Coaching for sales managers

Issue

Even the best financial services companies find it hard to sustain sales growth. Most
see highly variable results from even their best sales managers but don't have the time or focus to tackle the underlying issues. And yet, opportunities in the customer base are significant, as cross sales levels remain stubbornly low. So what would it take to dramatically improve the sales results of a whole region or area?

Solution

Setanta's Sales Manager Coaching programme offers a dedicated, experienced
sales coach to work closely with an individual sales manager or a whole team. The
aim is to quickly drive up the sales performance of a major section of your
branch network. Setanta's coaches have a track record of delivering results, know
what to look for and what to do to drive up results - and sustain them.

How it works

The Sales Manager Coaching programme has three phases

Opportunity definition and improvement plan

Agree overall objectives and timescales with the programme sponsor

Define with the target manager (through observation, discussion and a brief 360°assessment) what business and personal goals need to be achieved in the
coming 3-6 months

Coaching and action

Branch visits - one day a month on joint branch visits, evaluating opportunities, staff activities, customer interactions and providing immediate feedback

Sales meetings - attending the manager's sales meetings to observe interaction withthe team and maximise the impact of these high leverage situations

Weekly telephone calls - 30 to 45 minute structured call to review weekly sales activities, results and essential actions for the coming week

Monthly face-to-face meetings - to review progress, uncover roadblocks and plan to overcome them.

Coaching the coach - observing managers coaching their direct reports

On-call sessions - the coach is also on-call by email or telephone for quick ideas and feedback. (Imagine having a coach you could call for 10 minutes before a
meeting with some recalcitrant branch managers!)

Review and sustainment

On a quarterly basis the coach reviews the overall plan:

With the programme sponsor - to ensure that business and personal goals arebeing hit and to spread learning to managers at the same level (specifics
of the issues covered are confidential between the coach and the manager)

With the manager - to assess progress and make any necessary changes for the next quarter. This meeting delivers best value when it has the active participation of the sponsor or line manager.

Generally the coaching programme is unlikely to extend beyond two quarters.

How it is different

Organisations seeking to improve the impact of their sales managers can send them to training courses or engage executive coaches.These approaches focus on soft kills and can be valuable. But the impact of training soon fades and few executive coaches have in-depth experience of the issues faced by a sales manager in Financial Services. Setanta's coaches focus narrowly and deeply. They help the manager to succeed in the short term and build results, confidence and the capability to succeed long term.

Results

The impact of Sales Manager Coaching is significant. By focusing on sales managers
and their territories, rather than the individual sales person, the leverage is much greater. Improving an area or region by 5-10% in a six month period will have a major impact on the organisation's results. Spreading that improvement across all areas and regions makes a major contribution to the bottom line.

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