The Executive Sales Coach: Keith Rosen’s Sales Blog and Business Blog On Selling, Leadership, Managing Your Team, Business and Life » accountability

Here we are, in the third week of Hoover’s Customer Appreciation Month. This week’s focus: Presentation Skills and Closing the Sale.

So, I thought this story was apropos. My wife and I attended open school night last week. It was the first time we had an opportunity to sit down and listen to the plan that my daughter’s third grade teacher had for her students.

As an illustration of the importance of reading comprehension, she asked us to do the following exercise. “Read the following excerpt of this book and tell me what you think the story is all about,” she directed. She also informed us that 85% of the words would remain in the story and only 15% of the works in this excerpt would be removed.

After reading the story, she made her point. As parents, we may think that an 85% comprehension of a story would be fine for our children when reading a story, right? I mean, it’s practically 100%. However, the fact is, the omission of just 15% of a story greatly affects someone’s comprehension of that story. I’ve included the story below for your to read and judge for yourself.

Now, consider how this ties into the importance of a successful presentation. Think about how critical it is for you to not only develop and refine your compelling message and Most Valuable Proposition but to position and communicate it to your customer in a way that they truly hear and understand it. There’s a big difference between being heard and being understood. It’s your job to ensure you are communicating to your customers and prospects in the way they communicate and process information, then confirm that the message you sent was the message that was received.

The most effective presentations are going to be evaluated by the result, not the vast amount of information you can disseminate to a prospect. Keep your PowerPoint at bay until you’ve determined exactly what it is your prospects wants to hear and needs to learn. And remember, if you want to increase the impact of your communication and presentations, it’s your responsibility to make sure that 100% of your message is truly understood by every person you speak with.

2-5 Advanced Section 24

Pickle Puss by Pat Reilly Giff (Guided Reading M) (85% accuracy: 58 errors)

Emily XXXX jumped down the XXXX. She XXXX across the XXXX. “Wait for me,” her little XXXX, Stacy, yelled. Emily looked back.

“Stacy XXXX the XXXX door. She was XXXX a XXXX on her head. She had her mother’s high XXXX on her feet.

“You can’t go like that,” Emily said.

“I’ll take off my XXXX,” Stacy said. She dropped the XXXX. It XXXX on the grass. Emily closed her eyes. “XXXX.”

Stacy clicked down the XXXX. “Mrs. Baker will love my red XXXX.” Emily started XXXX the street. “Walk XXXX,” Stacy said. “It’s hard to XXXX up.”

Emily took Stacy’s hand. “Try. We’re XXXX XXXX.” At the next corner they saw Richard XXXX. He was XXX X under a bush.

“XXXX, Beast,” Emily called. “Where are you going?” he yelled.

“To the XXXX,” Emily said. “Today’s the day Fish for a Good XXXX starts. We can do it all XXXX.”

“Not me,” Beast said. “I XXXX enough in summer XXXX. Too much.” He sat back. “Besides, it’s XXXX. XXXX starts soon.”

“Emily’s going to fish,” Stacy said. “Right Emily?” Emily XXXX. “I’m going to get a pile of them.”

“So is Dawn,” said Beast. “And Jill, and Timothy XXXX.” He shook his head. “Too bad Matthew moved away. He’d like to fish too.”

“Did you hear from him?” Emily asked.

Beast held up one XXXX. “I got a XXXX. A skinny little XXXX. Matthew’s a terrible XXXX. I couldn’t XXXX it.”

“Come on, Emily,” Stacy said. “It’s too hot to XXXX XXXX.” Emily and Stacy went down the street. They turned in at the XXXX.

“XXXX,” said Stacy. “Lots of kids are here today.” Emily waved at Jill and Dawn. Then she looked up. There was a new XXXX on the wall. It was a picture of a boy fishing. He was fishing in blue XXXX water. Red and blue and tan XXXX fish swam in the water. Up on top said FISH FOR A GOOD XXXX.

“I’m going to get lots of fish,” Stacy said.

Emily shook her head. “You don’t have a XXXX.” “Mrs. XXXX will give me one,” Stacy said.

“No,” said Emily. “Not until you can XXXX your name. That’s the XXXX.”

