The 9 Keys for Successful Sales Coaching

Coaching Skill #9: Effectively Finds & On-boards New Hires By Tony Cole, President of Anthony Cole Training Group

At the 2013 BISA Annual Convention, a majority of

my workshop attendees reported that “their people lacked commitment; that they were not doing

everything possible to succeed.”

In other words, more than half of the managers present felt that some or all of their people weren’t

in-the-game. I have found over the past 25+ years

of experience that this number is not unusual. So the question we must ask ourselves is “Did we hire

salespeople lacking desire and commitment or did we help them get that way?”

Upgrading your sales force is an ongoing process which starts with selection

of the right candidates, a critical step that determines the viability and direction of a company. The most important role of a sales leader is to find,

screen and hire good sales people. It is also the most neglected and discouraging role.

We use and recommend a pre-hire screen, the OMG Salesperson screen,

that identifies necessary qualities in a successful salesperson. This customized pre-hire test is set to parameters identified by the company, so

in addition to identifying specific sales traits and motivations, it screens for

compatibility. In other words, if your company sales are typically large dollar, it will tell you whether the candidate is suited. It will tell you if the candidate

has experience selling volume over margin, if that is your company preference.

The OMG Salesperson screen also tells us what the candidate’s major issues

are and this provides a template for their onboarding strategy if he is

“hireable”. The screen results provide many critical details. For example, you

will find out if the candidate has trouble facing rejection or if he prospects consistently. It will classify him as a “farmer” or a “hunter”. The OMG pre-

hire screen provides a list of problems this particular salesperson will face in selling situations.

A good sales manager will coach to the problems identified. For instance, if

the issues that show up include difficulty dealing with rejection, the sales manager will coach to overcome this issue. This pre-hire screen provides the

sales coach with information on how to manage a new hire to his particular behavioral style.

There is an expression in the world of golf which says something to the

effect of “The game is won on the first tee.” The same thing holds true with a new hire. So, in order to avoid problems with a new hire, we need to start

with a plan and a hireable salesperson that is coachable.

Once you have found a new hire, outline specifically what he will be

expected to do and the consequences for failure. Coach him to his identified strengths and weaknesses. Be sure to track his behaviors and hold him

accountable.

Unfortunately, most sales leaders neglect the crucial hiring and on-boarding process which determines the immediate and long-term success of a new

hire. Sometimes a sales manager thinks, because he/she hired a superstar, on-boarding is unnecessary.

Here are the three critical on-boarding steps:

1. Communicate the company’s vision, objectives and expectations.

Make sure the new hire understands and can verbalize these

important concepts without hesitation. A new hire should learn toanswer the following questions to your satisfaction.

What are all of the problems we solve?

Why are we better?

What is our brand promise?

How do we position ourselves in the marketplace?

Who are our customers?

How do we get to them?

Why will they see me?

What does the first call sound like?

What is our sales process?

What are the questions I should be asking?

What kind of resistance should I expect?

What kind of objections will I hear?

How do I handle those objections?

How do we sell against our competitors?

What are their strengths and weaknesses?

How do you want me presenting our solutions?

How are our prices compared with the competition?

How do we justify our prices?

2. Schedule weekly coaching sessions with new hires to help themcreate and execute their Success Formula. Help them learn,

implement and inspect their Effective Selling System. Requireattendance at weekly huddles. Make sure he/she understands the

value of huddles, how they can have immediate impact on pipelineand why huddles will help them improve their sales approach and

skills.3. Use huddle data, pipeline growth and notes from pre-call and post-

call debrief sessions to see if the new hire is exceeding activity and

behavior expectations. This critical early data will help you identifychoke points so that you are able to teach and coach to these

specific weaknesses.

The importance of hiring good candidates and on-boarding new hires can’t be overstated. Your coaching will be more effective with a strong sales team.

Finding, hiring and coaching good sales people are the primary challenges and the most important roles for every sales coach and sales organization.

Go to Tony’s blog for more Recruiting information.