Most sales managers are so result driven that they attempt to coach the end result—drilling their sellers about quotas, numbers, activity and results. Learn why coaching the process without pushing for the result, will paradoxically lead to breakthroughs in performance.
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Complete transcript taken from a live Q&A session in Phoenix.
It’s endemic. It’s part of most sales organizations’ culture to be very result driven. In essence we are victims of our company culture.
What’s it all about? For many managers, it’s about the number—the end result, your quota, your number, your goal. What I find, and again this is something that’s truly universal, is most sales managers are very result driven. After all, you’ve got your P&Ls, you have your numbers to meet.
The challenge is this… (when it comes to coaching I have to make the assumption given our time constraints, that we’re all on the same page regarding the definition of coaching , because that’s a whole other conversation around establishing a universal definition we can all buy into regarding what coaching truly is.)
Inevitably, managers coach the result. So what does that sound like as a manger? And of course, I’m sure nobody in this room has ever done this before (Is my sarcasm translating?). Managers walk into a sales meeting and say things like, “You know you have your number to hit, right? How many calls did you make? How many appointments do you have? What’s going to close this month? How many meetings do you have? You know your quota? Are you going to hit your number?”
Again, I’m sure no one here has ever, ever had this type of conversation with their sellers.
Now, do you think this approach empowers and inspires your people? Not even close. The reality is, reminding your direct reports about their commitments, goals and quota isn’t productive; it’s annoying! For the most part, your team knows what their goals and objectives are.
As such, the real problem is this, you don’t coach the result, you coach the process that produces the result as a natural byproduct. When you coach the process, the real benefit is, the solutions show up organically without pushing for it.
