Most senior Executives know how to run a business, however most come from a non sales background. Sales and marketing are neither a dark art, or a black hole that swallows up money for no apparent return.
Our Exec sales coaching is specifically designed for Sales Leaders who have a great product or service, but are experiencing problems around sales and growth. This could be around sales strategy, planning or people, but more often than not there are a number of areas where you can find improvement.
This programme is designed for Sales Leaders who need support developing the entire Sales Function in their business.
This programme gives you access to an experienced Sales Leader who will work side by side with you to grow your sales revenue.
In order to get the most from this programme you will need to have the authority to make any changes across both the sales and marketing function in your business. Sales knowledge or experience is not a requirement, only a hunger to learn and an open mind to try new strategies and tactics.
We work with senior executives to help them develop a sales and marketing strategy, and then support them as they implement the strategy across their teams.
Executive Sales Coaching Model
We have over 30 sales frameworks and tools that we provide and help our clients customise them to their unique business needs. This helps embed any new processes, strategies and techniques to ensure you are successful for many years after our coaching.
Executive Sales Coaching is by nature strategic coaching and very different from tactical coaching.
Clients on our Executive Sales Coaching programme are already high performers, and for them, the challenge is much more strategic such as helping them with strategy, planning and execution.
This can cover many things like Sales & Marketing Strategy, Organisational Structure, People Development, Channel Management, Sales & Marketing Technology and Customer Management.
With increases in sales, the challenges never completely go away, they simply change from perhaps not enough sales, to not enough salespeople, or we’ve outgrown our technology, or we need to manage our new and bigger customers differently to retain their business.
Exec Sales Coaching is unique and different for everyone and your Sales Coach should be as adaptable as you will need to be in order to overcome your challenges.
Our goal is to make our clients as proficient and self-sustainable in terms of sales as quickly as possible. We want to leave a legacy that provides lasting impact and we do this via focussing on the following areas:
Many clients come to us for sales training but also need support in other areas of sales. This programme provides a holistic approach to both training, coaching and sales leadership.
Here is an example of just some of our lead generation in action. By helping our clients align their sales and marketing we get their products and services listed on page 1 of Google. The traffic and sales this brings to the business alone can often transform the business.
Don’t take our word for it. We are happy to provide a growing list of over 180 keywords that we rank on page 1 of Google for. More importantly after doing some initial research we can show you exactly how to get your products and services on page 1.
Please note: everything above the Klozers listing are paid ads, which with respect, anyone can do. How much would this add to the value of your business? Please note the Google algorithm changes delay and when checking you may not see the exact same results as the screen shots.
In most cases, our online sales coaching revolves around sales performance and is normally based on the high-value activities of finding more sales, klozing more sales and growing existing sales. For us, this is Tactical Coaching.
In many cases our Exec Coaching clients feel they have no one to talk to about their business.
They all have a husband or wife, a business partner or even a Sales Director but they lack a sounding board to bounce ideas off and someone to provide objective advice about their business, their people and Sales.
In addition they often feel the need for someone who is not emotionally connected to the business to provide a sense check, especially around sales.
Often CEO’s come from a Technical or Operational background and Sales can seem like an uncomfortable black hole they want to avoid.
Our Coaches will work with you to create a sales plan – the roadmap from where you are now, to where you want to be. The coach then works with you to overcome the challenges and road blocks along the way.
We keep our coaching unapologetically simple because the simpler it is the easier it is for everyone to follow and implement.
There are two simple steps to the process:
1. Work with you to create an ambitious 90 day Sales Plan – what goes in your Sales Plan? Every company and every exec we work with has a completely different plan, so at this stage we don’t know. However, there will never be anything in the plan that you have not agreed to.
2. Get your Sales Plan signed off by a colleague who agrees to review the plan with you on a monthly basis. This gives you added internal support and the essential accountability that we as a coach cannot provide.
3. We work with you to help execute the sales plan. This is where our knowledge, experience and coaching kicks in as we support you to implement your new strategies and plans.
Whether you’re looking for Sales Management Coaching because you need to support a Sales Manager, or you have a Sales Manager that you want to start coaching your sales team, we’ve got you covered.
Recently a Chief Exec of a Mid Market organisation told us how they recently had been forced to let one of their new Sales Managers go. The Manager had been working in a remote office and they had been unaware of any problems, until some of their best salespeople had left the business. One by one their top people had left, until they realised that the Sales Manager’s style was simply destroying the culture they had built up and wasn’t willing to change.
