SPOTLIGHT on BUSINESS

The benefits of coaching and sales training are plentiful. Coaching, when embraced by the team, does increase sales in both the short and long term. HR Magazine reports when companies invest $1,500 or more per employee per year on training, they average 24 percent higher profit margins than companies with lower yearly training investments.

Another positive impact comes from maintaining clear expectations and standards as a key component of a high-performing sales culture. A consistent focus on development allows you to build a team of high performers and to attract and keep all-star salespeople. High performers want to stay on top. The right development opportunities tell them you are invested in their success. It is interesting to note that businesses listed among the “Top 100 Best Companies to Work For” all have employee development as a top strategic priority.

Salespeople are often hired under the assumption they are innately good at sales. It’s a reasonable assumption since an ability to sell is likely why they pursued this career. Yet, even for a high performer who is crushing quota on a quarterly basis, there is more to learn, including improving skills. It may be tempting to assume coaching and training should focus on the bottom of the pack, but spending time with middle and top sellers can yield additional, and sometimes surprising, benefits. Keeping your middle and top sellers’ skills up to date with modern techniques helps capture additional revenue streams that, without additional coaching, may have remained unattainable.

According to LinkedIn Learning’s 2018 Workplace Learning Report, 94 percent of employees would stay with their employers longer if they invested in their careers. With rapidly changing and competitive markets, sales teams are often spread across time zones, making it difficult to prioritize the coaching and training the salespeople deserve.

Traditional technology and methods can reduce sales and hold back the sales team in today’s business world. Most companies use outdated methods to enable their sales teams. For example, relying only on email to keep sales teams connected or limiting managers’ opportunities to offer rich, real-time, nuanced feedback. A common practice is to hold costly in-person meetings for annual training and product launches, an approach hard to scale for growing teams and perhaps not cost-effective in a challenging market. And, of course, there is an inherent challenge in traditional training; without practice, coaching, and reinforcement, employees may forget much of what they learn.

The solution? Scalable digital coaching and training. More sophisticated tools and technologies to enable training and coaching at scale. Sales managers need more sophisticated tools and technologies to enable them to train and coach at scale.

Digitizing in-house sales content, training, and best practice information is a great start, but many sales teams need more technology to scale coaching and training effectively.

With the right technology, sales reps no longer have to fake it till they make it when courting new prospects. Instead, they can receive the personalized training and coaching they need, at the moment they need it, to close deals more quickly while learning and being guided by a team of executive coaches.

Build a coaching program to effectively grow your reps, boost retention, and secure your bottom line. Reach out to 20/20 Vision For Success Coaching. It’s time to start coaching.