I have a sales training business because there's a gap between performers and top performers. Sales organizations make repeatable mistakes with their team, and critical gaps are:
1. Unable to pinpoint, with precision, why their winners are winners.
2. Little to no coaching of what David Sandler referred to as "At-Leasters," whose mantra is "At least I'm not one of the losers." These performers are also referred to as "the movable middle" and should get specific focus.
3. A willingness to accept mediocrity because the culture lacks accountability, a shared interest, and performance metrics.
What does it take to become a high-performing salesperson? More often than not, a high-performance sales coach.
A high-performance coach views coaching time as sacred time. Managing and Supervising have places in the sales leader's role, but coaching should be the focus and get a generous amount of time commitment.
A high-performance coach focuses on the small, not the big. They look for unseen nuances in the attitude, behavior, and technique of the performers. Yes, "unseen" often begs the deployment of a magnifying glass and, at times, the microscope!
High-performance coaches create intimacy with each member of the team. Transparency in their relationship is built, so the performer knows the coach is all-in on their success. The high-performance coach focuses on the role, not the individual him or herself. Psychological safety must rule the day.
The high-performing coach adopts a strategy of continuous improvement through what Sir David Brailsford referred to "as the aggregation of marginal gains." Brailsford said, "Forget about perfection; focus on progression, and compound the improvements."
A high-performance coach understands behavioral psychology and strives to create an environment of optimum performance. Again, know thy performers.
Imagine the benefit of a high-performance sales culture. Shared interest, helping each other to the top, contagious enthusiasm. No one wants to be left behind!
Team buy-in is the ultimate goal for a high-performance coach. When everyone has bought into the idea of ongoing performance improvement, the shared interest of mutual accountability takes hold. Mutual accountability is the foundation of all-in teamwork, and success is the outcome.
High-performance coaches have at the heart of their success the core value of continuous learning.
It's Sandler's mantra and should be yours – performance through learning. Sir David Brailsford might say, "Performance through learning that which is unseen."
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