Sales Managers have an important but difficult role and can often make or break a Sales Team. Sales Managers have often been top salespeople with the ambition to move on and up, without anyone preparing them for a Management role. Sales Management is a completely different skill to being a salesperson and many of the traits that make someone good at sales often work against them as a Sales Manager.
Often Sales Managers need training and coaching to help them, in turn, be better at coaching their salespeople. Many managers will claim they are too busy or there is no need for coaching because “I talk to my people every day”. There is no substitute for a transparent, structured and objective coaching process that meets the goals of the coachee and the goals of the business.
Sales Performance Coaching is very similar to Performance Management Coaching, however, it is specific to sales whereas Performance Management usually relates to the wider business.
Sales Performance Coaching should:
Inspire the company’s “A” players to push on and break existing sales records.
Provide the support that “B” players need to improve and become “A” players in their own right.
Should be used to onboard new Salespeople and Graduates to ensure they get the best possible start in the business.
As a CEO or Sales Leader, we would encourage you to develop a coaching culture within your business which supports both the organisations learning & development goals and the business goals.
Whilst we always endorse internal coaching by line managers, in most cases Sales Managers:
Don’t make time available for coaching
Don’t have a formal coaching process
Haven’t been trained to coach salespeople
Developing a culture of coaching within the business engages and empowers the whole sales team. Studies show:
80% of the workforce who have experienced coaching say it positively impacts their work performance, productivity, communication skills, and well-being.
65% of those in a coaching culture are highly engaged.
Organisations with a strong coaching culture report revenues 34% higher than their peer group.
Sales Coaching and mentoring are similar but different skills and activities.
Mentoring is typically a long term (1-3) year process where a Mentee is guided by a third party who has typically gone through the same challenges and can therefore empathise and bring a different perspective.
Mentoring is normally more informal and doesn’t have any particular process or structure to it.
This can cause issues as, without any process or structure, there is little to no accountability from either side and often the mentoring relationship fizzles out.
That said a good mentoring programme can provide real benefits when designed and managed well.
Sales Coaching is typically a short term (3-9 month) process where the Sales Coach is supporting the Coachee with the practical application of strategies and tactics.
Coaching should have a clearly defined and transparent structure and process. Therefore each of our coaching is based on our 90 Day Sales Plans.
We assign our Exec Sales Coaches on a case by case basis. Our goal is to align your business and personal needs with the coach that best fits those needs. Between our coaches we have over 100 years in B2B Sales, and have amassed lots of experiences to draw on, both good and bad.
Whether your business is an SME, Mid-Market or Enterprise you will be interested in genuine sales growth.
With the world becoming smaller and electronic communications getting better we now deliver all of our sales coaching programmes online. We recommend using MS Teams for Sales where you can custom build your own sales portal which is reliable and robust Our own Teams Portal allows us to communicate, share documents, guides and templates with you as and when required.
Inside the portal, we can each track and measure your progress to your goals and all our sales support content is available to you 24/7.
The Teams portal also provides chat, email and video conferencing facilities, however, if you don’t have Microsoft O365 don’t worry you can access MS Teams through our license on IOS or Android with a free email account from Microsoft. There’s also an app available so if we need to talk when you are away from your desk it’s still really easy for you.
There are many different Coaching styles, however, our belief is that the style should be based on what works best for the Coachee not the Coach. In order for the coaching to be successful the programme needs to follow a transparent structure and process however the way the Coach and the Mentee work through the process can be very different. The Coaching Styles we work with are:
Directive Coaching
Directive Coaching is where the Coach will explain and demonstrate new strategies, tactics or skills to the Coachee. The Coachee is given a “learning path” and has to follow it. For example one particular client we worked with, who had previously used a Business Coach made us assure her that when she asked a question on how to do a particular sales task or activity we would tell her immediately and not respond with questions. This lady was fiercely ambitious, but more importantly she had the intellectual humility to take on board external advice and then immediately rushed off to implement it.
Non Directive Coaching
Non Directive Coaching is based on the principles of Socratic teaching which conveys knowledge through critical thinking and reasoning. This format is a question based approach that encourages the individuals to work out and discover for themselves the answers to the problem. Whilst this may take the Coachee longer to get there, the process can be more empowering as “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still”. What we mean by this is telling is not always the best way to convey knowledge.