Stacy stuck her lip out. She looked as if she were going to cry. “How can I learn to XXXX? Nobody will let me go to XXXX.”

Emily XXXX her XXXX (397 words).

With all this talk about qualifying and how to qualify a prospect, it’s critical to ensure that, especially those of you who are attempting to cold call for the first time or prospect in a more unique or innovative way than you’ve done before, you understand the difference between qualifying and judging a prospect.

To permanently eliminate any confusion, lets draw a distinction between what it means to pre-qualify and pre-judge someone, such as a prospect. If you read my cold calling book, you know that I’m a strong advocate of pre-qualifying anyone before you invest your very limited and precious time in meeting with or speaking with them. Conversely, pre-judging someone is something you do that shows up in the filter or barrier you have in your listening, which was created out of the assumptions you’ve already made about that prospect.

Here’s another way to distinguish between the two. When you are pre-qualifying someone, you are arriving at a conclusion that determines whether or not there’s a fit worth pursuing based on a defined set of criteria you uncover through the use of well crafted questions. You are solely focusing on the prospect, not yourself and what you have to gain or lose, to determine how you can add value or if there’s a match between the two of you.

Pre-judging said simply, is all about you. Here, you are relying on your faulty and costly assumptions, thoughts and beliefs to determine their needs and whether or not this prospect will potentially buy from you.

When you pre-judge someone, you’re making assumptions about them before you ask any questions or uncover many facts. Maybe you’ve judged them by their appearance, where they live, their type of business or industry, how they sound over the phone or a comment they made. In essence, you’re “already” listening and forming conclusions based on your defined set of criteria rather than the facts.

When you pre-qualify someone, you’re asking questions to uncover their specific needs and objectives, without making any assumptions. You are learning about the prospect based on the responses you hear from the questions you ask. You are being fully engaged and present in the conversation with that person, rather than in your own head forming conclusions or operating off your agenda. This way, you’re making a decision to pursue this prospect based on reliable intelligence instead of your overactive imagination. (Here’s another distinction: authentic fit vs. a pipedream. )

Just got back from my interview with Becky Surran at News 12 in Connecticut. (What an amazing, state of the art studio.) Below is a summary of what we discussed. And here’s the news clip for your viewing pleasure.

Watch the video here.

For many companies it’s a battlefield out there and the battlefield isn’t limited to the marketplace but the workplace. And again, all roads lead back to the manager or the business owner because the manager is the one who has the power to affect the environment and culture within any organization and as such, the one directly responsible for it.

Many managers don’t realize they have this power and the power to turn their people’s performance around. And it all starts with the realization that what got you here today won’t be the same skills and strategies that are going to get you where you want to be tomorrow. One strategy to stay away from is to simply wait it out and weather the storm. Not a good move. I see many companies today waiting themselves right out of business.

With all the layoffs and decrease in customer and corporate spending that many businesses are experiencing now, one of the top questions I’m hearing is, “How do I get and keep my people motivated and productive?” Here are several strategies that any business owner or manager can do today to better motivate their people and make that fundamental shift from surviving to thriving again.

1. Overcommunicate. Many business owners and managers are hiding under their desks in fear, avoiding their clients and employees. Instead, take a proactive stance and overcommunicate with them. For your employees, let know they are going through this together and not alone. Spend more time each week speaking with them to uncover what their fears and worries are. After all, if your employees fear a possible acquisition, company sale or the loss of their job, what do you think they’re spending their time doing each day? Everything except working to improve their current condition! This holds true for your customers as well.

2. Become a Hunter and a Farmer: Whether through natural attrition or your competition’s efforts to grab more market share, organizations are losing their customers. As such, many companies are telling me they are shifting their efforts from growth to maintenance. I say need a healthy balance of both of these activities. Over service your existing client base while focusing on new opportunities to attract more customers. and while your overdelivering on value, you’ll be able to create new selling opportunities with your existing clients as well as potential referrals.

