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| Home - Industry Article - Mar 05 Issue |
How to Coach a Sales Rep Through a Deal
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Ask the rep, "Where is your unique value and what financial impact will it have on your prospect's business?"
Coming up with the answer to these two questions is definitely not something that takes five minutes. Without the answers to these two questions, your rep is, for all intents and purposes, selling a commodity and you should expect them to come back to you asking to approve deeper and deeper discounts around the time the prospect is going to make a decision.
Your rep isn't even going to begin to know the answers to those two questions without an in depth knowledge of the prospect's business and the capabilities of your company, products, and services. Large companies with very complex products have solution design teams made up of domain, business, and product experts who do exactly that -- design a unique solution for a prospect. Most companies, of course, don't have that level of sales support. So the rep will have to pull that together themselves, with a credible enough business case for the prospect to make the investment.
Ask the rep, "Based upon the information you have, when will this deal close and for how much?"
You're seeking the sales objective from the rep. At this point, with the work they've done to date, the answer to that question will be based more on fact than guesswork. Keep asking questions:
How do you know it will close by that date?
What happens to the prospect if it doesn't?
What might delay the decision?
How do you know they will pay that amount for our products and services?
Is that number before or after any discounts you'll have to provide?
What might divert funds from this purchase?
What happens if they miss their revenue targets next quarter? Will they still buy?
What else might cause you to lose this deal?
You'll use the same coaching technique for each answer the rep gives you. If their answer is ambiguous or without credible foundation, get them to understand what the risk is and coach them through a solution as I outlined in my seven-step process above.
When it comes to their sales objective, you're asking them to make a commitment. You're going to count on them delivering that deal on that date for that money. There are other times to nurture and support, but right now, you've got to make sure their sales objective is based upon reality and that they are willing to commit to it. No equivocation, no ambiguity.
Ask the rep, "Tell me, in detail, how you are going to win this deal."
You're asking them for their strategy and their tactics.
As a sales manager or executive, remember this: If the rep can't explain exactly how they are going to win the business, they aren't likely to win it.
Their strategy statement should be short and sweet. The prospect will buy from me because______.
The tactics will be a series of events, meetings, phone calls, presentations, etc.
As with all that I've suggested to this point, these tasks should be documented in a sales plan, along with the date, resources, owners, objectives, and a place to record the outcome once the event has been completed.
When the rep talks about a prospect meeting they are planning, ask, "What is your plan for this event?"
Remember back to when you were a rep. Sometimes just getting the meeting feels like a win.
Ideally, the rep will interpret that question to mean, "Describe the situation, your objectives, your prospect's objectives, your strategy, and the tactics to execute a successful meeting."
When you make a movie, you don't just start filming.
What you are looking for here is an indication that they have planned the event. You want them to have thought about this as a screenwriter, producer, and director would. When you make a movie, you don't just start filming.
Here's a coaching question for your rep: "What do you need to do to assure that both you and your prospect will leave the meeting having accomplished what you both intended?"
The rep, "I need to make sure that their VP of customer care will be there."
You ask, "How will you do that?"
The rep replies, "My contact said they would."
You ask, "What happens if we all get there and the VP doesn't show up -- that VP sends someone who works for them in their place?"
The rep says, "Gee. I don't know."
You suggest, "Well, how might you be sure that you will meet with that person, no matter what, even if they cancel at the last minute?"
The rep replies, "Well, I might be able to get my contact to agree to a separate meeting with the VP if for some reason they can't make it to the meeting."
You say, "Since you haven't scheduled the meeting yet, you've got some leverage. How do you think you can apply it..." Then you'll work through the alternatives with your rep until they have something they believe will work and are capable of executing.
Some final tips
Here are some tips for you to keep on your desk to make sure you are a resource that adds value to your sales team's efforts:
Make sure the rep understands the difference between having no information about a subject, having information that isn't evidence-based, and having information that has been corroborated. Work through examples with them until that understanding is achieved.
Coach your reps by asking questions. Ask them to think about alternative approaches to accomplishing a task. Suggest they recommend the best one to you, making a case for that one, above the others.
Don't support the bad habit of trying to make decisions based upon insufficient or uncorroborated information.
Send the rep back to the account for more information, if needed. Don't support the bad habit of trying to make decisions based upon insufficient or uncorroborated information. Let them suggest to you from whom they should get the information and how that can best be accomplished.
Understand the strengths and weaknesses of your reps. Some reps need little coaching, although some insightful probing and "what if's" are appropriate for reps at any level. Other reps need help with seeing the big picture, understanding fact from fiction, understanding how to negotiate information from prospects, adhering to your sales process, and other critical sales-related skills.
If you aren't process oriented yourself, or you don't have sales processes implemented in your company, consider investing in some coaching for yourself. Give me a call or send me an email, if you'd like to discuss how we might work together.
Dave Stein is the author of the Amazon number one sales best selling How Winners Sell: (www.HowWinnersSell.com) 21 Strategies to Outsell Your Competition and Win the Big Sale, Second Edition (May 2004). Dave has worked with larger enterprises such as IBM, Convergys, Enterprise Ireland, Hewlett-Packard, ALLTEL, Bayer, Standard Register, NEC, Siemens, Invensys, Pitney Bowes, MCI, AT&T, Sungard Energy Systems and McGraw-Hill, as well as many small companies in numerous industries. Dave can be reached for article feedback at: info@HowWinnersSell.com
 
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