What Are Your Salespeople Doing?
Five Observations of First Appointments with Your Salespeople

Have you ever wondered why some of your salespeople are effective and others are not? Only when you observe the best and worst in the field can you actually determine the differences. If your salespeople continually come back without a sale and only an excuse, then you’re at their mercy and have to take them at their word. Field coaching, however, puts you in a front row seat. You can observe your salespeople in action and assess their performance first hand. Only then will you be able to objectively identify their strengths, weaknesses and developmental areas. Here are five key questions to ask yourself as you observe your salespeople in the field.

1. Did they establish trust and rapport with the prospect? Some salespeople move too fast during the face-to-face introduction and initial phase of the sales call. They want to “get down to business”. Other salespeople, move too slowly and “small talk” way too long. Observe your salespeople in this phase of the sales call to ensure that they are checking the “temperature” of the prospect in order to determine when to move from “small talk” to “sales talk”.
   
   
2. Did they prepare their questions? Too many salespeople leave a sales call incomplete because they failed to ask all of the important questions. After the first few miles are between them and the prospect they just left, a wave of regret comes over them as they mutter to themselves – “I forgot to ask them about their costs associated with downtime!” It’s even worse if the question they forgot to ask is required for creating a proposal. Then they must make the dreaded follow-up call to ask for information due to their oversight. Ensure that your salespeople know what information they must have before they leave that first call.
   
   
3. Did they know the “key players” inside the account? Who are the decision-makers and who are the influencers? Who persuades whom inside of the organization? Your salesperson needs to ask questions on this first call or else be prepared to find out as early in the sales process as possible. Are your salespeople coming back with critical information or with blank stares when you review their pipeline each week? If you as a sales manager don’t ask the questions during the sales meetings, then they probably won’t know to ask during their sales calls.
   
   
4. Did they position your company and themselves well? Very few companies have a long term-differential advantage when it comes to their products or services. Whatever your offerings may be, the market perception is that they can get it somewhere else. Therefore, one of the worst things your salespeople can do is to look like every other salesperson that’s graced the prospects office. Timeliness, professionalism, courtesy, style, image, presentation, as well as rapport building skills are all critical to your salesperson communicating value. That is the only real differential advantage they have. Don’t allow your salespeople to “commoditize” themselves. When you go out into the field with them on a first call, observe “how” they come across. That may be just thing between landing the sale and coming in a distant second place.
   
   
5. Did they establish “next steps”? This is one of the biggest mistakes salespeople make when completing a sales call. They fail to definitively determine the next course of action. What will happen next? Will it be another appointment with other key people? Will your salesperson forward materials? Will an analysis be scheduled? When, where and with whom? Who calls whom next and on what day and at what time? Knowing that each of your salespeople are preparing for their first appointments, asking the right questions and collecting relevant information will step the quality of their prospect file and the effectiveness of your sales process.

Sales coaching is time consuming – but critical. The best sales managers I consult with view their position just like a coach. They observe, advise, mentor, and educate; and then have their salespeople repeat tasks, strategies and techniques over and over again in order to improve their personal performance. You too can create a winning sales force through effective coaching. These five questions will help you get started on the right track as a champion sales coach.

About the Author

Barrett Riddleberger is an internationally recognized leader in the practice of sales assessment, sales training, sales recruitment and retention. His new book, “Blueprint of a Sales Champion,” details how organizations can find, train and retain top performing salespeople even in a highly competitive market. An accomplished lecturer, Riddleberger is also highly in demand as a business development and motivational speaker for organizations seeking to inspire their sales force. For more info go to www.ResolutionSystemsInc.com or www.BlueprintOfASalesChampion.com or call 336.665.0506