Three Key Areas That Every Sales Organization Must Get Right
When a Sales Rep starts to struggle with their performance very often, they get sucked into a vicious cycle of well-intentioned but misdirected help.
They end up sitting through training when they need coaching, being coached when they need a re-training, or being mentored when mentoring is not the solution.
Great sales organizations understand the subtle differences between, Training, Coaching, and Mentoring.
Training:
Sales Training is the foundation for every Sales Organization.
Training involves the transfer of knowledge from the trainer to the participants. The training team is responsible for providing the building blocks (company policies, procedures, and selling techniques) that will allow the Sales rep to confidently navigate the early stages of their new role.
A great Training Program will equip the Sales rep with the necessary tools to enjoy success early and build confidence.
Mentoring:
A Mentorship program should be peer to peer.
The role of a Mentor is not to train or coach a sales rep. This is an important distinction. The role of a mentor is to share their knowledge. A mentor will be highly skilled at their craft and offer a unique insight into the inner workings of the role.
A good mentor will fill in any gaps that may exist that only a peer can articulate.
Coaching:
Many Coaching efforts fail because we assume the issue lies in more Training (sometimes a coaching session may reveal that a re-training is needed, but most often this is not the case).
By the time a Sales Rep requires coaching, they already know what to do, and how to do it. The issue is most likely an unknown blockage? Something may be holding back the rep from reaching their goals.
The goal of Coaching should be to enable the Sales Rep to identify their own blockage and self-generate or co-generate a solution. This takes time and cannot be achieved in a quick 30-minute session.
Putting it all together:
Every company should have a T.M.C Plan:
Training — Mentoring — Coaching.
The complexity of the service or product that your company is offering will determine the general guidelines for the timing of the transition from Training to Mentoring, and then to Coaching.
The key takeaway is to understand the differences between all three approaches, and then to apply each one strategically.
