Originally published on SellingPower.com
By Mike Esterday
Sales leaders and managers: Before you read further, pause for a moment and reflect on a couple of questions:
How much did you coach your sales team this week?
How much last week?
More to the point: How much have you coached your salespeople at all?
If your answer to one or all of those questions is “not much” or “hardly ever,” you’re not alone. In fact, you’re pretty much in the mainstream, according to new research that we conducted in partnership with the Sales Management Association.
In a nutshell, here’s what we found in our survey of hundreds of sales managers: 76% say coaching is strategically important. Yet most admit that they don’t do it.
Our survey also showed that nearly everyone defines coaching differently. And here’s the kicker: Managers who coach regularly—even if not particularly well—have teams that perform better. What’s more, managers who are really good at