3. Reinvent Your MVP. Your MVP is your most valuable proposition. It’s what makes you unique rather than the same. Many companies still rely on antiquated and often uncomfortable selling strategies. They no longer offer a competitive edge that separates them from everyone else and promotes a healthy, winning relationship with their customers. As a result, they find themselves in the costly and undesirable position of relying on price as a competitive differentiator; thus diluting their true value offering. If you find yourself selling on price you’re already in trouble. Rather than change their approach, they work harder and longer, only to produce the same results as before. What makes you unique? What makes you a client’s first choice? What additional value can you deliver that would make you stand out from the rest? More boutique and hands on customer service or even a better guarantee are just a couple of things you can do to reinforce value in your customer’s mind. And why they should keep buying from you.

4. Change The Fuel That Drives You: The rising cost of the fuel we’re all experiencing isn’t limited to what you may think. This also includes the fuel you’re using to motivate and drive your team. Change the fuel that’s driving you and your people. Make the shift away from being driven by fear, scarcity and consequence to a healthier energy source. And that would be using abundance and pleasure to motivate your people. Focus on their dreams and goals. Motivate using people rather than using consequence. Informing people that they won’t have a job unless they turn their performance around is a toxic strategy that doesn’t reinforce the changes you want them to make. Instead, focus on what they are doing well and what you want them to do better. Reinforce positive behaviors and take a stand for them, rather than tearing down their confidence.

Like many business owners and sales managers right now, there’s a strong initiative to recruit new talent that can drive sales during these more challenging times. Companies are scrambling to find more rainmakers rather than order-takers to build out their sales team – and the line of disparity continues to widen between the two, as many salespeople are struggling to keep up and make the necessary and rapid changes needed in their sales process and strategy, as well as in how they think in order to adapt to and thrive in this new marketplace.

Yet, as I’ve observed with several of my clients, diligent recruiting efforts and putting the hours in each day to find the right candidates is simply not enough, as I see many companies continue to make the wrong hiring decision. Sure, they’re asking many of the right questions, doing their best to disqualify each candidate in their effort to avoid being seduced by potential or ‘being sold’ on a candidate who in your heart you know isn’t the best fit. They even tell me that they hear my voice in their head when interviewing a candidate (gee, that could be a scary thing : -) saying, “Remember, hire from choice. Don’t hire out of need. Don’t compromise your standards. A mediocre hire breeds a mediocre sales team.”

While any business owner, HR professional, recruiter or sales manager can be hyper-sensitive to this, it’s still not enough to ensure the best hire. After all, if a candidate tells you during the interview process that they’re used to calling on a certain type of prospect or have no problem making cold calls and then when you hire them you come to find that they’re reluctant or unwilling to pick up the phone or are unable to cold call as effectively as they told you they could, where did you miss the mark? Where was the sign; the red flag?

One manager I spoke with readily admitted that even though they are doing their best to stay true to the standards and expectations they have regarding the caliber of people they hire, he realized that he was still asking questions that were leading the candidate to where he wanted them to be. That is, he was asking the questions that would give him what he wanted to hear, thus justifying his hiring decision. Here are two examples of the leading questions managers unknowingly ask that cause them to make the wrong hire – and into the depths of recruiting hell. “So, you don’t mind having to pick up the phone and make some cold calls each day?” “This position is for people who are team players, organized, motivated and are open to learning our way of selling that may be a bit different from the way you’ve done things in the past. Can you share with me some of the qualities you possess that you feel would make you successful here?”)

Finding your next star player requires more than having them simply sell you on why they are a solid fit for a position on your sales team. And it goes beyond anything you’ll be able to decipher or read into when evaluating their resume. While many managers and recruiters have taken the time to develop what they feel is a solid hiring strategy and screening process, they’re missing the mark when it comes to uncovering whether or not the person has the right selling acumen, make up, disposition, drive, persistence, experience and ability that would make them a successful salesperson within your company. Consider this; it’s one thing to determine if someone would fit nicely into your corporate culture. It’s an entirely different set of criteria that’s needed to uncover whether that person is truly the right fit for your sales culture.

Making the Right Hiring Decision Requires A Better Set Of Questions

There’s an entirely different set of questions that you’re not asking which is causing the breakdown in your recurring efforts. I’m referring to the type of questions that go many layers deeper, exposing exactly the candidate’s experience as it relates to the type of selling they did and who they sold to. Generic questions about their sales experience, how many years of they’ve been in sales, whether or not they’ve ever been trained or what they have sold in the past are the type of questions that managers and recruiters ask that seemingly qualify or disqualify a candidate. Unfortunately, the hiring decision is then made based on the wrong set of intelligence and data, thus forming an inaccurate perception of the potential new salesperson you’re thinking of hiring.