Collaborative Coaching
Collaborative Coaching is where the Coach and the Coachee work together to discover the best approach and answers. In many cases Exec Coaching requires this as whilst the Coach may know the answers the context might make the answers less effective. The Coachee knows the organisation, it’s structures and people better than the Coach but working together they can find the best solutions to move forward.
Our Approach
We have discovered over the years that in order to serve our clients well our Coaches need to be able to use all three Coaching styles. Throughout our Exec coaching sessions we have to be able to respond in the most appropriate style based on the scenario and the needs of the Coachee.
The Coaching Styles are part of the GROW Sales Coaching model that we use to add structure and process to our coaching sessions.
Coaching doesn’t work for everyone and this normally relates to their leadership style. A study by Zenger Folkman the Leadership experts showed:
People become less coachable the older they get
Those who remain coachable maintained a high level of Leadership effectiveness
Leaders with the highest potential also scored high on coachability
Those who are more coachable are better leaders
As people move up into C level positions the most coachable are the most effective
In order for Exec Sales Coaching to work for you, it’s important that you understand:
That no Sales Coach in the world has a magic wand or quick fix for sales. Yes, Sales Coaching can help, however, it’s unrealistic to expect any Coach to turn around sales in a month when you may have been trying for 4, 5 years or more.
It’s your responsibility to have a good, reliable, product or service (not necessarily the best). There is no sense in trying to grow sales if your product or service isn’t good enough to win repeat business. Fix the product or service first and then look to improve your sales.
Growing and Scaling a business is not only hard work, it can also be very stressful. Sales Coaching can alleviate this however it will always be hard and stressful and your wellbeing should always take precedence.
Much like when you go to the gym, you will be doing all the heavy lifting and like your Coach in the Gym, our job is much easier standing by your side. However. in the same way that when you come out the gym you feel much better and more positive, your Coaching sessions will lift you. Often just knowing you are on the right track is the most important thing.
Our Exec coaching is live and delivered on a 121 basis with dedicated calls every two weeks. This is the minimum level of engagement we require. Outside of your bi-weekly calls you will still be able to contact a coach via Live Chat, email and telephone.
There will invariably be times you would like us to talk to your sales and marketing teams and we are happy to do so as part of the programme.
We do not place a limit on access to our coaches, so there is always someone available to speak with.
This programme provides coaching for 1 x Executive.
Will the coaching cover the topics that are important to me?
Yes. All our training and coaching includes an initial needs analysis where you can specify the areas that are most important to you.
Do you provide bespoke services for larger organisations?
Yes, and as examples we can help you create and run your own Sales Enablement portal, or provide speakers for sales conferences. Please email us via the Contact Us page with your enquiry.
What industries does the Coaching cover?
Our Exec Sales Coaching is specific to Business to Business selling, not to any specific vertical. We do however have lots of experience in IT, Pharma, Technology, SaaS, Professional Services, Digital Media, Construction, Engineering, Oil & Gas, Banking, Software and Financial Services.
Can I cancel my coaching plan?
Yes. It is simply not possible to coach someone who does not want to be coached. As a company and individually, we only want to work with people where we can add value.
You can cancel your coaching plan at any time and you will still have access to your coach and all the content up until the date of when the next monthly payment would have been due.
Many of our clients require bespoke programmes built around the specific needs of their organisation and people. As examples, we can help you create and run your own sales programmes, internal sales academies, partner development programmes, sales enablement portals and sales kick-offs. Please use the “Book a call” function below to speak to one of our coaches.
As every business and its people are unique, it’s not unusual for people to still have questions. You can book a no obligation call with one of our coaches who can answer any questions you have.
I never really enjoyed sales and selling until I did some training with Klozers. If you’re wondering about the investment and if it’s worth it, I can only share my experience. Of the many strategies and techniques I learned, every single one was relevant, however, one strategy in particular on negotiation has earned our business over £100k every year. This stuff just works.
William Fairhurst – Managing Director, ECS
Iain is an outstanding sales trainer and coach. He has played a crucial role in helping us develop a thoroughly professional and industry leading sales and customer service team. Having worked with us for two years, he has become our trusted advisor on all matters related to our sales strategy. His passion for what he does is infectious and I would highly recommend having a conversation with Iain to see if he could help your company’s sales performance.
