Sports and sales teams have one thing in common: coaching is essential to their strategy. Many sports teams have turned to professional coaches for help with training and ensuring their players are prepared to compete at their best.
This role is just as critical in sales. A sales team requires the same level of discipline, focus, and dedication as an athlete competing at the highest levels. In both cases, a coach provides guidance, support, and motivation.
While methods may differ across industries, a coach’s goal is always the same: to help their charges reach their full potential.
Unlocking team potential
Even the best athletes start from zero. While talent is a significant factor in success, grit, determination, and practice are also important to achieving greatness. And it is a coach’s job to help athletes tap into their potential and realise their ambitions.
The same is true of salespeople. Sales is a numbers game, and the best salespeople always search for an edge. With a coach on the side, a salesperson can learn new techniques, strategies, and mindsets to help them close more deals and reach their quotas.
None of this is possible without knowing the players. An effective coach understands the team’s pipeline, products, and services while recognising each salesperson’s strengths and weaknesses.
Additionally, they see the big picture and help their charges visualise it, too. This deep understanding of the game and its players allows a coach to unlock the team’s capabilities to high degrees of success. Research shows that 70% of individuals who received coaching experienced improved performance, stronger relationships, and more effective communication skills.
Focusing on process over results
In the heat of competition, getting caught up in the result is easy. But this focus on the outcome can be detrimental to an athlete’s or salesperson’s performance. When the end goal is the only thing on a person’s mind, they are more likely to lose sight of the process that will help them succeed.
Those with excellent leadership skills know how to prevent their members from getting ahead of themselves. Whether it entails making more calls or setting more appointments, a coach helps a salesperson stay dedicated to activities that generate results. And by keeping the team focused on the process, a coach can ensure everyone is working towards the same goal.
It’s all about the right practice
Whether the playing field is a court or a sales floor, the key to success is practice. But it’s not about sweating it out for hours; it’s about practising the right way.
In sports, this means breaking down each game component and perfecting it through drills and repetition. When a new coach approaches a losing team, part of the rehabilitation process is to diagnose what players are doing wrong and identify specific areas for improvement.
It’s not so different in the world of sales. A new sales coach will try to identify the root cause of any underperformance and work with the team to correct it. But what’s the right way to practise? Here are several effective methods:
1. Role-playing exercises
Salespeople are often required to give pitches as part of their job, which can be nerve-wracking for many. With a sales coach present, the team can participate in role-playing exercises where everyone takes turns giving a mock presentation. These are opportunities to make mistakes and experiment with new techniques in a safe environment.
A coach could also lead mock calls. This is where the sales rep pretends to be a customer, and the coach becomes the salesperson. These exercises can help the team anticipate objections and learn how to overcome them effectively.
2. Leadership participation
Business decision-makers are often reluctant to engage with salespeople, but it’s an essential skill for success. Leaders are encouraged to join sales meetings and calls occasionally to see first-hand how their team is performing.
This also allows the sales coach to obtain feedback from the management. When everyone is on the same page, it’s easier to make progress.
For salespeople, having an esteemed leader in the room can be a motivator. It shows that the top executives are interested in their success and are willing to invest time in helping them improve.
3. Hyper-focused development
The sales process requires numerous skills, from prospecting and lead generation to closing the deal. Although it is ideal to develop all areas, there is value in focusing on one particular skill at a time.
This is where a sales coach can be beneficial. By studying each player’s strengths, a coach can create a development plan focusing on honing key areas.
Take world-famous boxer, Manny Pacquiao, as an example. The athlete is known to possess a deadly left hand. He and his coach worked together to master areas favouring this, including footwork and positioning. As a result, Manny became one of the most successful left-handed boxers in history.
4. Back to Basics
While sales teams can use practice sessions to learn new methods, they should never neglect the core concepts. The fundamentals of sales – product knowledge, for example – should be revisited on a regular basis. A coach can help the team brush up on these basics and keep everyone up to speed.
Repetition is an essential part of mastering any skill, and that’s especially true in sales. The more times a salesperson hears themselves explain the product or service, the better they’ll be at delivering a compelling pitch. These seemingly small details can make a big difference when closing a deal.
5. Self-evaluation
To continually improve performance, salespeople must reflect on their successes and failures. A good coach will encourage this type of introspection and help the team identify patterns in their behaviour.
A coach could ask questions about what went well and what could have been done better through regular debriefs after sales calls or meetings. These conversations can provide valuable insights that the team can use to improve performance.
It’s a process that’s also practised among sports teams. After every game, players and coaches will review footage to pinpoint areas for improvement. This way, everyone can learn from their mistakes and avoid repeating them in the future.
6. Creating accountability
In any type of coaching, setting and tracking goals is essential. It creates a sense of accountability and ensures everyone is working towards the same objectives. This might mean setting daily, weekly, or monthly targets for sales teams. The coach can then collaborate with each team member to review their progress and guide them in spotting any areas for further refinement.
It’s easy to let things slide in any high-pressure environment. But with a coach present to support and hold everyone accountable, the team is more likely to stay on track.
7. Celebrating success
Practice doesn’t always have to be focused on fixing problems. Businesses can also use it to recognise successes and reinforce good habits.
A celebration should always come after a big win. It is commonplace to see sports teams mob their coach after a championship game. In the business world, a sales team may take their coach out for drinks after hitting their quarterly quota.
But these successes should also be discussed in meetings. A post-mortem of a good deal is a chance for the team to learn from these experiences and replicate that winning formula in future deals. Furthermore, acknowledging these wins in sales calls encourages healthy competition among reps and keeps morale high.
Coaching is not necessarily teaching
A common misconception about coaching is that it is synonymous with teaching. Coaching, however, is a process focused on helping individuals learn and grow, whereas teaching is simply imparting knowledge.
There are many ways to help someone learn, and a coach will often employ various techniques depending on the individual and the situation. Sometimes, a coach may need to provide direct instruction; others may take a more hands-off approach and allow the individual to discover things for themselves.
The coach’s primary responsibility is to create an environment where learning can occur. This means hosting a safe space for experimentation and mistakes. It also means being open to new ideas and approaches and being willing to change course when necessary.
This is why individuals should understand that coaches are not necessarily more skilled. They may be more experienced in their field, but their real value lies in their ability to design an environment conducive to learning.
Getting your head in the game
In conclusion, sports and sales are two very different fields. The goal of a sports team is to win the gold, while the purpose of a sales team is to generate revenue. But the two share key similarities. Both require a high level of dedication and hard work to be successful, and both can benefit from a coach’s guidance. After all, it’s about getting your head in the game and producing the best results.
