Why sales leaders need to coach their employees when dealing with common coaching challenges.

1. Why Sales Leaders
Must Own Sales Coaching NOW
Sales Coaching Hits the Bulls Eye!
Presented by:
Tim Hagen, President of Sales Progress
(A Training Reinforcement Partner Co.)

2. Common Sales Challenges
1. Cold calling
5. Relationship building
2. Asking for an order
6. Professional sales mentality
3. Needs-based selling
7. Negotiating
4. Active listening
8. Handling price objections
9. “We already have a vendor” objection
10. “It’s a tough economy” sales representative
11. “No time” to prospect sales representative

3. Reason #1: Cold calling
Major Challenge: Most people hate it. It’s the necessary
evil but few embrace it and do it with confidence. A HUGE
opportunity for any sales team.
Hint:
Training alone will NEVER make
a sales person feel comfortable. It
takes practice and positive
reinforcement. This requires their
direct manager to be involved!
Suggested Activity:
Email the manager each week a success
you had with cold calling, Be prepared to
share the client name and why you felt
you were successful.
The goal of this activity is to help the
representative maintain a positive
pursuit of success as it relates to cold
calling.

4. Reason #2: Asking for an order
Major Challenge: Many fear this. Here’s a question:
What are you going to do to successfully ask for an
order from ABC Company?
Hint:
Some, NOT all, are hesitant to
ask for the order. Some have
not earned the right because
they have not learned enough
about the prospect’s needs;
therefore, success is much
more difficult.
Suggested Activity:
Schedule a peer to peer coaching session for
the employee. Have him/her pair up with a
representative who is an expert at asking for
orders and have them role-play scenarios.
The goal of this activity is to help the
representative become confident and skilled
when asking for orders as well as sharing
what they learned to earn the right to ask for
the order

5. Reason #3: Needs-Based Selling
Major Challenge: What specific questions are the
sales people going to ask to successfully position
themselves and the company?
Hint:
Most sales people are
“talkers” and while most
know the difference
between open and closeended questions, they still
pigeon-hole themselves by
asking close-ended
questions. This is an art
form that has sadly gone
by the wayside!
Suggested Activity:
Have each employee email you one success
they had each week and identify the question
they felt worked best with the customer.
The goal of this activity is to help the
representative become confident and skilled
when asking a variety of questions.

6. Reason #4 Active Listening
Major Challenge: This one was easy. A sales person
who listens … listens REALLY well … is RARE.
Hint:
Active listening is the
ability to state back what
a prospect or client said.
When was the last time a
sales person did that for
you?
Suggested Activity:
Have each employee email you one success
they had each week and identify the question
they felt worked best with the customer, as
well as ,what they learned that will position
them to have success.
The goal of this activity is to help the
representative become consistent with active
listening in the selling process.

7. Reason #5: Relationship Building
Major Challenge: Rapport and getting along is NOT a great
relationship. A great relationship is when a customer views
the sales person as someone they would never replace!
Hint:
Most sales people assume they
have a relationship that others do
not. BIG assumption!
This question will build the
awareness that “relationship
building” cannot merely be a
concept, but must be a series of
actions that deepen customer
relationships to make it difficult
for a customer to leave the
relationship.
Suggested Activity:
Have each employee email you one success
they had each week and identify the specific
customer and the relationship-building action
they took.
The goal of this activity is to help the
representative become consistent with
relationship -building actions!

8. Reason #6: Professional Sales Mentality
Major Challenge: Most reps take credit when things are
good and blame things like the economy when things are
tough.
Hint:
This “Self-Actualized”
question will frame the
employee’s mind to remember
to not only cross-sell, but use
a specific question that drives
success.
What specific question do you
use when successfully crossselling?
Suggested Activity:
Have each employee email you one success
they had each week and identify the crossselling question they felt worked best with the
customer, as well as, what they learned that
will position them to have success.
The goal of this activity is to help the
representative become consistent with crossselling within the selling process.

9. Reason #7: Negotiating
Major Challenge: Most sales people “shoot from the
hip” and do not deploy a process.
Hint:
This question will build their
awareness, as well as yours, as to
their “true” preparedness of
“How to Negotiate.” No
preparation will lead to price
discounting and brand value
being lowered.
“What process or series of steps
do you take when the negotiating
process starts?”
Suggested Activity:
Have the employee teach you their response to
price objections and what they say. Be
prepared, as most will not have a well defined statement or response. This is where
the opportunity lies.
The goal of this activity is to help the
representative become aware of the need to
develop a set of responses to truly be prepared
to successfully handle price objections.

