Coaching - take them where they CAN go

I think that the word coach is often misused in the business world and in general. To coach literally means to take someone where they want to go. A lot of managers think that by setting a forecast for their employees or a goal for the organization, and once on that path that reminding their employees of that goal, that is coaching. Coaching is a form of teaching but it goes further than that; we can teach someone how to do a job or task but are we working on moving that person forward in their own self or professional development. If we are truly coaching then we are helping people move forward with their goals. You will know you are coaching when you learn and grow during your sessions as well. Coaching is a two-way street, both parties grow and develop at the same time. There are several important tools we need to develop to be a good coach and I will run through some of them.

Listen


The most important thing for a coach to do is to listen. You need to listen to your people and where they want to go, you need to listen to your inner self about how to take your people forward and you need to listen all the way through the process. You will never stop listening, even when you are in the middle of a coaching situation you will be listening for clues about how to move forward or whether the session is effective. During a coaching session it is important to listen, without interruption, what your employee/student is telling you. Only then is it okay to digest the information and try to move forward. It is extremely important that you listen first as this will build trust with your student. You can not be an effective coach until they trust you. You can coach without the trust, but you will be most effective once you have their trust. 

Ask questions

Ask lots of questions. Make sure you are asking questions that get the person to reflect and have to think about the answer. Yes or no questions at times are okay, as long as you follow up with another question to find out why. Why questions are very powerful to find out the true meaning of something or the reasoning behind the way someone does something or acts a certain way. By asking question you will build additional trust, because you have shown an interest in that persons wants and needs. Notice in the picture above that the outside of the ear is shaped like a question mark and the inside like a 'y' (why)? I don't think this is a coincidence! 

Explore

After listening and asking questions you must then explore so more. You have now built some trust so asking exploring questions and listening some more will not seem like an inquisition but a way to help. Exploration is about finding a path, the answer to one of your questions, and following that path to the end to see where it takes both of you. Exploration is not just for you, but also for the student/employee to go on. Explore the answers and take that path to see where it goes. If you just "ask" questions you might not find the right path unless you explore the answers to those questions. It is important that you guide the individual down the path and let them make their own discoveries or new paths as you go. When you get to the end of the path you will know it, you will see it in their eyes; that "AHA" moment.

Commitment

Once you have asked questions, listened, and explored the paths those questions led you down, the next step is commitment. You must get a commitment from the individual that this is the right path to be on. By seeking a commitment you will be able to then set a timeline for the commitment and it will lead you to your next step. This commitment is a 2-way street, the individual is committing to you that they will follow the path to the end and you are committing to them that you will be there walking the path with them. This is where you will set forth a timeline for which to reach the end of the path, but it is important that we set way-points along the way to stop and measure the progress to determine if we are still on track. You will both need to set specific measurement criteria to determine that you are on track to reach the goal. The commitment is not just for the goal, but also for each way-point and measurement criteria.

Challenge

Now that you have built trust by listening, asking questions and exploring; and now that you have both committed to the journey, it is time for the challenge phase. You can not challenge or push someone if they are not committed to the process. By this time, you have built trust and as long as you continue the steps above you will be able to challenge your student to push for more. During this phase you will use the timeline and specific goals to measure the progress and challenge them to go further. 

Take them where they CAN go

There is one thing I have left out that is important, take them where they CAN go. You will find individuals or groups that are either content to reach a certain level, don't believe they can move beyond that level or maybe they have failed to reach a certain level and given up on obtaining it. It is your job to take them where they CAN go, not just where they want to go. This is part of the challenge step and can only be truly realized once you have complete trust and they see they are making progress toward the commitment.

These are not all of the tools you need in your toolbox to be an effective coach, but they are the ones you must utilize to get the most out of your coaching sessions. Have you ever wondered why in professional sports that in Football they refer to the Head Coach, but in Baseball the refer to the Manager? Sure there are times when a baseball manager is referred to as coach, but more often than not he is referred to as the manager. Why is that, leave me your thoughts.

