Coach to create top performers

Manager: "Jay, how did that sales call go?" Salesperson: "Great!" Manager: "Did you close the deal?" Salesperson: "No, but they love me and they want the product." Manager:"When will it close?"

Salesperson: "Probably this quarter." Sound familiar? What does this sales manager now know about the sales call his salesperson just finished? The answer, not much.

Coaching salespeople when they return from a sales call is important business.

It needs to be done routinely and consistently.

Way too many salespeople "wing it" and others may try to prepare but just really don't know how to do so effectively.

Successful sales calls have several ingredients:

* Pre-call preparation

* Execution

* Post-call assessment

* Follow up on commitments Salespeople will do a much better job if they know they may be asked for very specific information after a sales call.

In fact, having a post-call report format is a good idea, but a quick email or phone call with the right information can tell you exactly where the salesperson stands with that sales objective.

Salespeople should prepare for sales calls.

At a minimum they should look at their call notes from the last call, determine how to make the best use of the time, determine their objective, write down the questions they need to have answered to move the sale forward, and determine the action the customer would need to take to move the sale forward.

The preparation will improve their execution and help ensure they don't forget anything.

It will also make the customer feel like their time is valued and used wisely.

The post-call assessment is critical to ensuring your salespeople will be top performers.

You won't be able to assess every sales call but intermittently working with salespeople on this is crucial.

These post-call assessments can be very quick and painless.

Here are some questions you could ask:

* What did you do to prepare for the call?

* What was your objective for the call?

* What did you do to make good use of the customer's time?

* What questions did you get answered that tell you where the customer is in the sales process?

* What are the next steps?

* What action did the customer commit to take?

* What action did you commit to take?

* Did the customer give you a close-date?

* What will you do in follow up to this sales call? Far too often salespeople get way ahead of the customer.As in the conversation at the beginning of this article, they predict a closedate based on their quota instead of on the customer's needs.

The end of the quarter comes and the business doesn't close and many times the salesperson doesn't understand why.

The only way to know when a deal will close is to ask the customer.

To avoid missed quotas managers need to debrief with their salespeople using questions similar to those above.

This will help insure that the salesperson is moving along at the same speed as the customer.

Another thing this process will help is over-commitment on the part of the salesperson.

Salespeople are quick to promise the world if they think it will close a deal.

That is why questions about the actions to which the customer and salesperson committed are so important.

By asking those questions you can determine if the commitment of the salesperson is comparable to that of the customer.

If it is way beyond it may be a sign that the salesperson doesn't understand where the customer is in the sales process.

If the customer doesn't commit to do anything to move the sale forward, the salesperson may need to change the strategy.

Managers will have fewer surprises if they make these questions a part of their daily coaching routine.

Benefits will be a shorter sales cycle, more efficient selling and better close ratios.

In the long run this will lead to more accurate forecasting.

I would love to hear your stories about post-call assessment.

Email them to stories@ aliceheiman.com.

Alice R.

Heiman is president of Renobased ARH Consulting, LLC, a sales training organization.