10. Reason #8: Price Objections
Major Challenge: Most sales people are prepared to
lower price to NOT lose the sales or relationship.
Hint:
This question will build
their awareness, as well as
yours, as to their “true”
preparedness of “Handling
Price Objections.”
“What do you “specifically”
say when a customer gives
a price objection (what do
you say at that moment)?”
Suggested Activity:
Have the employee teach you their system or
steps to handling price objections. Be
prepared, as most will not have a process or
set of steps.
The goal of this activity is to help the
representative become aware of the need to
develop a true process for handling price
objections. This can lead to practice sessions,
if the steps are clearly laid out.

11. Reason #9 “We Already Work With Someone”
Objection
Major Challenge: Most reps get discouraged at this point and the
prospect can hear that.
Hint:
Suggested Activity:
After the question, do not say anything.
Remain silent – it is a powerful tool for
allowing them to reflect on how they
actually handle the situation. If they
can’t answer, they will need coaching for
skill development.
Schedule a group meeting to brainstorm
ideas. Assign a Self -Directed Learning
(SDL) Project, having each rep find and read
an article on combating vendor objections.
Be sure to have them email the manager
and team members what they learned.
When a prospect indicates that they
already use a current vendor, what do
you say at that moment to counter the
objection?
The goal of this activity is to generate ideas
and have your team share information with
one another.

12. Reason #10: “It’s a Tough Economy” Rep
Major Challenge: Most sales people take credit when things are
good, but when things are tough, the “economy” becomes their crutch
for not creating success. Ironically, sales people will never give a
stronger economy credit when their sales go up!
Hint:
This question will build their
awareness, as well as ,yours as to
their “true” attitude to selling in
difficult times.
“If the President were to
announce the economy is
predicted to remain the same for
the next ten years, what
strategies would you take to
overcome the challenging
economic times?”
Suggested Activity:
It’s okay if they back down or do not have a
well thought-out response. The key is to get
them back on track with knowing a “positive
attitude” when selling is the ONLY choice
they can really make.
The goal of this activity is to help the
representative become aware of the need to
maintain a positive attitude when selling!

13. Reason #11: “No Time” To Prospect Rep
Major Challenge: Question for Rep: “Hypothetically, if I were to tell
you that you put your selling success at great risk when you are not
prospecting and filling up your pipeline, how would you react?
Hint:
This question will normally
elicit a response that is filled
with reasons why they cannot
prospect, but ultimately will get
a response that indicates they
know they need to prospect
more. The key is to respond
with, “What can we do together
to successfully get you back on
track in regard to dedicated
time to prospecting?”
Suggested Activity:
The goal is to have a framed and positive
conversation to get the rep dedicated to a
committed time to prospect and then coach to
it!
The goal of this activity is to gain agreement
on the committed time and monitor the rep’s
ability to consistently adhere to the
commitment.

14. Summary
The goal of any good sales leader should be to:
1. Set expectations
2. Ask questions
3. Gain clarity of rep’s challenges and needs
4. Develop actions for consistent and dedicated
performance improvement
5. Maintain a structured and scheduled
approach for performance improvement

15. Thank You
I hope this white paper has helped you with some new
approaches to driving your team’s selling success.
Tim Hagen
President of Sales Progress LLC and Training Reinforcement Partners
For additional information, read our white papers:
7 Step Sales Training Strategy:
http://www.salesprogress.com/7-step-sales-training-strategy-0
Price Objections Are Your Opportunities:
http://www.salesprogress.com/price-objections-are-your-opportunities
7 Ways to Start Sales Coaching
http://www.salesprogress.com/7-ways-to-start-sales-coaching#.UxY0m-NdWN0

16. Contact Us
About Tim Hagen
Tim Hagen founded Sales Progress, a Training Reinforcement Partner
Company, in 1997. Tim has authored the Sales Progress Coaching
Training System™. This system teaches sales and non- sales leaders
how to systematically coach their employees to dramatically higher
levels of performance!
Ask About Our “Sales Progress Coaching Training System”
“Where We Build Managers Into Powerful Sales Coaches”
Connect with Tim:
Phone: 262-377-5655
Email: tim@salesprogress.com
Cell: 262-227-8563
Visit Our Website: www.salesprogress.com
Join our Blog: http://www.salesprogress.com/coaching-leadership/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/timhagen
For more information, please visit us at: www.salesprogress.com