Elevating Sales Leadership and Coaching through Whole ...

Rachel Cavallo, Consultant Symmetrics Group Joni Santos, Senior Consultant Symmetrics Group

Elevating Sales Leadership and Coaching through Whole Brain Thinking

Warren Shiver, Managing Partner Symmetrics Group

Today We Will Discuss…

• Our perspective on sales coaching

• Competency-based sales coaching model

• Whole Brain® thinking preferences and your team

• Providing effective feedback

© 2012 Symmetrics Group |

We are a management consulting firm focused on B2B sales and marketing effectiveness.

• Our Mission: Drive measurable and sustainable revenue growth for our clients by improving the productivity and effectiveness of their sales and marketing organizations.

• Our Experience: Leading sales effectiveness projects and overall sales force transformations

• Our Clients: Central Garden & Pet, SAIC, Savvis, HP, IHG, PAG, and many others


About Symmetrics Group

Rachel Cavallo Sales Communications and Change Management

Warren Shiver Sales Transformations and Effectiveness

Symmetrics Group

Pop Quiz!

Think about the manager who has most impacted your career. What are the characteristics you admired most about this individual?


Let Us Guess What You Said…

• Understood what made you tick

• Listened

• Took the time to understand the whole picture

• Made you feel good about elevating your game

• Led by example

• Provided balanced feedback (flexible)

• Coached you…

• Had high expectations but did NOT micromanage


What We Know About Coaching

Coaches spend their time here (the HR mandate)

Coaches don’t know what to do with this group. May ride along just to “relive the glory days”

The Middle 60% - Studies show this group

can improve performance by up to

19% with strong coaching*.

Performance

© 2012 Symmetrics Group | * http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/01/the_dirty_secret_of_effective.html

Fundamental Rules of Sales Coaching

Effective coaching assumes you …

• Have observed the rep in action

• Are not relying on sales reports to tell the story

• Are not visiting your sales rep’s best customer - basing assumptions on the resulting love fest

• Are not providing “one-size-fits-all” feedback


• Limited day-to-day interactions

o Limited opportunities for coaching

o Limited opportunities to observe improvement (potential for “dog & pony show” when you arrive to town)

• Reps typically own the relationship with their customers

o You may not always have complete information to coach

o You have to be careful not to “take over” during field rides

• Coaches may have once had the same territories/ customers as their reps

o May look at coaching in this territory with a bias

• Sales numbers don’t always show the full picture

o Reporting is not always comprehensive

o External factors may impact territories/ accounts positively or negatively

• Balance of selling, coaching, fighting fires

o Time available for field coaching vs. office admin work

o Time required for underperformers vs. making super stars better

Unique Challenges of Sales Coaching


A Few Facts

• FACT: Many companies simply promote their best

salespeople to coaching roles

• FACT: Many sales coaches have never been taught

how to coach

• RESULT: Less than 15% of “Superstar” salespeople

succeed in sales management*

© 2012 Symmetrics Group | * HR Chally Study

• Individuals determine team success

• Individuals may be at different competency development levels

• Each development level requires a different leadership level

Working With Individuals… Where to Begin

IN THE FIELD: Observe and assess rep development level

Apply the appropriate leadership level for the observed development level

LEARNING MASTERING

TEACHING COACHING MONITORING SUPPORTING

DEVELOPING PERFORMING

One size does not fit all.

1

2


Sales Team Productivity

SALE

S LE

AD

ER T

IME

SALES REP PROFICIENCY

Learning Developing Performing Mastering

Sales Leader Leverage • Individuals need more

of your time when they have lower proficiency

• Your role changes as their proficiency improves

• Even those who have mastered a competency still need support

Some individuals need more of your time than others.


Diagnosing the Level of Proficiency

Understanding Competence

Learning Low None

Developing Medium Low

Performing High Medium

Mastering High High

Understanding PRECEDES Competence. Do not confuse knowledge with the ability to execute!


Activity: Coaching Your Team TEAM AT

WORK

Think about your team. Identify someone who is in each phase of competency development: LEARNING, DEVELOPING, PERFORMING, and MASTERING a competency.

How did you determine that they were in that phase?

What are you going to do to help to improve their competency?


Why HBDI? Why Thinking Preferences?

? “He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.” – Philosopher Lao Tzu

Understand yourself.

Understand your team.

Understand how you interact with your team.


Activity: Improve Your Hand TEAM AT

WORK

1. Look at the set of cards in front of you and prioritize them to best reflect your preferences.

2. Try to trade with the people around you to get a hand that better reflects your preferences.

3. Go to the bank, and trade to further improve your hand.

What do your cards say about you? Is there a prevailing color or colors?