Manager, Leader or Coach, who are you?

Are you a manager, leader or coach? Maybe a combination of all of the above? There are differences and I wanted to take a moment to highlight the differences. First let's look at the definitions:

Manage -to take charge or care of; to dominate or influence; to handle, direct, govern, or control in action or use


Lead - to go before or with to show the way; to influence or induce; to guide in direction, course, action, opinion, etc.


Coach - a person who trains an athlete or a team of athletes; to give instruction or advice to in the capacity of a coach; instruct

Each of these have very different meanings but they are used interchangeably on a regular basis. Why are these words used so loosely in the "management" roles of business. I believe that there is a lack of understanding of the meaning of each and that some use them as buzz words. 

It is my belief that you manage things not people. The definition itself contains words like dominate, control, influence and govern. If I were to give your employees this list of words to describe you would they agree? I don't think any of us want to be known as someone who dominates, controls and governs our employees, so why do we call ourselves managers? That's is just what the title has always been. Break out of the mold, just because it has always been that way doesn't mean we must continue it. If that were the case we would all be traveling to work in a horse drawn carriage.

Leaders as the definition explains are there to go before or show the way, to guide and to influence or induce. I love the word leader as it reminds us all that we are supposed to be setting the example (to go before) and let's our employees know that we are in this together. A leader is not someone who points down the path and states "Go that way". By definition you would then be a manager because you are giving directions.

Coaches are people who train, give instruction or advice to their employees. I have heard the definition for coach explained as taking people where they want to go. I think this is a good definition but I would change it from "...where they want to go" to "...where they CAN go". As a coach it is my job to get the best out of my athlete or employee. I don't want to take them just to the place they think they can go to, but to their full potential. We all have preconceived notions about how far we can go mentally, physically and emotionally; but we have all been pushed beyond those boundaries at some point in our life. I know I have and I KNOW my wife has; my wife can't get a shot without passing out, but she gave birth to our second boy the all natural way. No medicines to dull the pain at all; now if she would of had a choice I know she would have opted for the drugs! She was pushed beyond her preconceived parameters of pain and what she thought she could deal with.


So who do you want to be? I feel that we need to have all of the traits: manager, leader and coach. There are times when we are going to have to manage things, we need to go before and show our people where we want to go and we need to coach our employees to take them to where they can go.


In my next post I will focus on coaching and what I feel is important in the coaching role. 


If you have feedback, please don't hesitate to critique my post. I can not get better if I don't get feedback. Please let me know if there is a topic you would like to hear about.

The most powerful word in sales

Imagine you are at the beach. The sun is bright and glistening off the water. The sound of sea gulls fill the air as the waves gently lick the sand. An easy breeze flows through your hair and fills your nose with the salty air. Imagine you have a drink in your hand strolling down the beach. Do you have the visual in your mind's eye?

Now a few questions: what beach were you at? Who were you with? Was there other people on the beach? What time of day was it? What kind of drink did you have in your hand? Was it in a glass, a bottle, a red solo cup, a coconut shell with an umbrella or something else?

If you took the time to imagine yourself at the beach you can probably answer most if not all of those questions. How is it possible that everyone reading this was at the beach but had different answers? The word imagine makes your mind wander and takes it places and paints pictures without you even having to stop and think about it. Not only does it paint a mental picture but the imagination of the mind can touch all the senses. Have you ever imagined something and you could "smell" the smells associated with that image? You "heard" the sea gulls in you minds ear in the exercise above and you could probably feel the sand in your toes.

Imagine -  to form a mental image of

Think about your sales opportunities; are you painting the mental picture of your client using your product. Maybe it is a job interview, paint the mental picture of what you can do for the company. The word imagine takes your brain away and allows it to wander. It will go places that you did not intend it to go.


