5.7: Training, Coaching, and Evaluating Salespeople
Training, coaching, and evaluation are important aspects of developing your team's performance. Training is the basic starting point. Companies that fail to invest in good training tend to run into problems when team members become frustrated or make wrong choices because their role is unclear and confusing. After the initial training, proper coaching and evaluation methods are critical to building and developing a high-performing team.
There are several approaches to the evaluation process. You may employ a more traditional evaluation model or adopt a method that looks at what it means to coach your team. As you work through the material in this section, pay attention to the different options. What do they require of you as a leader? What are the potential costs and benefits of each style?
Listen to this conversation on coaching and some key ideas that emanate from a coaching perspective.
When evaluating others, think about how you will share your positive and negative assessments with them and how they will react to your feedback. This article focuses on giving and receiving criticism. It offers some dos and don'ts and things to consider when preparing for a feedback session.
Finally, let's talk about motivating your team. As you train your employees, coach them, provide feedback, and evaluate their performance, remember that, at their core, these activities can motivate or deflate your sales personnel.
A driven, motivated, imaginative sales team will do wonders. However, a defeated, uninspired team will not get you where you want to be. They may destroy your team's morale or cause members to leave altogether. Motivating others is a critical skill for anyone managing a team.Listen to this conversation to explore ways to become a more motivational leader.