Hiring a sales coach often seems like a solution to the many challenges facing organizations today. The biggest challenge facing most sales managers is achieving current period and annual revenue goals. According to an article recently published by Forbes, “Managers can become obsessed with “the number”. They are extremely stressed, unsatisfied, and exhausted.” Sales managers must figure out how to deliver higher revenue than last year, often with the same or fewer resources. Hiring additional full-time employees may not be an option. If a sales manager is already working 50+ hours a week and juggling a career and family, working longer hours is not an option either.
So, if you face big revenue goals and are challenged by limited time and resources, keep reading. In this article, you will learn 6 reasons why hiring a sales coach is your perfect solution. Plus, you get a real-world example of a sales manager deciding if a sales coach is worth the investment.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
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Real-World Example
I know a lot of sales managers, and most dread the budgeting process. One, in particular, hates it. She works for weeks to develop a reasonable sales budget based on her industry and market knowledge. Then her budget submission is cast aside by upper management or the corporate folks who provide goals based on their needs, with little regard to her rationale. Faced with an unreasonable budget and pressure to deliver, she considers an outside sales coach but isn’t sure the ROI is worth it. When she called to ask about coaching, I told her the payoff comes in more than just increased revenue and detailed reasons for hiring a sales coach.
1. A Sales Coach will Increase Revenue
The main reason sales coaches are hired is to increase revenue. And someone good at coaching sales reps will do just that. The increased revenue will make an immediate impact in the current period as well as the remaining periods of the year. The revenue can also be focused on a specific revenue bucket, like core website digital advertising sales, developmental business, or OTT revenue. Whatever the budget hot spots are, a good sales coach can develop sales strategies and help focus the sales team to attain revenue goals
2. Coaching Builds Self-Confidence and Career Satisfaction
Achieving short-term revenue goals may be vital to self-preservation, but in the long term, a sales team’s success is directly related to the health and welfare of each team member. Each salesperson has to be mentally fit and have a positive attitude to navigate the daily obstacle course of a career in sales. A good sales coach can fill an important role in the headspace of a sales executive.
Sales can be a lonely job. Salespeople must often compete for leads within their organization. Some sales organizations create a competitive environment thinking that it will push their people harder and further toward success. This can result in a team of frenemies, with each salesperson on guard against the salesperson sitting in the next cubicle. Often teammates don’t work together or support each other.
A sales coach is not a teammate. A sales coach is a resource and can serve as a coach, mentor, sounding board, and cheerleader. And since a sales coach has no vested interest in any individual salesperson, a coach can be trusted by everyone. A coach can make salespeople feel less lonely with an ally they can count on to help them achieve their professional goals. This increases overall job satisfaction and promotes long-term success.
3. Saves time and money
Sales coaches will save a sales manager both time and money. Time is a precious commodity for a sales manager. They are often pulled in several directions at once, with little time left to effectively train their sales team on question and presentation skills, as well as closing techniques. A good sales coach will not only help build skill sets, but they will demonstrate their value in the field. Training in a classroom can be effective for some, but seeing is believing when you’re in the field, closing actual business with real clients.
Since a sales coach is not a full-time employee, they come at a fraction of the cost of an FTE, requiring no benefits and no hiring approval process. When expectations are high and resources are scarce, a sales coach can be a perfect solution.
4. A Sales Coach can bring fresh perspectives to sales challenges
An active sales coach has been on thousands of sales calls throughout their career. That means the coach has probably seen almost every sales situation at least a time or two before. Their experience can often provide a fresh perspective, a different way to look at a challenge, and alternative solutions no one on the team has considered. A sales coach will know what works in similar-sized markets. They can apply that knowledge to an appropriate solution. After all, what flies in Raleigh might drop like a stone in Chicago.
5. Honest, Unbiased Feedback
Being in the field and witnessing salespeople in action gives the coach an unbiased view of each salesperson’s skills and aptitude. Honest feedback to management provides a roadmap for individual skills training. This ensures each salesperson gets the training they need and best positions them for success.
But weaknesses are only one area a good sales coach will spot. They can also spot strengths and positive attitudes not seen by management or overlooked due to a predisposition based on work experiences. As important as it is to focus on weaknesses, celebrating strengths and capitalizing on them is vital to success. A good sales coach will give feedback on both.
6. Lasting Impact
A good sales coach makes a lasting impact on a sales team. The skills taught, the perspectives provided, and the boost in morale will transcend a one-time market trip. Tools and strategies will stick with account executives and be applied to future sales calls.
Additionally, good sales coaches are available to keep providing help and resources to sales teams after the market trip is over. Staying close to the team and providing support means the relationship between the coach and salespeople continues and gets stronger. This often elevates closing ratios long after the coach is gone. Achieving revenue goals and having a motivated and happy sales team is the best reason to hire a sales coach.
Matt Pearson Consulting is a sales coaching organization focused on making an immediate and long-term impact for its clients. Matt helps salespeople close more sales and achieve their professional goals. His decades-long career coaching sales reps and owning his own businesses make him an ideal coach and mentor. Matt likes working with salespeople in the field, presenting to actual clients, closing real sales, and impacting the top line. For more information and to book him to coach your team, call him at 727-251-2169 or contact him here.