Logical Analytical Fact-Based

Quantitative

Holistic Intuitive

Integrating Synthesizing

Organized Sequential

Planned Detailed

Interpersonal Feeling-Based

Kinesthetic Emotional

Whole Brain® Model

WHAT? WHY?

HOW? WHO?


Thinking Styles: Whole Brain® Model

WHAT?

• Can we review my sales numbers again?

• What margins can my customers make on this?

• I ran this great new report!

WHY?

• How do I fit this into my larger plan for this account?

• Why is this so important for us?

• I’ve got a great new idea!

HOW?

• How should we implement this with our customers?

• What do you need me to do next?

• I developed a detailed plan to help me do this!

WHO?

• How will this impact our customers’ business?

• I sense that this customer has a hidden agenda.

• I have a great way to work with our customers on this!

Listen to Your Team for Clues…


Activity: Apply This to Your Team TEAM

AT WORK

For each member of your team, select the word that best describes each one.

Accountability Analytical

Artistic Big Picture

Bottom Line Conceptual

Conservative Creative Critical Culture

Data Detailed

Direct

Disciplined Efficiency

Empathetic Emotional

Esthetic Expressive Fact-Based

Feeling-Based Helpful Holistic

Humanistic Imaginative Integrating

Schedule Scientific

Sequential Spiritual

Spontaneous Strategic

Structured Synthesizing

Talkative Technical Trusting Values Visual

Interpersonal Intuitive

Kinesthetic Linear Logical

Organized Persistent Planned Practical Precision Priorities

Quantitative Research


Activity: Apply This to Your Team TEAM

AT WORK

Accountability Analytical

Artistic Big Picture

Bottom Line Conceptual

Conservative Creative Critical Culture

Data Detailed

Direct

Disciplined Efficiency

Empathetic Emotional

Esthetic Expressive Fact-Based

Feeling-Based Helpful Holistic

Humanistic Imaginative Integrating

Schedule Scientific

Sequential Spiritual

Spontaneous Strategic

Structured Synthesizing

Talkative Technical Trusting Values Visual

1. Write down the color of each of the words that you chose. 2. Look at the colors in your team. Is there a prevailing color? What does this say about

the team? What does this say about how you work with your team?

Interpersonal Intuitive

Kinesthetic Linear Logical

Organized Persistent Planned Practical Precision Priorities

Quantitative Research


Thinking Preference “Super Powers”

The Visionary: Connects disparate ideas and integrates them into the big picture.

The Human Calculator: Runs numbers on the fly.

The Walking Plan: Can develop and

assess plans on the fly

The Feeler: Can read a room. Sensitive to body

language, inflection. Sees what others

don’t.


Activity: Apply This To Someone on Your Team TEAM AT

WORK

1. Pick a person on your team. 2. Diagnose their thinking preference (could be whole brain). 3. What clues have they given off, or why do you otherwise think

that? 4. What “super powers” do they bring to the team? 5. What are you going to do differently with this person based on

this information? 6. Think about an area where this person needs coaching. How will

you incorporate what you know about their thinking style into how you provide coaching?


Feedback: Art or Science?

Or a little bit of both?

• Your personal style • Your relationship with the individual • How you think/ communicate • How the individual thinks/

communicates

• The level of competency • The analysis of the behavior • The feedback process


Feedback: A Walk Around the Brain

WHAT?

• What is the specific behavior that needs to change? (and supporting examples)

WHY?

• Why is this change important?

• What could good look like?

HOW?

• How can the individual make the change?


WHO?

• Who is the person receiving feedback? What are their preferences?

WHO?

• Who is this behavior impacting and to what degree?

Improve Your Craft

The Art…

WHAT?

• Be specific (about positive and critical feedback)

• Focus on the behavior, not the person

WHY?

• Focus on why the change in critical

• Focus on the vision for how the change can yield positive results

HOW?

• Be prepared (examples, improvement plans)

• Provide feedback as close to the event as possible

• Work together to develop an improvement plan

• Document the conversation

WHO?

• Be sincere about wanting to help

• Take accountability for the feedback (not “customers have said..”)


Don’t…

• Beat around the bush – be upfront and clear

• Start by asking Why someone did something (questioning motives puts them on the defensive)

• Argue about the feedback (clarify your position but don’t argue)

• Try to make the person into yourself

Improve Your Craft

The Art…


Coaching is a Science and an Art

Key Points to Remember…

The Point of Thinking Preferences: • How you think matters • How they think matters • Feedback doesn’t matter if it doesn’t

resonate

The Point of a Coaching Model: • One size does not fit all • Your role is always changing with their

competency


Thank You

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