[Sales Class] Call Coaching – A Lesson by Lauren Bailey

In Lauren Bailey’s video on call coaching, she explains that call coaching was recently ranked as sales leaders worse skill.

She explains that the majority of call coaching that happens is informal, and many people do not have structured call coaching meetings, training sessions, or conversations. This is because sales is one of the busiest jobs and most call coaching is done informally on the fly.

76% of managers say they coach 3-6 hours per month per rep, but half of reps disagree with that statistic. This might be because when managers interact with reps, they may speak in a “coaching style” but it is not a formal coaching moment as seen by the rep.

Tips for improving call coaching for managers:

Keep a consistent calendar for call coaching meetings. Be on top of these meetings and don’t let them slip into an irregular schedule. When coaching meetings are cancelled or changed last minute it can lead to rep disengagement.

The top 6 mistakes or “coachastrifies” to avoid.

  • Call coaching is not deal coaching, its rep coaching, its rep engagement time.
  • Don’t ask the rep to “be more like you.”
  • In a call/meeting – Take notes on your observations and turn them into questions for the rep.
  • Find the right level of questioning to make the rep think about the scenario in an actionable way.
  • The biggest way to drive rep impact, let the rep choose what they will work on.
  • You get 10x the commitment by letting the rep choose what they work on.

Steps in Coaching:

  • C – Clarify Expectations (We’re going to start a formal call coaching program and look at examples)
  • O – Observed behavior (“I heard you did this on this call, and the outcome was ____. Let’s talk about it.”)
  • A – Ask Questions (Ask at least 5 questions)
  • C – Commit to Action/Improvement (Why don’t we work on this, what do you think?)
  • H – How can I help? (Why don’t we rollplay it right now, or do you want to shadow another rep?)
  • N – Next steps  (Ask what prevented the sale, look at the call impact, ask if anything affect the call positively or negatively and make adjustments for the next call)

Remember, managers should not focus on coaching for a specific deal, they should focus on building up the sales rep as a whole.

And of course, don’t forget to give the “atta boy”/”atta girl” approvals as they come in the moment.

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