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Sales managers need
to coach their salespeople to perform to the best of their abilities. But even
the best sales managers can fall into the trap of trying to coach too many
skills at once, or coaching the wrong skill altogether. These approaches do
little but frustrate both salesperson and manager, and rarely result in
improved performance overall.
An alternative
approach is one I use at HubSpot. We focus on discovering the sales skill that
will make the most difference right now in a salesperson’s performance, and
then coach them to improve that one skill. But avoid over-reliance on your
“gut” to diagnose skill deficiencies. Instead, turn to quantitative
analysis supported by qualitative reflection. I call this approach
metrics-driven sales coaching.
Here’s how to
implement a metrics-driven coaching culture in four simple steps:
1. Establish a
Measurement Framework
Your metrics
framework should allow you to inspect every stage of your funnel and analyze it
for deficiencies. How many leads have been prospected? How many connects
occurred? How many connects converted into discovery calls? How many discovery
calls yielded qualified demos? How many demos closed to customers? What was the
average revenue per customer? How did these metrics differ by division or team?
How did these metrics differ by sales person on each team? How did
these metrics differ month over month for an individual sales person?
You can get as fine-grained as your CRM allows.
The graph below
shows an example of a high level framework for this data.
Start small and over
time expand your metrics framework. “Peel back the onion” on key areas
where you feel the metrics can be improved. For example, if you see a
significant drop off in the conversion from discovery call to demo, start
requiring the reasons for disqualification after the discovery call.
Was
the timing off for the prospect? Did the prospect already have a
solution? Did the prospect agree to the demo but blow it off? All
of these outcomes would suggest a different skill deficiency and a different
coaching strategy to overcome it.
2. Establish an
Organization-wide Coaching Culture
On the second day of
every month, I meet with all of my sales directors and review each salesperson
in their division. I ask three simple questions:
Because my meeting exists, my directors meet with all of their
sales managers the morning of the second day of the month to prepare, and they
ask the same questions of their managers.
Because that director discussion exists, the sales managers meet
with each of their reps on the first day of the month to prepare. This meeting
is very much a two-way dialogue, not a one-way critique from the managers to
the salesperson. First, the manager asks the sales person to
qualitatively reflect on his/her month. “How do you feel you did last
month? What did you do well? What would you like to improve?”
Next, the manager walks the sales person through the team metrics.
“Here is a chart of the total prospecting activity, by sales person on our
team. What do you observe about your performance from these metrics?
Why do you think you are above (or below) average in this area?”
The sales manager moves onto the next chart and repeats the process.
This combination of qualitative and quantitative review helps both salesperson
and manager target the precise skill that needs coaching this month.
Finally, the sales manager and sales person co-create the coaching
plan. “What is the best way I can help develop this skill?” Strive
to lock in the coaching plan right in the meeting. For example, if you
decide to work on discovery calls, set a goal for the sales person to record 2
discovery calls this month. Schedule two 90 minute reviews during
the one-on-one to ensure the task gets done. This entire process empowers
sales people to drive their own professional development.
3. Establish Daily Progress Reports
Use daily dashboards to automate your ongoing measurements. We use
Salesforce.com dashboards at HubSpot, and every day we send the full funnel
metrics by division, team, and salesperson by month, by week, and by day to the
entire sales team, me, and to our CEO. This establishes full transparency and
accountability throughout our team. It also helps keep everyone aware of how
the coaching is working, and gives you the opportunity to intervene or
intensify as the need arises.
This level of accountability requires a particularly strong
culture. It’s important that this level of insight isn’t perceived as an
overbearing level of micromanagement. It helps if the entire organization, from
marketing to sales, to services, to engineering is subject to these daily
reports so that everyone is equally accountable to one another. The image below
shows an example of a marketing and a sales chart holding the two teams
accountable to daily progress.
