When players, students, or teams of all kinds come together for a practice session, the great coaches have long been in preparation identifying what the team needs to learn or develop to be successful. The practice cones are already out, the music sheets are on the stands, and the game plan is already written on the board before the players arrive. This signifies that a coach has been hard at work in preparing days before setting up the most effective practice session. Most sales meetings that turn ineffective happen because it is clear the ‘coach’ showed up to practice unprepared.
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Before we get to strategy, I would like to clear up the biggest myth that you have to be a prolific sales presenter in order to deliver a great sales training session. If standing in front of a group and teaching on a topic does not come naturally for you, this just means you might have to spend some extra time in the preparation phase. By utilizing the proper meeting setup process, you can still meet the level of excellence of any well-executed training session. Now let’s discuss some strategies that will help you become the most prepared coach for your team.
In order to have a training session that has the participation of your entire team, you need to communicate a pre-planned training topic at the end of your current training session for the upcoming week. Training topics are most relevant when a sales leader understands the pulse of their team. If you know the areas that your team seems to have trouble with during certain times of the year, you can program your training curriculum accordingly based on these tendencies.
One hard fact is there is plenty of downtime within a week spent in the model for a new home Sales Associate to commit to self-study. This self-guided study time, if executed correctly, can equip sales team members with valuable additional learning time during the week that in turn sets the stage for a great meeting.
If the previous two setup steps are executed correctly, then there should be plenty of discussion thoughts from the group. This is why being an expert presenter is not a prerequisite for being a leader who can deliver quality sales training. Through this group discussion, you will be able to gauge how well your group has absorbed the concepts and allow you to better understand how to continue the training when you meet them individually for your scheduled one-on-one time.
When you are running a sales team, you are leading a group of adults. They are adults that have their own life experiences and opinions. However, if they are on your team, they have agreed in some fashion to follow your lead. Pushing Sales Associates to grow in skill and development is what will add to your credibility and their trust in you as a leader. Great coaching does not come from barking motivation, great coaching comes from being prepared to bring out the best of the team you have.