The next time you’re in recruiting mode, its critical to weave in this deeper set of qualifying questions to determine with greater pinpoint accuracy whether or not this salesperson is going to thrive on your team – or be another survivor who’s holding on to their job and their few selling opportunities by a thread. Rather than fill in the knowledge gaps about the candidate regarding their perceived abilities or experience with costly and inaccurate assumptions, here’s a list of 20 additional questions from the trenches that you can start asking during your next interview.

1. What was the average size of each sale? (Dollar amount, cost of goods/services sold.)


2. What type of appointments were you scheduling when prospecting or cold calling? What was the goal here?


3. Where the appointments on site/face to face with each prospect or via the phone?


4. When actually closing a sale, did you actually sell over the phone or did you have to meet each prospect in person?


5. Did you sell a product, a service or both? (Describe how you sold each product and why there was a different approach.)


6. Did you handle the entire sales process from start to finish, including the deliverable? (Was there an account executive who you worked with, was it a team oriented approach to selling, were you only responsible for certain aspects of the sale?)


7. Describe to me the products or services you’ve sold? (Complicated or simple?)


8. Did you sell something that had an online component? Was it strictly a service? (Where they selling the tangible or the intangible?)


9. Was your product/service a “nice to have,” a “want to have” (luxury, added benefit) or a
   need to have?” (Was it a necessity, i.e. gasoline, telecom, office supplies, utilities, mobile phones, insurance, etc.)


10. What do you consider ‘prospecting’ and ‘cold calling’ to be? How do you feel about having to engage in this activity? (We’re looking to uncover how they think and feel about prospecting; their perception of it.)


11. What type of prospecting and cold calling did you do? How much cold calling did you do each day/week? (Number of calls made.) How many calls did you have to make to (get an appointment, close a sale, uncover a new prospect, etc.)?


12. Please share with me what your typical approach would be when cold calling. (Describe not only your process but exactly what you said when you were making a cold call.)


13. Who was your target audience/prospect? (B2b, b2c, C level executives, business owners, sole practitioners, were you dealing with only one decision maker or did you have to coordinate with several decision makers, influencers, committees, board members, etc.)


14. When were you calling on them? (Time, day, frequency of calls, etc.)


15. What was the average size of the company you called on?


16. What markets did you focus on? (Type of company, industry, vertical, etc.)


17. How did you get your leads/uncover your prospects? Where the cold calls you made totally cold or were you getting them from another source and then following up with them? (These would be warmer leads from trade shows, web inquiries, referrals, call-ins, direct mail and marketing efforts, etc.)


18. What were the concerns or objections that you typically encountered with your prospects? (What stalled your sales efforts?)


19. How long was your average sales cycle? (From the time you connected with a qualified prospect up until the time when you converted that prospect into a client.)


20. Were you selling based on a bidding process, RFP’s, etc.?

The next time you’re searching for a sales champion to bring aboard your sales team, you can avoid the hiring nightmares simply by asking more specific, sales-oriented questions that will provide you with the critical, detailed information that you’ve never uncovered before. Whether your recruiting and hiring efforts become a painful, never ending process will depend upon how you approach and perceive each candidate. That is, view each candidate you’re thinking about hiring as a prospect who you’d like to sell to, as long as there’s an opportunity to deliver value to them. Now, rather than attempting to sell the wrong candidates on the job, your recruiting process becomes a matter of effective qualification to determine the perfect fit.

Sales 2.0; the conversion of technology and sales and the symbiotic relationship between the two; how they can be integrated together and co-exist in harmony. Yet, with all the technology that is going to change how salespeople sell and manage themselves, we need to be keenly sensitive about removing the human side of interaction and communication from our daily lives and processes; the deeper level of connection we foster between each other, especially with our customers.

Sure, technology will automate and streamline many of the functions and tasks salespeople and management are currently responsible for. More specifically, how they manage their sales pipeline and the stages of their selling cycle, how they qualify and mine for new prospects, how they network with other business professionals, how they maintain their contact database as well as how they communicate with their prospects and customers. And the trend for companies to transition from what was once a face to face sale to a virtual, off site sale will continue to dominate more sales cultures.

