Why Is Sales Coaching Important?

There is more to sales coaching than just generating results. Even though that is the ultimate goal, there are just as important aspects than improving your sales. 

Let’s face it. Good results and rock-solid metrics seemed to be anything that anyone cared about for the past 20 years, but once we all started working from home during the pandemic, things have changed. Now, the bottom line and rock-solid metrics are important, but they aren’t the only things that are important anymore.

Improvements don’t happen overnight

Good results require the long game, so to speak. It takes a long-term investment in your team to develop them into the rock stars that you know they are. There is more to a productive team than people who always hit their numbers.

Who builds relationships?
Who maintains customers?
Whose customers refer them to other potential customers?

Win now is an attitude that is slowly changing. Maybe now it is winning in 1-2 years, or if you have a vision and measurable progress — it can even be a 5-years long game now.

This requires sales coaching to be the most effective. Mainly, when you invest in your team and your employees, you will get an asset that will deliver for you repeatedly. They will also create bigger and better outcomes. In the current market, people are leaving their companies in droves, and one of the biggest reasons is that they didn’t feel appreciated. What better way to make someone feel appreciated than to invest in them and their future?

Holistic development

If you have been in sales long enough, then you know it is a unique blend of people skills, sales experience, and product knowledge. However, we have recently started to add items like emotional intelligence and resilience.

Why are these important, and why should you focus on them? Well, which salesperson has gone through their career without hearing the dreaded word “no”? 

We need to be resilient in the face of all those “nos.”  Emotional intelligence plays into this as well, but it also expands on it. Effective sales people usually have above-average people skills. If we can tap into this, we can help them learn to read the customer even more effectively.

Is the customer interested?
Can you upsell?
Should you cut and run? 

Improving emotional intelligence is an aspect of sales coaching that doesn’t directly address the bottom line, but it does indeed impact the bottom line. So aside from touching on why sales coaching is indispensable for the salesperson and what it will do to improve them.

Let’s now take a look at why you — as the business owner or manager — would like to spend the money on this.

Because unfortunately, we can’t just use our training dollars to make people feel good, we also need some results. With effective sales coaching, here are some of the returns you will see.

Consistent results 

Your team will provide you with better and more consistent results. Every team hopes that their sales department will be as effective as possible. With a robust coaching program, you will do more than just drive the bottom line up by increasing sales performance. Good coaching programs will also help you analyze why the results may not be where they should be, and then you can create a strategy to combat the shortcomings.

Increase in productivity

Sales coaching will lead to increased productivity. If you tailor your program and give proper and effective coaching, then your sales team will have the confidence needed to take care of objectives without being asked. The benefits of sales coaching can give your team clear guidance on how to move forward without requiring constant direction. With this new confidence in their role, they will be more motivated and become more effective and efficient.

Capture a larger share of the pie

Coaching can also help you to close bigger deals. As your team closes deals more often, they will hone their skills and become more proficient. Not only that, but as they become more adept, they gain confidence and begin looking for more responsibilities, which typically leads to going after bigger deals.

Coaching can also help you to bring in new clients, as well as appeasing your current ones. Repeat business is most likely essential, but it isn’t usually enough to grow your business. With proper coaching, your team will learn how to make the current customer happy and bring in new ones.

Should be done regularly

One aspect of your coaching program to consider is when it would be necessary. Although periodic trainings for your team are great, and they should be done regularly, you should also learn when to have a more pointed coaching session.

For instance, if your team is having a particularly bad month, there may be a need for a more intense coaching session. As such, try to pinpoint what is happening with your team in terms of morale and performance that would need this type of coaching session.

There will be some areas which will warrant one-on-one coaching session. Someone is transitioning to a new role, if the company will be rolling out a new product, or if there have been a high number of customer complaints, a one-on-one coaching session might be needed.

The bottom-line

So, what’s the bottom line on coaching?

Well, it is just that — the bottom line. Coaching will help you to boost revenue in a variety of ways. From empowering your team to reeling in the bigger deals. You, as the leader or the manager in your company, need to realize that the times are changing and that you must change with them.

If your employees have been longing for guidance and mentorship, it might be a good idea to give it to them. When you make the investment into your team, you will see the return come back tenfold in both revenue and loyalty. When you give your team the coaching they need, they will reward you with the effort and productivity that can send your annual revenue into the next level.

Investing in good coaches has never been more important, and you should take the time to realize how effective a good coaching program can be. Click here if you want to learn more about how Spinify can transform your salespeople into the best versions of themselves.