Nov 09 2009
Beyond Formalised Classroom Training
Continuing the debate regarding sales team development, we have to be aware that there are alternatives to formalised classroom training: For example at JFC, we strongly recommend and indeed provide, formal and informal mentoring. We also coach managers to become coaches themselves.
Mentoring:
In mentoring, salespeople choose a mentor (usually a high-performer or more experienced person within the organisation who can serve as a model and/or guide) and consult that person periodically for advice on a range of issues from strategy for handling a particular sales situation to advice on long-term career development. Since the best way to learn something well is to teach it to others, mentoring programmes offer organisations a win-win proposition: in addition to enhancing the skills and performance of the salespeople, they help mentors develop their sales skills while improving their coaching and management skills as well.
Coaching:
More and more organisations are waking up to the value of building a strong coaching culture. Analogies to athletic coaching are common but especially apt. Training alone does not guarantee that a great athlete will deliver a gold medal-winning performance. This can only come from continuous daily support and guidance from an expert coach. Equally, top sales professionals need expert coaching support from their managers to stay at the top of their game.
Whether coaching is delivered face-to-face, on the telephone, or via e-mail, those organisations that have a strong coaching culture attract and retain the best salespeople.
The challenge for Sales Directors is to provide the support that sales managers – all of whom are hard-pressed for time – need in order to provide the kind of support their salespeople must have. Successful Sales Directors have found a range of supporting tools, resources and kits that save managers’ time and enhance the impact of their coaching time.
Whatever coaching framework is chosen by an organisation, it must be easy to use, flexible so that the coaching sessions are tailored to the needs of their team, participative, so that all of the salespeople are engaged and, above all, fun. The fun factor encourages salespeople to become “hooked” on their own continued development.
You may also enjoy – “Getting The Best From The Team”
And also look out for an upcoming Top Sales Experts Masterclass – “Coaching – The Sales Management Imperative” that I will be co-presenting with Linda Richardson – Founder and President of Richardson Training – on December 8th – I’ll have some FREE places for you very shortly.
Today’s News: You may have seen that over the w/e, I announced the launch of the JF Sales Academy (you can scroll down for more details) and this will co-incide with the launch of the JF Sales Manager’s Mentor Club. This will be an online facility for just six sales leaders at any one time – look out for more details in January.
Finally today, I must mention one of my most favourite sales related blogs. You may have noticed over in the left-hand column that I do regularly read quite a lot of my friend’s posts, and certainly I always make time to catch up with Paul Castain’s Sales Playbook
What I particularly like abour Paul – apart from the great content that he writes – is the fact that he “gets it” as my chum Jill Konrath puts it. That is to say, he is always looking for ways to give back – to support his friends and colleagues. So if you haven’t discovered him yet, it really is time you did – HERE