Yet, with any change, certain imminent challenges are sure to follow in its wake. Sales 2.0 and Web 2.0 have certainly had an impact on how we communicate. I have already seen the negative impact that some of these great advancements are having on sales teams across the globe as it relates to how salespeople are interacting with their prospects, customers, even their managers. Sure, these technological breakthroughs allow us to communicate and connect on many different platforms, yet it’s diluting our ability to connect powerfully on a deeper level, the level that long term relationships are fostered. Many managers have reported spending far too much time reviewing a thread of email conversations between their salespeople and prospects when attempting to uncover where a communication breakdown occurred or when trying to identify how a great selling opportunity was lost. Misinterpreted and poorly worded emails between management and their staff are the cause of more costly problems and upsets which deteriorate relations than any additional time-savings they supposedly create. As such rather than connect – we’re getting more disconnected with every communication breakdown that ensues.

Moreover, there’s the ever-widening communication gap that some of these new technologies promote between the younger generations and that of their boss, especially as more and more sales teams are built on a virtual platform where there’s little, if any face to face weekly interaction with their manager. Rather than develop their core leadership and coaching competencies and skills, managers are relying far too heavily on these solutions to solve many of the managerial challenges they are up against when building and managing their sales team.

Salespeople are expecting their webinars, proposals, websites, online marketing campaigns and collateral materials to do the selling and prospecting for them. And what’s worse, there are those salespeople who attempt to close a prospect or overcome objections via email rather than simply picking up the phone to facilitate a direct, one to one conversation that would appease the person’s concerns. Here’s just one example of a perfectly good opportunity and a valid reason to reach out to a prospect over the phone that salespeople need to take full advantage of, yet fail to do so.

The introduction of these new technologies into our sales culture will continue to proliferate, for change is truly the only constant. After all, there will always be a need to make the selling process easier and more efficient for the salesperson, for your company and for your customers.

While more applications such as the ones I’ve mentioned are infused throughout each stage of the sale, the technology of maximizing human potential is far from tapped. And as more technology emerges to simplify the selling process, there will be an even greater demand for the elite salesperson who can manage and leverage technology as well as effectively communicate their message to their targeted audience.

The technology of interpersonal, result oriented communication; the language and true art of selling will still reign supreme in the selling profession. Sure, these new tools we have at our disposal will improve efficiency, cut down on travel as well as timely administrative tasks, and reduce prospecting time and the time it takes to convert prospects into customers, now that there is less of a need to meet face to face with prospects in order to sell your product or service to them. However, it will be the sales leader who is the rainmaker, the fearless and persistent prospector, the conduit to building and maintaining strong relationships and the master of communication, who will continue to dominate this era of technological change.

The Top Ten Self-Sabotaging Behaviors Managers Engage In that Prevent Positive Change

Every manager wants to develop a team of champions. Yet, only a select few have been able to truly realize this goal and enjoy the benefits that follow. Not that sales quotas aren’t being achieved; they’re just being done so at a greater expense; the managers’ time, resources, peace of mind and energy. However, the truly great managers realize they first need to learn how to coach their people to the top and develop that missing discipline of leadership.

If your marketplace has changed, then you need to change with it. Einstein said it best. “The level of thinking that got us here is no longer enough.” Managers and executives need to embrace the new rules for engagement when it comes to communicating with their people as well as attracting, retaining, motivating and building a world class team. The majority of managers are simply doing it all wrong, creating the very problems they are desperately looking to avoid.

Especially within a tough marketplace, business owners and managers who want to shift from surviving to thriving need to develop an entirely new skill set and mindset, which is counterintuitive to how they currently do things. Here, I’ve exposed ten of the most popular self-sabotaging behaviors managers engage in that prevent positive change and some strategic solutions to them.

1. Get Out Of The Fear Based, Survival Driven Mentality
   Many of our decisions are governed by fear. Lets face it; we’re all pretty good at articulating what we don’t want to happen in our lives yet fall short when trying to come up with a vivid picture of what we do want or our goals and dreams. If you know what you don’t want and don’t know what you do want then where do you think you are going to continually wind up directing your thoughts and energy? Your goals and dreams don’t even stand a chance! Instead, empower your dreams and goals rather than your fears to be the driving force that moves you forward. Otherwise, you’re breeding a culture based on fear.




