There is an increasing pool of research-from respected organizations like Gallup and the Harvard Business Review, and also many newer research firms- demonstrating that the costs of a bad hire in B2B sales, more than any other functional group, are enormous.

Most B2B companies tend to grossly underestimate the negative consequences a bad sales hire can bring to their company.

Some of the costs to consider include:

B2B Sales Direct costs

• Lost revenue (lost and delayed business)
• Extra training and management required
• Costs of turnover (firing and replacing – from both time and direct hiring costs)

B2B Sales Indirect costs

• Long-term impact on market share and brand – lost customers and brand loyalty
• Impact on morale – leading to lower overall performance of other team members and higher turnover- and ultimately the loss of your best salespeople.

An Example of the Costs

Let’s look at an example for a company where the sales quota of the best salespeople is $1.5 million, and sub-par performers are delivering half of that ($750,000).

The annual impact of having a poor performer on the team can be estimated at $1,360,000 (including lost revenue, lost clients, and extra management costs). The costs of delaying action, to remove this individual, are $2.6 million over 2 years!

You must remember that B2B salespeople represent your company to your clients. Therefore, the impact of brand and market-share erosion over time, of a sub-par salesperson, can have grave consequences for your company.

Other Insights

CSO Insights, a sales research firm, puts out statistics it gathers every year from surveys it does with over 2500 companies.

They found that only 58.2% of B2B sales reps made quota in 2013 out of the 2500+ companies surveyed. That means that 42.8% of sales reps missed their quota.

That is a very alarming statistic.

A Typical Observation

CSO Insights had this conversation with a sales rep from one of their interview companies.

Sales rep: “Yeah, that program is great. Really powerful! In fact, the only time it doesn’t work is when I don’t use it”.

CSO Insights: “That’s quite an endorsement. How often would you say you use the principles you learned in the program?”

Sales rep: “Uh, maybe half the time.”

Now please think about that for a moment. If it works every time the rep uses it, why wouldn’t the rep use it all the time? Does he/she simply not need a win every time? Very unlikely!

It’s usually because the sales rep hasn’t had ongoing coaching to ingrain the sales training methodology into their daily routine.

Does Training & Coaching Pay Off?

Training gives a one-time boost in sales behaviour and results, but people quickly slip back into their old familiar behaviour without coaching reinforcement, and increases in sales are negligible.

However, with coaching after training, although there is a slight dip right after training, the sales people who received coaching keep getting better and better results.

Through all of my 40+ years of coaching, I have found that coaching costs very little compared to the increased results that have occurred. In many cases, coaching fees were less than 1% of the overall increase in revenues.

So, if you truly want to grow your business, you need to have your sales people trained and coached by professionals. And in most cases, this means hiring outside professional B2B sales coaches. You will see a very worthwhile ROI.

Conclusions

Competing at the top level is very exacting and can be very trying mentally. Anyone who has ever played golf knows that for sure.

But in order to succeed at any level, people need coaching. This is true for executives, business owners, and especially for sales and marketing people.

You use coaching for two main reasons.

1. To help you learn new skills, and to perfect or change old ones,

2. To give you feedback on how you are performing those skills, and to correct mistakes.

Feedback needs to be timely, accurate, consistent, relevant, and individualized. The other four factors are fairly self-explanatory, but let’s have a look at what is needed to be accurate, and why it is important to be accurate.

In order to be accurate, you need to have some kind of measurement system in place to give you metrics about how someone is performing all the way through the sales cycle.

You need to measure things like;

1. Is she following up on leads? (I hope you have a good lead generation system)

2. Is he using the sales and marketing methodology that you have implemented? ( I hope you have one)

3. Does she qualify prospects well, so she’s not chasing people that aren’t going to buy right now?

4. Is he demonstrating your system properly, or does he do it too early or too late in the sales cycle?

5. Does she follow a correct proposal writing script that your company has implemented?

6. Does he follow-up properly with all prospects?

7. And all the way through the sales cycle.

You need to measure everything right through the sales cycle, until you either lose or win the business.

