How to create a sales coaching plan

Creating a sales coaching plan does not need to be a chore or a daunting prospect. You should have structure that can be used with any individual in your sales division, but it should be flexible enough to work with any individuals coaching requirement.

As I have discussed in other blogs, every individual has different needs, such performance strengths and weaknesses. One of the main problems I find with sales companies, is that they do not understand individual characters. So what is a sales coaching plan? How does it work?

In this guide, you’ll find everything you need to know to get started with creating a sales coaching plan, including:

• What a sales coaching plan is and why it’s important.
• The different types of coaching plan and how they work.
• Tips, tools, and best practices to succeed with a coaching plan.

Read on so you can create an awesome sales coaching plan!

What is a sales coaching plan?

A sales coaching plan is a clear and precise plan on how an individual or team will be coached. They are usually linked between what the company want to achieve in the role and what the individuals strengths and feedback points are.

The plan will be tailored towards the preferences of the individual in the way they learn while also working towards the goal of the company. This can be a difficult balance to strike, dependent upon the development of the sales person. Ideas which work here are using a success model on current top performers and representational systems.

Why is a sales coaching plan important?

Coaching plan are so important for a number of reasons and they benefit, not just the individual, but the company as a whole.

• Competency: Using coaching helps sales people feel competent. They are learning and developing a skill, and with the right support will gain confidence.
• Morale: Due to the individual coaching, people feel good as you are focussing on them, making them feel important. This in turn helps the immediate team in the positive language.
• Development: Over time, purposeful practice in coaching creates better quality sales people. It hones in on their skills, and makes them better performers.

How a sales coaching plan works

The way in which a coaching plan works is by planning a coaching process. It will need to be from start to finish and once a person finishes they will have learnt all there is to know for the role.

A Structure

First of we need a structure, a framework. We need to know what steps the individual needs to take in order to learn their role and be effective. What is involved in each step, how it works and what each step looks like.

Support

As I said earlier, a lot of people learn in different ways. Some people also learn at different speeds too, some people may need a different approach. Support people, be positive and encourage them. When we learn to work as a team, everything will be much easier.

Measured Results

As with anything in life, how do we know that we are going in the right direction? We measure our growth, our success. So using metrics we can see exactly the improvements after coaching, whether directly or indirectly. How do you measure the area you are coaching? What does achieving it look like?

How to create a sales coaching plan successfully

The first steps that I take to develop a plan is to look at the overall sales process. We look at where the sales division working well and where there are coaching opportunities. Depending on the growth model that you are following you could look at pushing the sales divisions strengths or we could look at the weaknesses and so that we bring everyone up to a standard before pushing the standard up.

Once we have defined the overall sales process, we then look at the skills that effect each stage. We look at how we train those skills out in order to push that stage or metric. Again depending on the growth model you are using, you can work backwards from the result, or work forwards, towards the result.

Once we have defined these key stages and skills, it is time to work out which sales person fits into each category and start working a plan for each one. Are they better through visuals, through audio or through feelings. Group sessions should cover all three bases, we will go through a blog regarding this.

After rolling out this coaching plan, it is then time to look at the initial results, keeping an idea as to how it is working and what opportunities are coming from it.

Get started with a sales coaching plan today

Start your own coaching model today. Work out what the sales process looks like, what skills are involved and which sales people fit in each coaching category. Work closely with your head of sales and directors to get a better idea of what they expect from the coaching.

Gather feedback from the sales people. How do they find the training? What would they improve? Go and create successful and effective high performers.

If you are interested in a coaching plan, then contact us and we will be happy to sit down with you and go through one to help your business.