The statistics surrounding the effectiveness and prevalence of sales coaching are quite startling. Research indicates that reps who have access to highly effective coaches perform 19% better than others on average. Yet surveys also indicate that approximately 25% of sales managers don’t employ any kind of coaching process.
With such manifest benefits, it’s baffling that so many organizations are taking advantage of all opportunities to maximize the performance of their sales personnel. Adding innovative coaching analytics procedures into the mix results in an even more powerful tool. Coaching analytics programs are widely available, easy to use, and they can benefit everyone from rookie managers to leaders who have been coaching reps successfully for decades.
The technology keeps getting better and better.
There’s never been a better time to be a sales manager tasked with coaching a team of reps. Prior to the digital revolution, sales leaders often spent hours combing through and compiling data on sales rep performance, and there was often a lag that resulted in critical information not being incorporated into strategic coaching plans at opportune moments. Most managers simply didn’t have the time necessary to create a fully-comprehensive coaching experience, and they had to make do with what they could reasonably accomplish.
Now, advances in technology have made it easier than ever to track a diverse array of performance metrics in real-time. You can also easily organize sales call recordings, and even search through transcriptions to highlight particular situations. All the time the technology is becoming more powerful and intuitive, and there’s no longer any excuse for sales leaders not to create a robust coaching program that benefits the entire organization.
You can personalize the experience for your reps.
Despite the fact that many successful salespeople share similar traits, everyone is unique and responds to coaching in singular ways. Mid-range performers often need to be approached differently than those in the highest and the lowest tiers. Individuals have different motivators and they all respond differently depending on your approach to delivering feedback.
Coaching analytics software allows you to use data to create programs that will maximize the advantages for each individual rep by analyzing past results in light of current performance, thus enabling you to customize solutions that are based on empirical behavioral analysis.
You can improve your coaching quality and efficiency.
Many sales managers have a significant hurdle to overcome in terms of their ability to coach effectively. They used to be a sales rep themselves, and while they have experience with the coaching process from that side of the table, they may not be aware of proper techniques from the management’s perspective, unless they happen to work at an organization where this kind of training is prioritized.
Analytics programs can help sales leaders improve their own faculties, largely by combining data with established best practices to suggest proven strategies for success. Managers don’t have to go into the process blind, even if it’s their first time coaching one of their team members. They can rely on practices that are based on evidence and developed through documented instances of real-world success.
Patterns are clearly revealed.
According to various studies performed by neuroscientists, the evolution of the human brain has resulted in our unparalleled ability to recognize patterns. We’re so good at it, in fact, that some studies indicate we will impose patterns that don’t exist on situations we don’t understand, in order to help us develop a sense of control on our world.
Patterns are powerful in the sales business, because while individual behaviors drive actions, big-picture patterns allow us to follow trends and observe the impacts of specific changes over long periods of time. To effectively see patterns we need data to examine, and that is where coaching analytics software is so powerful.
Empower your sales reps to achieve their potential.
If sales reps or managers are wary of incorporating coaching analytics software, it’s likely because they think the endgame is to turn human workers into automated productivity machines, thereby depriving the sales profession of the human elements that currently make it run. But just like other technological tools, such as sales automation, coaching analytics is just another solution for helping your reps perform at a higher level more consistently. When employed correctly, coaching analytics makes it easier for sales leaders to use the available resources to improve the professional lives of their team members, and to give them what they need to engage with their prospects and deliver value across all sales touchpoints.
Danny Wong is a marketing consultant, sales strategist, and writer. He does marketing at Tenfold, a seamless click-to-dial solution for high-performance sales teams. Connect with him on Twitter @dannywong1190.
