How do you turn a group of average sales professionals into experts capable of closing any deal? Simple, you invest in their education.
After all, while some sales professionals naturally have characteristics that make them more effective in their role, such as confidence and charisma, the best salespeople are rarely born – they’re molded into shape. Some of the most successful salespeople of all time are the individuals who commit themselves to constantly learning, expanding their horizons, and discovering new skills.
Business leaders, therefore, need to ensure they’re providing the right educational opportunities to their staff, so they can develop the talents they need. High-performance coaching can be a fantastic tool for organizations looking to empower and optimize their workforce.
Some people assume “high-performance coaching” means delivering educational opportunities for star employees, to help them make the most of their existing skills. However, this methodology actually focuses on converting all of your employees into “high performers”.
High-performance coaches work with students to develop customized strategies for success, tailored around the strengths, weaknesses, and abilities of each employee.
For instance, a manager may take on the role of “high-performance coach” for a new employee responsible for cold calls in the sales landscape. They would start by evaluating the employee’s performance and pinpointing problem areas. The coach would then offer step-by-step guidance and support to help the employee overcome their issues, and harness new skills.
High-performance coaching is similar in a lot of ways to regular coaching. However, a high-performance coach specifically focuses on pushing employees to be their best, according to the values and expectations of the company.
In some cases, high-performance coaching can be more challenging than traditional coaching, and more intensive. It can even involve the input of multiple business leaders from across the company. High-performance coaches may work in collaboration to identify the key areas where they want their team members to excel, before creating individualized training methods for each employee.
Often, high-performance coaching will include:
Because high-performance coaching is often seen as an intensive, long-term, and intimate form of coaching, it’s not always the right strategy for every use case. High performance coaching is generally best-suited to situations where businesses want to help employees overcome blocks in their performance, increase their motivation, and unlock new opportunities. It works well for:
The good news for business leaders is that virtually anyone can be a “high performance coach” for other employees. Typically, high performance coaches are leaders or experienced professionals in the organization, who already have a strong understanding of the company’s goals and values.
However, while anyone can be a high-performance coach, these professionals do need to demonstrate certain characteristics to be successful in their role. For instance, they need to be:
There’s no one-size-fits-all guide to high-performance coaching. The more companies invest in this method of training and education, the more they’ll discover which strategies actually work for their employees. However, there are some steps you can take to boost your chances of success. For instance, high performance coaches should always:
Keeping your sales teams engaged and motivated is crucial to your company’s success. The more motivated your staff, the more likely they are to generate positive results for your business. Some studies even suggest a highly motivated sales team can increase profits by 21%.
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