As you can see, in order for your company to meet its revenue targets in any year, you need to be implementing coaching in your business.

This coaching should also include the executives of your company, so everyone is on the same page.

It becomes pretty obvious that training with coaching pays off.

Are your sales reps, marketers and executives getting the training and coaching they need to understand sales and marketing better, and to able to reach quotas?

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Thinking about sales can sometimes be scary and even intimidating especially when one thinks about competition. Nevertheless, how the company is able to bring in sales and do it successfully is one of the most rewarding feelings that both employers and employees share. Hence, thinking about sales is not just about attitude and strategy alone. Indeed, companies who are able to amass huge sales will agree that optimism along with enthusiasm is one of the main ingredients for successful sales.

Optimism and Its Benefits

Psychologists describe optimism as the basic characteristic that builds positive thinking. It is a psychological resource which unlocks a person’s capacity to succeed in his or her endeavor based on their ability to think that they can achieve it. Additionally, numerous studies have shown that optimism is a desirable characteristic which leads to lesser incidences of postpartum depression, stress and better life satisfaction.

In many cultures, optimism is considered as a desirable trait since it enables people to think positively regardless of the situation. Optimism serves as a catalyst in which people are discouraged from feeling hopeless and apathetic but instead strive for greater hope and action. In the same manner, optimism in the world of sales means that people are able to share their enthusiasm with their customers, knowing that what they have to offer benefits their buyers. This is simply not the bravado of selling but believing that the company’s products bring real results and satisfaction.

Optimism in Sales

When it comes to sales, optimism is taken to mean that sales people have compelling reasons and motivations to offer their products. This motivation is not solely seen in the dollars they can make but also the service given to customers. A sales person can have the most wonderful qualities but without optimism and enthusiasm, they are not able to get customer’s sentiments and trust. A sales coach can also train sales people to sell with intention and integrity.

Successful sales are also brought by people who are pro-active. These people do the necessary actions to make things happen rather than seat and wait for something. Being pro-active and optimistic means people are able to have positive outlooks even in the midst of rejections and down sales. People can benefit from having positive attitude by undergoing sales coaching.

Lastly, optimism in work means that people are able to balance their work life, family and leisure. Sales are important but it should not dominate a person’s life. Hence, putting sales with intent through sales coaching means that selling is done with sincere enthusiasm and bringing valued service.

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If the purpose of sales training is to share information, then using a classroom setting or on-line learning is the right forum. However, seeing, reading, and taking notes is passive learning and will not achieve sales competence. Add to this the generic nature of most courses, makes it difficult for a salesperson to relate the course to their selling environment. This often results in rejection of the content and old sales habits continue.

Small changes can make a difference.

Whether using an internal company resource such as learning and development or an external provider, sales training needs to be tailored so there is greater acceptance, and an openness to adopt the new behaviours. A competency-based structure with specific assessment criteria is essential and a variety of learning methods used to meet individual needs. With clearly articulated assessment criteria for each session, a salesperson will know what to expect in advance. This can help to reduce or eliminate the mental search for ‘what comes next?’

Once the structured classroom learning is completed, and a salesperson is rated competent according to the criteria, the real learning begins. To qualify – it does not mean a salesperson is an expert in sales. Learning how to ride a push bike when we were young, took time, on-going practice, patience and confidence to ride the bike competently in a range of situations. Developing sales competence requires the same level of commitment and determination.

Include field sales coaching

The next phase is crucial and depends on the structure of the sales function whether predominately business development or account management or a combination of both. The day is planned by the salesperson and accompanied by a sales coach who also needs to be a competent salesperson. The reason is they will need to be able to demonstrate specific sales skills in relation to the sales call objective/s and the skills to be developed. Prior to the sales call, sales interview protocols are discussed to ensure the right environment is created for the client. Throughout the day the sales coach’s role can be passive, so they do not get involvement in the sales process. When the sales coach demonstrates a skill in accordance with the objective/s, it becomes a powerful learning experience for the salesperson. This is because they have witnessed how the skill is applied and the outcome in a live sales situation. The experience is totally different from a role play and most often will motivate the salesperson to want to try it for themselves. The opportunity is the next sales call.

