If you’re a sales manager, how did you spent your time over the last week, the last month?
How much of your time was spent helping your sales reps develop their sales skills? How much time was spent helping them think through what they need to do to move a client forward in the buying process? If you can’t answer at least 50%, you are mis-spending your time as a sales manager.
The fact is, a lot of great salespeople build on natural talents and instincts. They need only minimal coaching to reach the high sales levels.
However, when they become sales managers, they don’t pay much attention to sales coaching because they never needed much coaching themselves. They leave inexperienced sales people to sink or swim on their own, expecting their sales reps to pick up the best sales techniques through osmosis, just like they did. These sales managers don’t recognize that coaching could be a way to break an experienced salesperson out of a slump or rut.