How To Impact Rep Performance (Part 1)

I have spent the last 20 years singularly focused on answering one question – How do you improve a sales rep’s performance?

There may be higher callings in life, but this is the path I’ve chosen, and after 20 long years, I believe I’ve discovered the most important ingredient to not only catapult a rep’s performance, but their level of engagement, as well.

So, what’s the key?

What do all the high performing sales organizations know that you may be missing?

It’s not technology, or focusing on the right metrics, or even training (hard for me to say since I run a training company). The key to maximizing rep performance is…(drum roll please)…coaching. I know it’s not sexy, and it certainly won’t land me on the cover of Time Magazine, but it’s the truth.

Old news?

“Tom, tell me something I don’t know. Everyone knows the importance of coaching.”

I agree, but if everyone already knows the importance of sales coaching, then why are so few sales organizations coaching their people? If they are, why aren’t they doing it well?

I think it has a lot to do with how the role of a coach is being defined. Most organizations confuse “coaching” with “performance evaluations”. I’m a big believer in developing a scorecard and ensuring each rep knows where they stand, but knowing your “score” just highlights the problem and offers nothing in terms of the solution.

In general, the business world is too bogged down in metrics. To really understand coaching, we need to look at the world of sports instead.

A football analogy

I played football in college, and I can’t imagine what it’d be like if they had followed the same development plan as most sales organizations do.

“Hey Tom, for our opener, we are going to be playing Alabama. I really need you to block well and never drop a pass. So do your best this week preparing, and I will check in with you after the game on Sunday, and we will discuss your performance. Good luck, and just remember – we really need to win.”

Anyone remotely familiar with sports knows that this would never happen. Why? Because you can’t win games if you don’t help your players develop their skills.

In sports, you spend a large majority of your time under the guidance of a coach developing your skills, and much less time reviewing your performance. This usually happens on Sunday, after the game. If your performance was below par, you never had to guess how you played (usually with chairs flying across the room and the quality of your heritage openly questioned).

In most sales organizations, we just have the “Sunday meeting” – “Suzie, your percentages are down, and you’re not hitting your productivity goals. Now go do better and I will see you in two weeks.”

That’s not coaching. Coaching is about improving the future. Way too many managers, instead, just report on the past. They sit on the sidelines, filling out their scorecard with the hopes that things will get better.

I’m here to tell you, they won’t.

The Application

So, as a sales leader, what is your approach to developing your team? Do you typically spend most of your time in “Sunday meetings” rather than helping each rep build their skills through true coaching? If you’ve recognized that, you may need to change your approach.

Here are a few tips to consider:

• Don’t be a player-coach. You can’t coach if you don’t observe your reps’ performance.

• Protect your time to coach. Under-performing reps will require at least one coaching session per month. If your plate is too full with administrative tasks, you need to ask yourself which puts your job at greater risk: a lack of administrative processes, or an under-performing team?

• Recognize the difference between skills and knowledge. Skills must be observed and developed in one-on-one sessions with the reps. Knowledge gaps, on the other hand, can be addressed by delegating that responsibility to the rep, reducing the time required in a coaching session.

• Focus on your reps’ desire. If a team member is unwilling to change, don’t waste your time coaching them. A rep’s commitment to the process is just as important as yours. Communicate that you are more than willing to invest in their developmental process…when they are committed to following through on their development plan. This will free up precious time to invest in those reps that are passionate about improving.

• Assess your percentage of positive to negative feedback. Coaching is about looking forward and helping the rep achieve their goals. This should always be a positive interaction regardless of their current level of performance. One simple way to build your awareness about your approach is to watch for signs that reps are looking forward to the next session. If not, your coaching interaction probably feels a bit like a “Sunday meeting” after a big loss.

With that said, I challenge you to incorporate these tips and become an actual coach. Move beyond just delivering a backward-gazing performance scorecard during a “Sunday meeting”, to hosting productive, positive, future-looking coaching sessions. Although it will require greater intentionality, I guarantee that you and your reps will see the results you are both looking for.

Stay tuned for Part II of this article in the next ASLAN Application, where we will identify and address your biggest challenge in making this happen. Until then, if you have any questions or would like to discuss what you have read further, please don’t hesitate to contact me.