One of our long-standing clients has recently asked us not only to design and deliver their sales training programmes, but also to get out on the road (in this case it’s a very long road consisting of nearly 50 cities across the globe!) and spend time with their sales teams to see how the training is being implemented.

The success of the training programme hinges around the implementation of a clear set of sales standards and the coaching support given to the sales executives by their local managers.

One thing has been crystal clear – in those places where the training has been supported by effective coaching, the capability of the salesperson has dramatically increased and when we’ve been out on sales calls with them we have seen that the quality of these calls and the results achieved, exceeds those areas where coaching is not a priority or is being conducted inconsistently.

Of course, we knew this already! Research has, for a long time, supported the fact that training delivered without ongoing coaching support is far less effective over the long term than when coaching is taking place. It has been good to see it in action though.

One other interesting observation has been the way in which the previous experience of sales managers influences their willingness and ability to adopt standard sales processes and undertake coaching. There is an obvious difference between those who have been given these roles on the back of their broad managerial and commercial experience and those who have been promoted from within the sales ranks where they were high performing sales execs. There are more of the former who are open minded to new ways of working and fully understand how effective coaching brings long term confidence and competence within their team leading to greater success and improved sales results.

It’s been an interesting experience. We rarely get the opportunity to see the final results of the training we carry out – this has confirmed that the investment is a sound one, but can only be maximised with the full engagement of managers in the field.

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