Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions: A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives / Edition 1

by Keith Rosen

Overview

Sales training doesn’t develop sales champions. Managers do. 

The secret to developing a team of high performers isn’t more training but better coaching.  When managers effectively coach their people around best practices, core competencies and the inner game of coaching that develops the champion attitude, it makes your training stick.  With Keith Rosen’s coaching methodology and proven L.E.A.D.S. Coaching Framework™ used by the world’s top organizations, you’ll get your sales and management teams to perform better - fast. 

Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions is your playbook to creating a thriving coaching culture and building a team of top producers. This book is packed with case studies, a 30 Day Turnaround Strategy for underperformers, a library of coaching templates and scripts, as well as hundreds of powerful coaching questions you can use immediately to coach anyone in any situation.

You will learn how to confidently facilitate powerful, engaging coaching conversations so that your team can resolve their own problems and take ownership of the solution. You’ll also discover how to leverage the true power of observation and deliver feedback that results in positive behavioral changes, so that you can successfully motivate and develop your team and each individual to reach business objectives faster.

Winner of Five International Best Book Awards, Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions is your tactical, step-by-step playbook for any people manager looking to:

• Boost sales, productivity and personal accountability, while reducing your workload
• Conduct customer/pipeline reviews that improve forecast accuracy, customer retention and uncover new selling opportunities
• Achieve a long term ROI from coaching by ensuring it’s woven into your daily rhythm of business
• Design, launch and sustain a successful internal coaching program
• Turn-around underperformers in 30 days or less
• Build deeper trust and handle difficult conversations by creating alignment around each person’s goals and your objectives
• Coach and retain your top performers
• Collaborate more powerfully and communicate like a world-class leader

Training develops salespeople. Coaching develops sales champions. Your new competitive edge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900470142515
Publication date:	03/14/2008
Edition description:	NE
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 1.50(h) x 9.50(d)

About the Author

KEITH ROSEN is the CEO of Profit Builders, named one of the Best Sales Training and Coaching Companies worldwide. Keith has delivered his courses to hundreds of thousands of salespeople and managers in practically every industry; on five continents and in over 50 countries. Keith is the author of several bestselling books. As a global authority on sales coaching and the pioneer of leadership coach training, Keith was inducted in the inaugural group of the Top Sales Hall of Fame in recognition for his outstanding contributions in sales and leadership development. Inc. magazine and Fast Company named Keith one of the five most influential executive coaches. Keith was also featured on the award winning television show, Mad Men and was one of the first out of only a handful of coaches who earned the distinguished Master Certified Coach designation credentialed through the International Coach Federation. To get Keith’s ebooks, articles and videos, visit www.KeithRosen.com.

