Coaching Is Important … But When Do I Do That, Again?
So we can all probably agree that coaching and development for the sales organization are important – even vitally important. But there tends to be so much confusion around it.
Last week I wrote that optimally a sales manager should spend 30% to 40% of his or her time coaching her reps. But we all know that rarely happens. In fact, when we mention that optimal amount of time – 30% to 40% for coaching – we get a range of reactions, from puzzled to shocked, as managers think about all of their other responsibilities.
The reality is most sales managers spend less than 20% of their time coaching. That statistic illustrates a gap of about 60% between how much time managers should spend coaching their organizations and how much time they’re actually spending.
So what’s to blame? Many things, probably. For one, the mandate for coaching may not be getting through from executives to managers.
Another issue – and one of the biggest challenges we see in both sales management jobs and sales jobs – is the time available to focus on their core responsibilities, whether they are still selling or purely managing.
A full 70% of companies say that sales managers are held back from coaching because they are too busy with aspects of their job that aren’t always related to sales or sales management. Oops. A deeper look reveals that many of these responsibilities are administrative or operational in nature – responsibilities that do not have a direct impact on either revenue growth or the development of the team that produces revenue.
Time constraints can take another form. Forty percent of companies said that sales managers just don’t make the time to effectively coach, meaning they are finding other things to do with their time. Perhaps they are even deliberately avoiding that ominous task.
We know from our research and our work at SalesGlobe that a big part of coaching comes down to the priorities of the organization. About one in seven companies (14%) do not require their sales managers to do any kind of coaching or development. If coaching is not a requirement of the organization, other responsibilities – whether they are selling or administration – will always take the front seat.
Beyond time, the other top barriers are around knowledge and importance. Forty-four percent of companies said managers do not know how to coach effectively. Therefore, even if they are given the time they do not know what to do with that time. Another 19% said they do not have a methodology for managers to use when they have time to coach.
With all the time constraints precluding managers from coaching it’s important to have a program in place. There is a right way and a wrong way to coach reps. (Hint: selling for them is a wrong way.)It’s important to build a coaching program and methodology that fits your organization. Using a standard coaching program – one off the shelf or one being used by another company – is certain to fail. A program that is a good fit for one organization may be a poor fit for your organization. Determine the priorities for your coaching program. Understand from a customer perspective where your weak points are and engage your leadership team in developing the right program for your business.
To learn more visit us at SalesGlobe.
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