitude to training and coaching engagements. You set the tone your people will adopt.

Accepting Failure

By this, I mean creating a safe place where it’s ok to fail. Failure is essential and natural when learning a new skill. Make sure your people not only understand this but actually feel ok about it. A good way to accelerate failure acceptance is by sharing a personal example of a recent failure you’ve experienced. Reinforce the idea that failure forward has a reward, not a penalty. That reward is growth.

Avoid the Kitchen Sink

It’s human nature to desire immediate results. We are always looking for the easiest way to solve problems and improve efficiency. Sales leaders often try to throw multiple ideas and concepts to their people in hopes they will pick all of them up well enough to make a difference in relation to revenue production. The trouble is it’s too much, too fast. Salespeople (and most humans) are easily overwhelmed when it comes to learning.

I recommend breaking your training and coaching down into smaller bite-sized chunks. Think about this in terms of ideas you can explain in 15-30 seconds. For example, prospecting itself is a broad subject. Ask yourself what specific result do we want to see? Narrow the focus on behaviors and activities as best you can for maximum effectiveness.

Game On

Look for opportunities to create games or challenges with your sales team. When was the last time you heard salespeople getting excited about role-playing? How about creating a sales talent show? Task your sales team with the challenge of performing in various sales scenarios and choose winners based on performance. This not only creates healthy competition but promotes a culture of teamwork and an environment that doesn’t feel like typical sales training.

With all of these ideas, it’s important to also keep in mind that a solid foundation is crucial. I’m talking about a foundation of practice here. Your people should have a clear understanding that every skill requires practice and development. New ideas and skills will always feel uncomfortable when we haven’t done them enough. When we understand this up-front we are better prepared to do the uncomfortable work necessary for improvement.

It’s never been a better time to change someone’s world!