Arguably considered to be one of the most stressful roles in any business; the role of the Sales Manager is often earned through outstanding individual performance. However, you won’t necessarily have had the right training to support your new, senior position. This can be daunting to say the least and could have you doubting your ability to do the role.
Firstly, don’t and secondly, know this – you can’t be a great manager if you’re not a good coach – employees want and need to be coached, not simply managed.
There is a lot of pressure on sales managers which means they simply don’t have the time, or perhaps feel it is a productive use of time, to invest in coaching their teams. But, by coaching your team, instead of simply managing them, you will ultimately improve sales, customer experience and employee retention – a win-win all round. So, with this in mind, surely it is a very good use of your time?
What is the difference between a manager and a coach?
A manager ultimately is in charge of the team and makes the decisions that determine the professional career of those below them. Around 70% of employee learning and development happens on the job, so if the manager focuses solely on the output they can be setting their employees up to fail.
A coach takes the time to show their employees how things run, what is expected and how to perform their job fully. By training your team, not just on surface level, but by actually showing them what needs to be done, you will both inspire and motivate them.
So, to become a better manager and therefore empower your team you need to complete management coaching.
But, how will this make you a better manager?
The skills you learn during management coaching will help you, as a sales manager, to understand and apply the power of coaching to encourage salespeople to perform at a higher level.
Management coaching will enable sales managers to:
- Prepare effectively for every interaction enabling them to demonstrate understanding of the salesperson’s issues
- Challenge the salesperson’s thinking in a way that creates trust
- Communicate effectively and as a result be a positive influence
- Build stronger relationships
- Maximise team performance
- Understand how to have challenging conversations with better outcomes
- Improve retention and engagement of higher performers
- Improve their emotional intelligence
Afterwards and to reinforce what you have learnt, you can pass this down to your team – as you begin to coach them, rather than simply manage them.
Management coaching can be tailored to your specific organisation to ensure you get the most out of it. It’s also worth investigating those coaching services that have an approach that teaches you to then coach members of your team to assist with their individual strengths and weaknesses.
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