Sales management and training is a broad domain. It is important to come up with effective and efficient sales management and training strategies and methods as it is not easy to make a sales call or give a sales pitch. The sales personnel and agents should be properly trained and educated in order to increase the chances of the successful sales call and sales pitch. Hence, proper sales training is of high importance in this regard. Apart from this it is highly important to provide the sales team and personnel with proper and competent sales leadership. The sales leadership should be competent enough to provide the sales team with right training and enhance the overall level of motivation (Wang, Lee, & Timothy, 2010). Another important concept in this regard is of sales coaching.
The sales coaching is a part of the sales training and is highly beneficial for improving the overall level of motivation and performance of the sales personnel and team. In sales coaching the sales manager can provide direct on the job feedback and suggestions to the sales personnel and team or sales trainee. These feedbacks and suggestions, on the part of the sales manager, are usually provided either before the sales call or any other situation or after the sales call or any other situation. The suggestions provided before the sales call or any other related situation prepare the sales personnel or professionals for handling the situation effectively and efficiently. On the other hand, the feedback or suggestions provided after the sales call or any other related situation provide the opportunity to the sales manager and the sales personnel to discuss about the negative and positive things in order to further enhance and improve the performance for the next time. The sales coaching is one of the most effective methods of providing sales training to the sales personnel and evaluating them as it allows the sales manager to provide suggestions and evaluate the performance in the real life situation (Onyemah, 2009).
Ways to Improve the Post Sales Coaching Session:
In reference to the case under discussion, the post sales coaching session given by the sales manager to Joe was not effective. The sales manager directly criticized Joe and pointed out his mistakes in rude manner. At the same time the sales manager behavior and attitude during the sales call was negative and disturbing for the account manager, Joe. The sales manager could have been more polite and humble during the post sales coaching session in order to make the post sales coaching session more effective and helpful. For instance, the sales manager should not have straight away started by criticizing the account manager, Joe that he did not mentioned the features of the GENIE model 465 in effective way. This attitude of the sales manager will result in de-motivating and discouraging Joe. Apart from this the sales manager imposed more pressure on the account manager, Joe, by talking about the sales number and target pressure and that the Vice President will be angry. This further discouraged the account manager.
The post sales coaching session would have been more effective and helpful if the sales manager would have been more encouraging and supportive. The sales manager could have started the conversation by appreciating the account manger that he made a good attempt but some factors were neglected and if there factors or elements will be taken care of in next sales call or sales pitch then Joe will be able to definitely convince the customers. The manager would have suggested in more polite manner that Joe is capable of making successful calls only if he is able to use the information in more effective and efficient manner and do his homework first before coming for any sales call or meeting. In this way the post sales coaching session would have been more effective and efficient.
Improving the Behavior of the Manager during the Sales Call:
Apart from this the restless attitude and behavior of sales manager during the sales call was also discouraging. The sales manager was continuously giving notes to the account manager Joe, about what he should talk or say. This attitude on the part of the sales manager could have confused the account manager and there are chances that for this reason account manager forgot to mention the main benefits and features of the product to the lab manager. It is highly important to provide the sales personnel or team with the confidence and the required space so that they can deliver the sales pitch in effective and efficient manner. The sales manager confused and discouraged the account manager Joe during the sales call which directly affected or influenced the overall sales pitch.
It is important for the sales manager to understand the importance of the proper role of the sales coaching and should work on proving the sales personnel or team with effective suggestions. Apart from this the attitude and behavior of the sales manager should be supportive and encouraging in order to increase the level of motivation of the sales personnel or team which in turn enhances the overall performance and output (Powers, DeCarlo, & Gupte, 2010).
References
Onyemah, V. (2009). The effects of coaching on salespeople's attitudes and behaviors: A contingency approach. European Journal of Marketing, 43(7/8), 938-960.
Powers, T. L., DeCarlo, T. E., & Gupte, G. (2010). An Update on the Status of Sales Management Training. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 30(4), 319-326.
Wang, J., Lee, N., & Timothy, A. (2010, November). Sales resource management training: A guide to developing effective salespeople. In Information Management, Innovation Management and Industrial Engineering (ICIII), 2010 International Conference, IEEE, 2, 574-577.
