Author: Anders Christian Hjort

We know from our research at Huthwaite International that coaching is what it takes to make an outstanding sale team.

Richard Ruff shared this valuable piece on the topic some years ago on his blog, and it’s still worth the read:

Sales coaching – it’s a game of beat the clock
Posted on August 12, 2013 by Richard Ruff

Sales coaching and the time challenge
Sales managers are no different than anyone else – they don’t have enough time to do all the things they need to do.

This time issue is particularly telling when it comes to front-line sales managers. There is little doubt that front-line managers are the pivotal job for sales success and that coaching is one of their critical contributions.

Yet when it comes to beating the clock, sales coaching is usually one of the early losers. Although it is possible to imagine that more time will be added to clock for sales coaching if top sales management makes the necessary leadership commitments, the most likely scenario is the time you got is the time you have.

So the path forward is primarily about how to more effective and efficiency using the time you have. Let’s look at four ideas:

Move to a one-on-many coaching approach. With today’s technology regardless of distance it is possible to shift from a one-on-one to a one-on-many approach for sales coaching. There are limitations but there are also opportunities. Many sales reps face the same challenges and the same knowledge and skill gaps. Not only are today’s technologies capable of supporting this shift – the ones on the immediate horizon are dazzling.

Focus and prioritize. Even with a one-on-many approach you cannot effectively coach everybody on everything at the same time. You need to prioritize the challenges and performance gaps on which you will coach. And, particularly if you have a large sales team, you will need to coach some people first and some people second. Changing performance is hard – doing a little bit on a lot of things for everyone usually means doing nothing for anyone.

Leverage others. Some where in the sales coaching process there is usually the opportunity to leverage others in your organization to help coach via mentoring or modeling. For example, if you have a top performer who is particularly good at something which is a challenge for others, soliciting their help can be good for the sales team and can be of benefit to the top performer.

Establish a culture of performance accountability. Another way to address the coaching time issue is to get the person on the other side of the table to commit time to the performance improvement objective. In this case that means the sales rep. The manager needs to establish this performance improvement thing as a two way street – I will commit time to help you and you need to devote time to help yourself.

About Richard Ruff
For more than 30 years Dr. Richard Ruff and Dr. Janet Spirer – the founders of Sales Horizons – have worked with the Fortune 1000 – such as UPS, Canon USA, Smith & Nephew, Boston Scientific, Owens & Minor, Textron – to design and develop sales training programs. During his career Dick has authored numerous articles related to sales effectiveness and co-authored “Managing Major Sales”, a book about sales management, “Parlez-Vous Business” which helps sales people integrate the language of business into the sales process, and “Getting Partnering Right” – a research based work on the best practices for forming strategic selling alliances. Dr. Ruff received his Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from the University of Tennessee and a B.S. from Rennsselaer Polytechnic Institute.

About Anders
Anders credentials you will find here on Huthwaite Internationals website and on LinkedIN you will find recommendations and endorsements from clients, colleagues and friends during his career:

80.000+ Follow Hutwaite International and Anders here

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Enjoy!