by Steve Jensen
7 min read
A coaching goal is a goal where a rep commits to change an activity level or develop a new skill. Coaching goals are not dependent on a customer saying “yes.” Those are sales goals. The only person that needs to say “yes” to a coaching goal is the rep. They agree to do more of very specific sales activities. They agree to do other activities that are designed to develop specific sales skills. Simply put, the rep agrees to improve his or her approach to sales.
In order for this to work at scale, an organization must have a clearly defined “Skill to Success” model. Every sales organization must define the skills and activities required to achieve success as a member of the sales team. The Skill to Success model is based on this framework:
What are the Drivers of Success for your sales organization? Keeping those drivers in mind, review your YTD success. You should pay particular attention to those drivers that have had the most significant effect on success over the previous period. Those are your key drivers.
What is the rep’s success trajectory?
You can calculate a rep’s status using three points:
If you know these three things about a rep, you know everything you need to know to influence the direction of their career.
Benchmark the performance of your team. Next, analyze your team using the following metrics:
Understand efficiencies by examining:
Identify 2-3 monthly priorities that can be used as a basis for new goals. Be careful not to choose too many areas of focus. Reps respond best to 1 or 2 goals each.
With practice, the relationship between specific skills and activities with desired outcomes becomes apparent and it becomes possible for you to start predicting outcomes. You will know which skills and activities lead to which results. The better you understand these goals, the more predictable your outcomes become.
Collaborate with your team members on setting and achieving goals. Your plan should be attainable and measurable. Set some larger annual or quarterly goals and then break them down into components to serve as your monthly goals. It is much better to move a rep to be incrementally better than to expect world-class performance from the beginning. Set specific goals and measurement plans around activities or skills to drive “next-level” performance.
This provides a simple way to ensure 100% of coaching goals are relevant for each rep:
This format ensures you will never have “rogue goals” where leaders ask reps to do something that doesn’t fuel the skill to success model. This model is the fastest way to make your 1:1s relevant with every rep.
When Moments of Commitment come, set a goal that is relevant, measurable, and achievable…and that only they have to say “Yes” to. This is the only way to move past the conversations and truly create coaching commitment.
No commitment = no change.
No change = no coaching.
It really is this simple.
Customers don’t buy from your reps unless there is a clear reason for them to change. The better you dollarize the reason to change the more likely the change happens. “Reps respond to leaders who choose to be relevant to their unique journey.” Your reps don’t buy your coaching unless there is a clear reason for them to change. Dollarizing the value of even the smallest change is the easiest way to engineer moments of commitment.
As a leader, you’re selling change. Intentional improvement requires intentional change. Don’t beat people up with data and leave them to figure out what they need to do differently in order to win. Too many leaders think lack of performance = lack of motivation. This simply isn’t true. I haven’t met the rep that wants to suck.
Task clarity is the fastest road to performance. Task clarity will help reps win more, fill pipeline gaps, and achieve their aspirations. This is why gamification only works in very specific usage situations. Stop playing games with your reps and start helping them make commitments in the concrete things they can change.
Quotas are set by the company. Goals are set by the rep. This is why goals are always more important than quotas. If their goal is to hit quota then you’ve let them down. The goals should be to do very specific things that will lead them to their desired results.
“To engineer a moment of commitment with a sales rep, we must be tour guides.” If you stay relevant and drive commitment your team will never feel micromanaged. If you lead with averages and stack rankings they will see their time with you as un “unnecessary evil.”
Remember: Transformational results require transformational activities. Great leaders inspire transformational activities and their reps willingly give them.
Providing insight and creating moments where your reps commit to do something in their best interest will guarantee that you remain a strategic part of how they do what they joined your team for in the first place:
Win.
Steve Jensen is the VP of Marketing at Xvoyant