2. Become Process Driven vs. Result Driven
   Like many professionals, there’s often pressure to reach quota or a certain level of acceptable performance. While having a monthly goal keeps your eye on the prize and your focus on the end result, it may actually do more harm than good. The irony is, this constant push to reach sales numbers keeps you hooked on the goal, diverting your efforts away from refining the selling process needed to generate more business. The quandary then becomes, “I’m too busy to work on my process. I have numbers to meet!” Consider this paradox; the result is the process. Shift most of your attention away from your goal or the end result and onto the process. After all, you don’t do the result; you execute the process, which produces the result as a natural byproduct of your efforts. By honoring the process, you can enjoy the benefit of knowing that you will attain your goals.




3. Get Off The Adrenaline Train
   Many people today are hooked on a commonly abused, yet elusive drug whose widespread use seems to be flying under our radar. That drug of choice is adrenaline. The classic symptoms? Saying “Yes” when you mean “No.” Overcommiting or overbooking your schedule, then finding it difficult to deliver on deadlines or complete tasks. Procrastinating until the last moment. Believing you, “Work best under pressure.” Being easily distracted. Tolerating stress, chaos, disorganization, poor planning, lackluster team performance or undesirable customers create situations that provide the adrenaline rush associated when working on overdrive.




4. Develop and Implement a Tactical Turnaround Strategy for Underperformers
   Without having the awareness and discipline to develop and execute a turnaround strategy when needed, the costs to every company are great. There are a myriad of reasons why a salesperson fails and why a turnaround strategy is a vital component needed to ensure their long term success. Managers need to be acutely aware and sensitive to the fact that some turnaround situations will result in termination or the salesperson deciding to leave on his own accord. Regardless of the underlying reason why a salesperson isn’t performing up to desired expectations, a four week turnaround program will help you identify what’s really going on and provide you with the framework to quickly determine how you can turn around an underperformer in less than thirty days or whether you and your company are better off without them.




5. Take Full Responsibility For Your People
   If you want to become powerful, hire a powerful coach. It’s a simple, yet highly effective strategy. If you want your salespeople to be powerful, you need to be a good role model for them. As you evolve, so does your team. Consider this truth: Your team is a reflection of you. After all, avalanches roll down hill. If you’re not prepared to be 100 percent accountable for the success and failure of your team, if you skirt accountability in any way, if you lack professionalism or proficiencies in certain areas, your team will reflect these weaknesses.




6. Don’t Be Seduced by Potential
   The greatest seduction managers fall victim of is the seduction of potential. Are you keeping someone aboard who isn’t serving the best interests of the company? The “Lets just wait and see” approach is a surefire strategy for failure. Are you trying to be the “good guy?” Are you worried about having to refill the position? Are you attached to making this person work out? Every day you keep a bad hire aboard costs the company money, time, leads and many selling opportunities. Don’t let your staff keep you prisoner. Look at the numbers. Make your decision based on their activity and productivity, not on your emotions. Remember, “hope” isn’t a strategy.




7. Develop a 30 Day New Hire Strong Start Orientation Program
   Regardless of your product or sales cycle, every manager needs to be able to confidently assess whether or not someone is going to ‘make it’ within their first thirty days on the job. What do you expect from a new hire within the first thirty days?




8. Make Confidence A Choice
   What if we don’t allow external situations to dictate our internal condition? What if your confidence is, simply just a choice you make about yourself? A belief in yourself? What if you could choose to be confident, choose to have faith in yourself and adopt an unwavering belief in your abilities, regardless of the outcomes of each day? Consider for a moment that you have already proven yourself and all of your future accomplishments are achieved as an expression of what you value or the value you want to deliver to others. If you can believe in this, your confidence now becomes unconditional as it is now based on who you are and the quality of the person you are, not simply what you do or what you produce. It’s trusting in yourself without any proof to back up your conviction.




9. Relinquish Your Role as The Chief Problem Solver
   Stop giving the answers to your staff. All this does is create more dependency on you. Instead, learn to ask the right questions in order to get your employees to develop their own problem solving skills and come up with the solutions on their own. If they create the solution, they own it and if they own it they’re more apt to act on it rather than being told what to do.




