Telesales Coaching

Trafford Publishing

Contents

Foreword.................................................................................xiIntroduction.............................................................................xvThe Coaching Solution: Everything You Need to Know about Coaching........................xvWhat This Book Is About..................................................................xvWho Should Read This Book................................................................xviThe #1 Reason Your Reps Don't Sell More of Your Products or Services.....................xviWhat to Expect from This Book............................................................xixChapter One: The Coaching Solution.......................................................1Chapter Two: Step #1: Establishing Standards.............................................39Chapter Three: Step #2: Monitoring the Calls.............................................59Chapter Four: Step #3: The Analyzing Process.............................................94Chapter Five: Step #4: Feedback..........................................................108Chapter Six: Other Approaches to Coaching................................................151Conclusion...............................................................................175About the Author.........................................................................177

Chapter One

In this chapter:

• Coaching Defined—Sing from the Same Songbook

• A 4-Step Guide to How Coaching Really Works

• Why Coach? 7 Compelling Reasons to Get Up from Your Desk, Get on the Floor, and Coach Your Telesales Reps

• Coaching Myths and Legends—7 Things Coaching Definitely Is Not

• The #1 Reason Why Companies and Managers Don't Coach

• What's Your Excuse? 5 More Reasons Why Managers Don't Coach

• The #1 Reason Why Coaching Programs Fail after They've Been Implemented

• The Top 11 Traits of a Great Telesales Coach

• Is Coaching the Miracle Cure for All Telesales Reps?

Coaching Defined—Sing from the Same Songbook

There are a good many interpretations and definitions of coaching. Let's make certain that we are singing from the same songbook right off the bat. It's vital to understand precisely what coaching is. If I can win your hearts and minds right here and right now, then coaching is a walk in the park.

Definitions

Let's start with a basic definition.

Coaching is the process of helping reps sell smarter, sell better, and sell more.

It doesn't get much simpler than that. Coaching is a benefit-laden process. The words that should catch your eye are "sell smarter," "better," and "more" because those are the precise goals and outcomes of coaching if it's implemented correctly.

If you want to add a little meat to the definition, here's another angle.

Coaching is a way, a process, of helping your telesales reps sell more of your products and services by supporting, encouraging, and assisting them to sell more effectively.

This explanation adds another layer to the definition. Of particular note, the words "supporting, encouraging, and assisting" should jump out at you because that's what coaching is all about.

Adding another layer, the following definition provides a behavior-modification component that the previous two do not.

Coaching is a 4-Step process of setting sales-skills standards, monitoring or observing the telesales reps, analyzing their selling behaviors against those standards, and providing feedback in order to modify or change their behaviors to obtain positive results.

While somewhat more technical, this definition has one major component that the other two do not clearly delineate. This definition talks about modifying or changing the behaviors of the telesales reps.

The challenge of change

Bottom line? The power of coaching is that it can help your telesales reps change.

For telesales reps—or any sales reps—to get better at selling, typically they need to incorporate new skills, techniques, knowledge, processes, and methods. This is what training is all about: providing the skills and techniques to sell better.

It seems easy enough, but actually adopting these new skills is the tough part. Most reps resist change not because they are rebellious, but because they are human. It is human nature to resist change because change is usually uncomfortable, a least for a while.

When something is uncomfortable, we tend to avoid it, resist it, ignore it, and pretend it doesn't exist. But, here's the thing: we tend to go back to the old habits we had. Even if the old habits are ineffective, or the results are mediocre (or poor), many reps would rather feel comfortable than deal with the challenge and discomfort of change at the expense of becoming highly successful or highly paid.

Shocking isn't it? But it explains a lot about human behavior. It explains why training by itself rarely accomplishes much. It explains why great compensation plans don't seem to motivate to the degree we think they should. It explains why most reps linger in the middle of the pack or near the end.

So, if we know change is hard, it's up to us as managers, executives, and business owners to help make the transition easier from one skill set to another. It's up to us to help the reps change their behaviors so that they will be successful. If we don't, most will falter on their own. We should do this not simply for the sake of the poor telesales rep, but also for the improved sales results we are seeking.

Don't be afraid to be selfish here. Coach to help reps achieve the sales results you and your bosses want to see.

A 4-Step Guide to How Coaching Really Works

Telesales coaching is a process, a repeatable event consisting of clearly defined steps or components that can be defined and mastered with time and practice. The good news is that the process never changes. It is like riding a bike; once you've learned it, you'll never forget it. It becomes automatic.

There are four fundamental components to an effective coaching process. They are:

1. Establish the standards.

2. Monitor the calls and the reps.

3. Analyze what you have seen and heard.

4. Provide feedback.

The Telesales Coaching Model

The remainder of the book will delve into these components in detail, but for the moment, here is an overview of each.

Standards

Perhaps the single most important concept of the coaching process is the standard. A standard consists of one or all of the following:

• A set of expectations

• Clearly defined guidelines

• An objective set of steps

• A specific way of doing something

• Something established for use as a rule or a basis of comparison or measurement

Please excuse the multiple definitions, but the standard is vital to the process of telesales coaching, and if there is a secret to good coaching, the standard is it. In the plainest of terms, you cannot coach a skill or technique if a standard has not been set.

To illustrate, here are a couple of examples.

In my telesales training workshops, we discuss that an effective, opening statement for prospecting should...