Behaviours that defeat effective sales coaching

1. Ego. This is when sales coaching is about the sales coach. They get involved in parts of the sales process to show the client their knowledge or expertise. The client in most instances will begin to relate to the sales coach and not the salesperson. This muddies the learning environment.

2. Taking over when it appears the sale is lost. It is tempting to save the sale, but sales coaching is about transferring skills and saving the sale is counterproductive. The emotional pain of losing the sale and the lesson/s learnt will be etched in their memory and the mistake will not be duplicated – ever. To quote Benjamin Franklin, ‘Those things that hurt, instruct.’

The missing piece in sales training is a skilled sales coach working in a structured manner with the salesperson. Field sales coaching has the potential to provide a strategic advantage for the organisation resulting in increased sales and profitability.

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Even though there isn’t any formal education required to be a bigwig in sales, it is true that most of the people are involved in selling products and services. One can find several people performing sales tasks and each and every one of them are trying to complete with one another. In order to stand a class apart from others, it is important to acquire some excellent selling skills, determination and the perfect mindset. It is very important to move along with the change, as the environment keep on changing. So, it is essential to think out of the box, as it helps to stay ahead of the business rivals. So, it is essential to stay equipped with some of the effective sales tips by availing the services of a sales coach. Only those who are well trained to perform such tasks must perform the task of sales. This task should be performed by the experts in sales training. When you are in search of an expert, you must know that there are several speakers across the globe who claims to be the sales coach. However, make sure that you choose a perfect person offering useful sales tips programs to enjoy the maximum output. You must consider certain aspects while selecting the perfect sales training coach to save your money and time.

About Choosing the Right Sales Training Coach
It is important to consider the right kind of issues prevailing in your business to get the perfect solution immediately. There might be many areas in your business that require improvement. Generally, your sales managers would need you to enhance the performance of their team. So, it needs you to redefine the current sales process and the way through which it is executed. So, make sure that you hire the services of a best sales training coach who can improve the sales strategies as well as the selling skills of your workforce.

Top qualities of a sales training coach
The sales training coach whom you are choosing must have the following qualities to prove that he is a sales pro.
1 Highly experienced: The sales training coach whom you approach must be the one who has immense years of experience to handle the sales process. Observe the training coach’s path of career and check his achievements in the career timeline. Choose the person who has a lot of professional experience is the proof that this sales coach is reliable and credible.
2 Interaction with sales team: The expert sales training coach must know the secret of winning the trust of your sales team. He should have handled several sales teams in his career and must be able to interact with them in a positive fashion. This quality of a coach can help your sales build the trust on the tips for selling he teaches them.
3 Should provide intelligent coaching: The sales coach must hold intellectual sales training sessions that have activities which can kindle the sales skills of your work team. The training sessions or coaching classes that the coach conducts should be related to the specific industry of your business to improve the sales wing of your business. The sales coaching should be aimed at helping your work team members become experts in their related field.

The sales training program that the coach offers should have several components that are essential for the growth of the organization. So, it is important for you to avail the services of a sales coach like. We to give your sales team the much needed push.

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The secret to learn and become successful sales leaders involves a few capital basics, that only smart learners can perceive quickly and use for own advantage. Thus the purpose of learning universally is growth as we all know; unfortunately people experience it at different levels.

This contribution does not only focus on the worse, but revealing that other’s worse can be an opportunity for another to discover the secret of professional success.

The point is, salesmen have been taught all sorts of things and told stories during their training sessions and profession. We all had experienced different types of leadership, and had accepted all those instructions at 100%. This is actually according to my personal experience and the things I went through.