10. Stop Oiling the Squeaker – Start Enrolling (Not Selling) Your Team
    Investing your time in the wrong person is an exercise in futility. Strop rewarding the underperformers with your time and support and focus on the ones who are truly committed to generating the expected results. And that’s achieve through the Art of Enrollment, the new language of leadership.

What Exactly Do You Coach?
The Top Ten Things You Can Coach Someone On

I have found that the gap (the space you coach that is the area of opportunity which exists between where the person is now and where they want to be or the result they want to achieve) represents several key indicators or areas of opportunity that you can coach someone on. The opportunities for coaching someone are vast. Here is a detailed list of what you can coach.

1. The Who: Values, passions, standards, boundaries, integrity, and so on.
2. The Attitude: Belief, mindset, philosophy, outlook, or assumptions.
3. The Lesson: What have they learned? Why are the same lessons repeating themselves? Are they getting it?
4. The Ideal Characteristics: The ideal qualities you have defined that encompass a sales leader or manager. (Extroverted, actionable, honest, strong communicator, process driven, accountable, curious, organized, strong integrity and presence, knowledgeable, comfortable disposition, smart, responsive, etc.)
5. The Skill: Is there a missing discipline or one that needs further development?
6. The Activity: Are they engaging in the activities that support their goals?
7. The Strategy: How do they plan to achieve the intended result? What resources are needed?
8. The Commitment: Observe their energy level, consistency, enthusiasm, and motivation.
9. The Communication: The language, dialogue, or communication regarding style, delivery, presence, and disposition.
10. The Relationships: The relationships they have with intangible concepts and feelings as well as with their stories/illusions/assumptions.

The Top Characteristics of an Effective Facilitator

A client asked met the other day what makes a great facilitator (defined as, “someone who makes things easier”). Here’s what we came up with. I thought a list of the top characteristics of an effective facilitator would be of interest for those managers, speakers and trainers.

1. Stimulates the interaction and the free sharing of thoughts and ideas.


2. Creates the safe environment in order for the group to open up and become actively engaged in the discussion.


3. Are masterful and engaging listeners.


4. Provides the structure for the discussion. Sets the parameters, the intention and guides the conversation.


5. Supports the well-being of each participant as well as the group.


6. Acknowledges the participants and makes them right (and never makes anyone wrong.)


7. Utilizes the art of the question to create and cultivate new possibilities that stimulate new thinking.


8. Taps into the wisdom of each person, as the value derived in each discussion is a result of the co-creation and wisdom of the group (vs. dominates the discussion.)


9. Is charge neutral and responsive rather than reactive.


10. Is fluid and flexible vs. rigid. (Is light and dances gracefully within the conversation.)


11. Connects with the group.


12. Plans effectively yet is fluid based on the atmosphere and needs of the audience.


13. Is authentic and shares themselves with others/is fully self expressed.


14. Has fun and is passionate about the transformational process that occurs – if done successfully!

Who Do You Coach?

“Who should I be coaching?” I’ve been asked this question hundreds of times by both internal sales and corporate coaches as well as those looking to build a career as a coach and develop a sustainable coaching practice on their own.

The short answer is that not everyone is coachable.

You can determine if people are ready to be coached by who they are—the degree to which they are receptive to making positive, long-term change both in their thinking as well as in their behavior. This determination is less about what the people do or their position, age, industry, experience, education, knowledge, or intelligence. Remember, coaching is about building sales champions from the inside out.

The following six qualities need to be present in the person and the coaching relationship in order for your coaching to have a profound impact. I’ve identified these attributes by the acronym A. G.R.O.W.T.H.

A. G.R.O.W.T.H. Success Indicator to Determine Personal Coachability

1. Actionability. A combination of both action and ability. The word represents both the actions that will drive success as well as the person’s actual proficiency and aptitude. Without action, nothing happens. And without the person’s innate ability and intelligence to carry out the task as intended, the action becomes an exercise in futility. As I tell my clients, “If you’re only willing to do today what you did yesterday, then what do you need me for?” This holds true for both action in your thinking and in your doing. Coaching is based on forward movement by engaging in activities you either haven’t tried, haven’t done consistently, or haven’t modeled on established best practices. (You may have been engaging in the activity in a less than effective manner.) In addition, action is the effort you put forth to change your current beliefs, your attitude, and how you think.

