To maximize sales results, a sales manager has to ensure that his or her team is operating at its peak level, like a sports team. That’s where coaching comes in—it’s one of the most important things you can do as a manager to drive better sales results.
Coaching is the time you spend 1:1 with your team members to improve their selling ability. The most common obstacle preventing sales managers from coaching their teams is the time commitment. Coaching takes time and doesn’t have a “due date.†So often, managers postpone or reschedule coaching to complete other time-sensitive management activities.
I have previously discussed how to allocate your coaching time. A good rule of thumb is that you should spend:
The idea is that you should spend most of your time coaching salespeople with medium skills. These salespeople will provide the highest return on your time investment as you develop average performers into high performers. Low-skilled reps may require too much time commitment to help, while high performers have room for improvement but don’t need lots of coaching.
But what do you do if you are extremely limited in your time available for coaching?
If that’s the case, then in addition to considering the skill level of your salespeople when allocating your coaching time, you should also consider their relative coachability. Are they receptive to your ideas? Do they want to improve? Are they enthusiastic about their work? A coachable rep has an internal motivation to improve and do better.
Highly coachable salespeople—those who are receptive to your ideas and have the basic ability to do the job—are most likely to grow professionally. A coachable rep not only responds to feedback, they actively seek it. They want to know how to improve. Coachability drives their ability to change behaviors.
Coachability shows up in behavior you can observe. A rep who asks for feedback, acts on it, and adjusts on the next call turns coaching time into changed behavior. A rep who nods along and changes nothing does not, however many hours you spend.
The stakes are worth naming. SBI research finds sales managers who devote three or more hours a month to coaching each person on their team see that team reach 107% of quota, against 82% for teams that receive no coaching at all. That gap is the return on a manager's scarcest resource.
This salesperson…
☠Asks for feedback rather than waiting for it
☠Listens to the opinions of others without dismissing them
☠Asks me how I would handle a situation, rather than assuming they already know
☠Doesn’t get defensive when given tough feedback
☠Demonstrates self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses
☠Learns from his or her mistakes rather than repeating them
☠Turns feedback into changed behavior
☠Shows motivation for improvement without being prompted
☠Discusses business problems with peers rather than working in isolation
☠Experiments with new approaches instead of defaulting to habit
☠Grasps an idea the first time he or she hears it
☠Follows instructions well
☠Is flexible when plans or priorities change
☠Is cooperative and participative at group meetings
☠Adapts well to new situations and change
A rep who shows most of these across all four categories is highly coachable. Invest the time and expect it back. A rep who shows few of them is a low return no matter how many hours go in.
Use the checklist to split time between two reps of equal skill. Two medium-skill reps do not automatically deserve equal shares of the 60%. One who scores well across all four categories will convert the hours into skill; one who resists feedback will not. Coachability adjusts the skill-based split, it does not replace it.
A salesperson who is not particularly coachable and, therefore, not receptive to your ideas or your help provides a low return on your investment in your coaching time. If this is the case with any of your salespeople, explore whether performance counseling is needed. Ask yourself, “Why is this person not receptive to learning, and what can I do to increase receptivity?†It might also be appropriate to examine your interpersonal style to see if that is causing the salesperson to reject your coaching efforts.
Every salesperson requires some coaching, even if the visit is for motivational purposes or to evaluate performance or progress. However, if you are time-constrained, consider factoring in coachability when allocating your coaching time among your salespeople.
A coachable rep seeks feedback, stays open when it is critical, and visibly changes behavior afterwards. It is a pattern of specific actions.
No. Skill level is how good the rep is now. Coachability is how likely they are to improve when given feedback. A highly skilled rep can be low on coachability, and a developing rep can be highly coachable.
Coaching someone who consistently shows low receptivity is a poor use of limited time. Find the root cause first, because it is often motivation or unclear expectations rather than skill, and consider whether performance counseling is the better action.
Skill level sets the broad split, usually weighted toward medium performers. Coachability adjusts it within each group. A medium-skill rep who is highly coachable deserves more of your time than one who resists feedback.
Yes, but usually only by addressing the cause of the resistance directly rather than coaching through it. A change in approach, expectations, or trust between manager and rep can shift receptivity.