As a sales manager, one of your primary roles is to coach.
For a second, though, think of the great coaches over time. John Wooden, arguably the greatest basketball coach of all time. Butch Harmon is a current coach in golf who coaches Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. You name, Butch’s coached them. Back to the Chicago Bulls, many years ago when they won all the championships. Phil Jackson. Even Tony La Russa in baseball and the Cardinals.
All these coaches (if you look at a level of understanding they have of their sport) were students of their sport. They were students of what they do.
I want to challenge you today.....
Are you a student of selling?
All these coaches I mentioned were not the greatest players. Tony La Russa was not a great baseball player, but he knew the game better than anyone. He knew how to coach it. And if you're going to be an effective sales coach, if you're really going to roll up your sleeves and be the best you can be, you need to be a student of sales.
When you look at your selling system and you look at Sandler, for example, do you fully understand the pain funnel? The dynamics of it, the techniques around the pain funnel questions. Or the budget step? Or the decision step and cast of characters? Think of all the things related to sales. You have to be top of your game if you’re going to be effective at coaching it.
When you're doing your inventory on things that you are working on, I'd challenge you with setting a weekly goal of just studying sales.
• Not looking at the pipeline.
• Not looking at some internal documents.
• Not even just looking at sales management stuff.
But specifically, on how you're getting better at sales.
What I would suggest you do is commit to a number. 30 minutes a week, an hour a week, 15 minutes a day. Something that will keep this top of mind. It could be Sandler materials, or it could be anything related to selling. If you're not looking at the Sandler stuff, what are you looking at that's going to make you better? It's all about what you're filling your head with, because if you fill your head with that stuff, you are the true student of sales. You are a lifelong learner when it comes to selling. So, what's your commitment? In the next 30 days, how much time are you going to spend on being better at selling?
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