2. Gap. Simply put, the gap is the space between where the person is now and where they want to be. It is the space where new resources, beliefs, skills, strategies, and dialogues are cocreated by you and them. This gap stands in the way of the person’s goal and where the magic and power of your coaching occur. We will spend some time later in this chapter discussing how to uncover and coach the gap.

3. Responsibility and Ownership. I connect these two characteristics because there is a symbiotic relationship between these traits: One cannot exist without the other. If the person you are coaching is unwilling to take full responsibility for her life, career, or for the outcomes produced throughout the coaching process, your coaching will be ineffective. The coaching sessions can quickly turn into an environment for excuses. What’s worse, coaching someone who is unwilling to take total ownership of her success creates a situation where the coach can easily become the scapegoat and validation for the salesperson’s lackluster results, failures, and inefficiencies.

4. Willingness. How badly does your salesperson want to achieve the goals she has laid out? Is this person willing to go above and beyond what her peers are doing to achieve what matters most to her? How has she demonstrated evidence of her commitment and desire to achieve the outlined objectives? Determination and drive are the fuel that propels the coaching forward. Without an unconditional willingness to forge ahead, even in the face of adversity and doubt, you may find that these meetings quickly turn into a prodding or pushing session. The danger is, you may start pushing harder than the person is ready for and then you are dictating the agenda rather than the salesperson.

5. Trust. Trust is the backbone of any relationship, especially a coaching relationship. The foundation of trust is even more essential if the person you are coaching is your employee, peer, or coworker. As with respect, trust is earned. What have you done to earn the trust of the person you are coaching? Or, what have you done to destroy the trust between you and a person you are coaching? Can it be repaired? Can you trust the person you are coaching? Do you have evidence that makes them untrustworthy? Listen to your instincts on this. If you can’t trust them, don’t coach them.

6. Honesty. Honesty is distinct from trust. Honesty refers to the ability of the person you’re coaching to be open and vulnerable with you, the coach. Honesty relates to the degree in which the salespeople not only share with you pertinent information about themselves, their situations, challenges, upsets, and inspirations but also their willingness to look inside themselves and embrace the truth in every situation, whether they like it or not. Part of the role of a coach is to hold up that proverbial mirror so that people can see the truth of what’s going on, what’s getting in their way, and what they need to do to achieve unprecedented results. A defensive attitude creates an unhealthy coaching environment.

Although planning for a great year is healthy and productive, during our quest to accomplish more we often lose sight of what is occurring today. Sure we live in the present, but is that where we are truly living and responding to in each moment? Consider that most of our time is spent either living in the past or in the future.

Where is the focus of your energy and thoughts? Are you focused on making today great or on wishing you said or did something differently at different points in your life? Do you have an internal dialogue that begins with, “If only I….” or “I should have done that because then my life would have been better.” In other words, responding to and “living in the past.”

Conversely, are you trying to get somewhere in the future, as in, “Once I make a certain amount of money, then my life will be complete, or “Once I finish this project and eliminate these problems, then I’ll be happier and have more time for myself and my family.” In essence, living in the future, a point in time that doesn’t even exist!

We often live, listen and react from the past or are pushing for something to happen in the future. To be fully present means you are able to focus on a single person, idea or topic. It means not having any preoccupations with the past or future, the two points in time we have no control over! Living in the past or in the future (vs. planning for the future) consumes our energy and time, since we are not responding to, engaged in and creating a great present.

If You’re Not Present and Engaged in the Moment, You Can’t Be:

1. Listening


2. Creating


3. Engaging


4. Connecting


5. Asking Better Questions


6. Coming Across as Authentic (which is reflected in your tonality, resonance, pacing and languaging)

Being fully present takes practice, effort and focus. Living in, responding to and thinking in the present will enable you to embrace the magnificence life offers today without sacrificing what is most important to you (friends family, health, etc.) in an attempt to “get somewhere.” Learn to master each moment in time, realizing that what is always takes precedent over was and what will be. If you can practice this, the quality of your life will greatly increase.