Table of Contents

About the Author     xiii
Acknowledgments     xv
Introduction     xvii
The Death of Management     1
Becoming an Executive Sales Coach     1
But I'm Already Coaching ...     3
Making the Shift from Sales Manager to Executive Sales Coach     3
The Missing Discipline of Sales Coaching     5
Defining the Role of a Sales Coach     6
A Coach versus a Mentor     7
Nine Barriers to Coaching a Sales Team     8
Consultant, Trainer, or Coach?     12
Managers Don't Have Time to Manage     15
Understanding the Commitment to Coach Your Sales Team     17
Get a Coach for the Coach     19
Five Core Characteristics of the World's Greatest Sales Coaches     21
The Coach's Mindset: Six Universal Principles of Masterful Coaching     25
Management's Eternal Conundrum     26
Hitting Rock Bottom     27
You Can't Coach What You Fear     29
The Strong, Fearful Leader     30
Universal Principle of Masterful Coaching No. 1: Make Fear Your Ally     32
Universal Principle of Masterful Coaching No. 2: Be Present     36
Universal Principle of Masterful Coaching No. 3: Detach from theOutcome     41
Universal Principle of Masterful Coaching No. 4: Become Process Driven     45
Universal Principle of Masterful Coaching No. 5: Be Creative     49
Universal Principle of Masterful Coaching No. 6: Become Fully Accountable-for Everything     50
The Top 19 Excuses Managers Use to Justify Why Salespeople Fail     51
Six Fatal Coaching Mistakes and How to Avoid Them     55
Coach the Relationship with Their Story     56
Fatal Coaching Mistake No. 1: Believing the S.C.A.M.M.-A Manager's Most Elusive Adversary     57
Fatal Coaching Mistake No. 2: Wanting More for others than They Want for Themselves     63
Fatal Coaching Mistake No. 3: Are You Coaching Your Salespeople or Judging Them?     68
Fatal Coaching Mistake No. 4: Coaching Isn't about the Coach     70
Fatal Coaching Mistake No. 5: Share Ideas, Not Expectations     71
Fatal Coaching Mistake No. 6: Mismanaging Expectations: Are You Preparing Your Sales Team for Change?     73
Tactical Coaching     77
Who Do You Coach?     77
A.G.R.O.W.T.H. Success Indicator to Determine Personal Coachability     78
Don't Coach the Squeaker     80
Coaching the Whole Person     80
Developing Sales Champions from the Inside Out      81
What Do You Coach? Coach the Gap     82
Do I Coach Them or Train Them?     84
What Exactly Can You Coach?     88
The Top 10 Characteristics of Highly Effective Salespeople     89
The Seven Types of Sales Managers     91
The Seven Ps     91
The Problem-Solving Manager     93
The Question is the Answer     97
Solution-Oriented Questions     98
Ignition On! Now They're Inspired     101
The Pitchfork Manager     101
Push versus Pull-A Simple Model of Motivation     103
Let Your Salespeople Tell You What Motivates Them     104
Ask Your Salespeople How They Want to be Coached     106
Motivate through Pleasure Rather than Consequence     107
Communicate from Abundance Rather than From Scarcity     108
Make Acknowledgment Unconditional, Measurable, and Specific     110
Make Your People Right, Even When They're Not     113
Create New Opportunities Rather than Make People Wrong     116
Assumptive Coaching and Dangerous Listening     119
The Pontificating Manager     119
Eight Barriers That Prevent Masterful Listening     121
Listening Through Filters-A Manager's Lethal Weakness      122
Just the Facts, Please     125
Encourage Silence     125
Focus More on the Message Than on the Messenger     126
Listening to Someone or Listening for Something     127
Make People Feel They Are Being Heard     129
The Presumptuous Manager     131
Don't Believe Everything You Tell Yourself     132
Get Out of Your Way and Out of Your Head     133
Be Curious     140
Vulnerability-Based Leadership     143
The Perfect Manager     143
Express Your Authenticity: Become Vulnerable     146
Embrace Your Humanity     147
Evidence of an Emerging Culture     148
Vulnerability and Trust     149
The Passive Manager     151
Embrace Healthy Conflict     153
Call Them Out Using the Coaching Edge     153
Take a Stand for Your Salespeople     154
Declare What You Really Want for Your Sales Team     156
The "I'm Sensing That" Statement     158
The Proactive Manager     161
A View from the Sidelines     162
Facilitating an Effective Coaching Conversation     169
Preparing for the Coaching Session     169
The Anatomy of a Coaching Session     170
The Coaching Prep Form     171
Strategic Coaching Questions     175
The L.E.A.D.S. Coaching Model     176
The Management Conversation     179
The Coaching Conversation     183
Going Deeper-Breakthrough Coaching     191
How Much Coaching is Enough?     203
The Art of Enrollment     207
It's All about Connection     207
Making an Impact     210
Leaving Your Legacy as a Manager     211
The Art of Enrollment     212
Enrollment is a Universal Phenomenon     214
Creating the Possibility for Change     215
The Six Steps of an Enrollment Conversation     216
Case Study: Enrolling Someone to Improve their Quality of Work     218
Case Study: Enrolling Someone to Become More Accountable     222
The Written Word: Crafting a Compelling Message     226
The Seduction of Potential     233
Potential is the Holy Grail     233
The Seduction Begins: The Ether of Potential     235
The Hard Cost of Complacency     236
You Can't Build a Business on Potential     237
When to Give up and Let Go      239
Master the Art of Abandonment     240
The Top Trigger Points of Seduction     241
Develop an Internal Coaching Program     243
Identifying a Turnaround Opportunity     244
Holding Your People Accountable     248
Week One: Introducing the Turnaround Strategy-An Enrollment Conversation     248
Week Two: A Minor Setback or Imminent Failure     252
Week Three: On The Winner's Path     257
Week Four: A Successful Turnaround     264
Designing an Executive Sales Coaching Program     266
How to Turn Around or Terminate an Underperformer in Less than 30 Days     270
Fire Them and Then Hire Them     277
Tips from the Coaches' Playbook     278
Conclusion     279
Final Thoughts on Being an Executive Sales Coach     279
Appendix     283
The Playbook of Questions for Sales Coaches     283
The 80-20 Rule on Coaching Questions     313
Index     315

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"There is no other single activity to boost sales that works better than sales coaching and Keith's book, Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions, is the best ever written on how to do it well."
—Brian Tracy, Author,  Getting Rich Your Own Way

"Few management books are specific to salespeople and those of us who work with salespeople understand they're a different breed. Keith Rosen's book is a great one to study and apply or pick up here and there when you have a special need. His coaching ideas are clearly explained and easily executed."
—Tom Hopkins, author of How to Master the Art of Selling

"Winning in sales is no different than winning in life. If you embrace Keith's philosophy, you can certainly expect to win in all areas of your life, while making a profound and measurable impact on your salespeople's performance and attitude."
—Dr. Denis Waitley, Best Selling Author of The Seeds of Greatness and The Psychology of Winning

"Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions is a well written, easily readable, practical book for anyone who manages salespeople. Excellent content is combined with real case studies, coaching templates and action steps that make this book a must read and a desktop reference for every sales manager, executive or business owner."
—Dr. Tony Alessandra, Author of The Platinum Rule & Non-Manipulative Selling

"Warning! Get Coaching Salespeople into Champions or put your team and your company at risk. Keith Rosen's step-by-step guidance will transform you and your sales team into top performers virtually overnight."
—Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies and Founder, SellingtoBigCompanies.com

"Fluffless! Rosen continues to give practical, A to Z how-to advice. After you read it, simply do it!"
—Anthony Parinello, Author of Selling to VITO

“This is a book that will truly take entire sales organizations to the next level. Keith is spot on, and his approach to accountability in the coaching process is what so many sales people and sales managers are missing.”
—Tom Ziglar, CEO, Ziglar, Inc.

