An essential quality of effective sales coaching is collaboration between the sales manager and the salesperson, where both co-create and implement
a plan to improve skills — the opposite of telling.
In order to avoid telling and instead create a collaborative sales coaching environment, a sales manager should enter into each sales coaching conversation with a mindset of asking before advocating, says David Jacoby, managing partner at Sales Readiness Group.
Good sales coaching questions to ask include:
What…
•  What else did the customer say?
•  What surprised you about the customer’s reaction?
•  What did you notice when you started asking the customer more questions?
So what…
•  So what did you notice?
•  So what went well?
•  So what could have been executed better?
Now what…
•  Now what steps would you take?
•  Now what would you do differently?
•  Now what questions do you have?
Assume best intentions
Sales coaching should never be viewed as remedial or a punishment for poor performance. Great sales coaches assume their salespeople want to improve their skills. Making this assumption, says Jacoby, helps create a positive environment where the salesperson is motivated to engage in behavior change.
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