Failure and mistakes are naturally human characteristics, and these things are normal to be found within you. But one obvious thing is that, sales coaches, trainers or mangers are also human beings like you. Mistakes are normal to be identified in them, and they are great leaders today simply because they were able to correct past mistakes for better. Still the process of perfection is a never ending journey, reason why until now they never reach full perfection.

Moreover the process of sales training, coaching, development etc… have two side effects that you and I should not ignore. That is why when you find yourself in a position as sales trainee, realize that the learning process has double side effects: because not only you learn from a positive side but from the negative side too.

Use the failures and mistakes of your sales leaders for your perfection. The sums of slip-ups sales leaders do are always invisible, but a good observer and analytical salesperson can identify them. Make sure to apply the following exercise to learn from the negative side of your sales coach; Assess back all the instructions and recommendations your sales leaders experiment on you.

On the other hand, apply the bright sides of your sales leaders with full commitment to make a better you. Sales training developments are created for taking salesmen to move from the failing level to good, better and finally become a great sales leader. Becoming the best salesman ultimately means surpassing the level of your sales coach or trainer.

However, give yourself sometime for self-examination and acknowledge your own mistakes and failures. Complaining and blaming over dissatisfaction will take you to nowhere but into stagnation. Instead focus on finding the damage and fix it for own advantage.

Weaknesses are the tiniest behavior that we hardly see from our leaders, also partly known and unknown to them. Nonetheless, the main focus of salesmen should be to learn as much as what sales trainers provide for them. But learning from both sources of knowledge is a turning point to make a difference.

To end, I just want to encourage all trainees salesmen to not only look at their own weaknesses. Make an alt as well, watch also your sales leaders’ feebleness, learn from them and use them as tools promoting your professional sales success.

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The Consistency to maintain cohesion amid sales team requires well define leadership style in terms of transmitting own culture to the team and values. Therefore, the coach’s personal confidence regulates the authoritative tone for a prosperous sales team fate.

How do you foster cohesion into new sales team?

Values

The hierarchy of values is an entire set of principles and attitude intentionally designed to accomplish a sales coaching purpose. Successful leaders always possess own values written down to use as references in their path to success. Values are very important for a leader to depend upon, because they serve as aides-mémoires during the coaching journey. Furthermore, it is important to extend values to the sales team knowledge so that the vision can be coheres.

Leadership

Every qualified sales coach comes from a specific sales experience upbringing, thus this background based skill has left a particular identity on him. So, associating individual rules for good harmony and connection with the sales team is unique to his coaching style. Consequently the team’s performance is a reflection of the coach’s personality. Moreover, social bond improvement with each salesperson should be the first thing to build before moving onto emotional connection. Thus, in order to implement decent supervision on sales team in general, good interpersonal skills are required.

Emotional implication

Astute sales coach avoids closing eyes like a watchman, as distraction can result in surprises. The need of differentiating positive and negative emotional behaviors amongst sales individuals is therefore vital at this level. Similarly skills like developing abilities to read attitudes, moods, and constant sensibility to connect with each one emotionally.

This is actually the most difficult part of coaching when it comes to influence a specific culture into a team. Sales coaches’ personalities vary since the aptitude to tell people’s emotions are determined by natural factors. One may be good at it while others may be average or worse, but the good news is there are so many ways to learn from and improve skills.

Cohesion and Culture

The coach’s obligation is to facilitate atmosphere that promotes cohesion, such that team members understand the significance of pursuing common-goal. The diversity of expertise and past experience in a team can either attract or isolate people from working together. Subsequently, cohesion becomes a culture within sales-crew when salespeople share same beliefs, and easily accept to work with one another. So cohesion and culture are coherent when the tone of authority is set from the beginning and along the process.

In conclusion, successful sales coach always has own culture and values in provision to nurture cohesion in his team. And also any sales personality can coach and influence cohesion to build sales team, provided there is a clear vision supported by the right skills.

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