"There are very few good books published for sales managers and most of them are filled with biased ideology and abstract concepts. Keith Rosen's book is refreshingly practical. It contains concrete steps on what to coach, how to coach and how to bring out people's hidden talents without resentment, or frustration. This is the clearly the best book on sales coaching I've seen in a decade."
—Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder and Publisher, Selling Power

"When it comes to building a top sales organization, Keith has got the market cornered on tactical leadership strategies for today's workforce. Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions is a winning playbook for managers who need to strengthen and invigorate their sales team through executive sales coaching."
—David Hirsch, Director of Business to Business Vertical Markets Group, Google

“We can give salespeople all of the training in the world, we can inspire them and motivate them, we can even provide them with the latest and greatest technology…..but in today's highly competitive marketplace, we can measurably accelerate their success through coaching and this is THE TACTICAL PLAY BOOK to help get it done!”
—Michael Norton, Chairman of the Board and Founder, CanDoGo™

"Great playbook that all leaders should read and reference.  Keith has done a tremendous job outlining the importance of coaching vs. managing.  Implementing Keith's playbook will drive the development of high performance salespeople and superior results."
—Kelly Carioti, Vice President, Specialty and Self-Service Retail, PepsiCo 

“Without effective coaching, sales performance improvement programs stand little to no chance of success, and so establishing an effective coaching program was one of the highest priorities for Microsoft sales managers, with high demand from sales leadership worldwide. Having experience working with several vendors, and looking closely at many other coaching programs available in the marketplace, Keith’s experience, expertise and approach won us over. Perhaps the clearest difference is that Keith’s approach makes a difference – it’s not simply theory and concepts – it’s practical with real-world situations. Keith also practices what he preaches, which sounds easy but bridging the knowing-doing gap is hard. With Keith, there’s no disconnect between what he teaches and what he actually does. He helps managers apply the principles of effective coaching regardless of the specific situation, no matter how difficult or ‘unique.’ His proven coaching framework is universally accepted, and as such, embraced by and complementary to every region, culture and business unit, regardless of where you are located throughout the world. There’s always something to learn from Keith and working with him is always an inspiration, so if you have the opportunity to do so, jump!”
—Mark Selleck - Senior Director, Worldwide Sales and Marketing Professions

“It has been an immense professional and personal privilege to have had the opportunity to work so closely with a world-leading master in the art of Coaching. Keith is an exceptional trainer who inspires and enthuses his audience. His passion for the coaching is evident in the way he shows up and conducts himself. He went to great lengths to understand our business and our company culture and has inspired many of our Sales leaders to become masterful coaches. I would highly recommend him both as a person and as a professional for any organization wishing to transform their Sales management team towards Sales management excellence.”
—Cillian O'Grady - Senior Director Business Development Group Oracle Direct at Oracle

“Our sales managers and I recently completed a program focused on “Sales Coaching”. The program was conducted by Keith Rosen, author of the best selling business book “Coaching Sales People into Sales Champions”. In my nine plus years in the Sports Industry, this was one of the most eye opening experiences that I have been through. What the program gave us, was the knowledge, structure, and game plan necessary to become better communicators with our staff and align our sales people’s personal and professional goals with the company's objectives, to increase performance.”
—Nick Forro - Director, Season Ticket Sales and Service at New York Yankees

“Since Keith presented the program I have observed our working environment take big steps forward. Our reps are empowered and thinking creatively to create new possibilities for our business, thus the management team has relinquished our roles as “Chief Problem Solvers” which has allowed us to spend more time observing and coaching reps. Professionally, I am happier and with less stress than ever before. I can't thank Keith enough for the impact he has made!”
—Jeff Ianello - Vice President, Sales at Phoenix Suns

“Keith Rosen was instrumental in "Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions" in my organization of hundreds telemarketing and telesales people across Europe, Middle East & Africa. He delivered his training course to all managers in the organization (~100) and offered periodic one-to-one coaching to its top leaders thereafter, including myself.  Through his actions, the coaching culture significantly penetrated the organization, resulting in better managers-as-coaches and ultimately in improved salespeople empowerment and productivity. Keith Rosen's insights into salespeople motivators & behaviors, as well as his training skills were key & necessary in initiating this culture change successfully.”
—Stéphane Rousset - Senior Vice-President Strategy, International Business at Fujitsu