When your opportunity starts to visualize the use of your product or what you can do for them it make the close that much easier. Stop for a minute and decide what you are selling and what the benefits are. Now imagine you are the customer and imagine what they want from your product and make sure you answer those needs. Imagine works both ways, you need to imagine yourself in your customer's situation and ask yourself, "If I were the customer, what would I want my product to do for me?". Ask questions of your client and find out what they want your product or service to do for them. Once you know the answers it is easy to build the imagine phrase.

I was in the floor playing with my 4 year old son and he asked me "Dad, can I imagine this is a fire station?".  He was talking about the space under the couch. When was the last time you spent the time to stop and imagine what you could do for someone? Why is it that as we get older we stop imagining and start thinking logically? Is it trained out of us? I don't know the answer to that question, but I know there are several companies that do it as well as a 4 year old: Apple, Disney, and Google are just a few.

Take the time today to imagine; imagine how your product could help someone or how your services could move a company forward. Once you have taken some time to imagine, you then can take others to that special place.

Social or Selling

Social networks are what their name implies; places to be social. Imagine you just walked into a party with a group of 100 of your friends and acquaintances and the first thing you do is yell out to the room "I sell life insurance, who wants to buy some!". Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?

It is 2012 and I am still amazed at how many people and business that are doing just that on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and all of the other social networks. Let's go back to the party and see what normally happens at a social event.

Again imagine you just walked into a room of 100 friends and acquaintances; what is the first thing you do? You see the first person as you walk in and say hello, swap pleasantries and then talk about what has been going on in your life. You ask questions of the other person to build on the conversation and show interest in their lives. The normal course of conversation will be about what has been happening outside of work first and at some point you will wind up talking about business and how things are at work.

Is this what is going on in your business' social marketing? Oops, I think I just mentioned the word that confuses people into shouting across the room, to the entire crowd, what they do for a living. Marketing, we have all done it for years, we advertise our wares anywhere we can. But wait, isn't that what I am supposed to do is let people know what I do and what I can do for them? Yes it is, but just like our conversation above, there is a time for that. Imagine you are back at the party (by the way, what kind of drink do you have in your hand).

This time you are already at the party socializing with your friends and in walks that guy. As he walks in the room he yells to the crowd "My name is Jim and I sell cars, who wants to buy one!". Imagine how quiet and uncomfortable the room feels right now. Now imagine he is making a bee line right for you. You look around feverishly to find someone to talk to, someone to protect you from "that guy". Maybe you turn your back to him and make a bee line yourself for the hours d'oeuvre tray. Uncomfortable isn't it.

Are you making your "friends/followers" uncomfortable at the party? There is a time to talk business at the party and even a time to pass out a business card, just like there is a time to do the same on your social networks. The right mix is important, too much selling and you get tuned out and avoided.

Don't be THAT guy at the party!


P.S.: Earlier I asked you what kind of drink you had in your hand when you imagined yourself at the party. Leave me a comment and let me know and in the next post we will talk about the most powerful word in sales.

How large is your stack?

Open your desk drawer; how many business cards from other people are in that stack. Maybe that stack is on your desk or in a neat binder; maybe you have a rubber band around it. Now take a look at your phone contact list; how many people are in your list? 50, 75, 100? Do you still have a rolodex (yes they still sell them; I was surprised as well)? Now take a look at your email address book, how many there? If you are in sales you have a customer management program, how many are in there?

Why have I put you through this hunt? We now live in the most connected time ever, yet so many of us are not connecting. We all have Facebook, Twitter, maybe a LinkedIn, might be on Pinterest, or Foursquare. You might have a blog on Blogger or Wordpress, you might have just signed up on Google+. Wow, it sounds like we are connecting, but are we really. 

Back to the exercise, are you "connected" with all of those people on the networks you belong to or do you just have their contact info? If not, why? These are all opportunities to do business, find a job, help someone else do business, help someone else find a job, get questions answered, answer questions, or just socialize and stay CONNECTED. If you are in sales, how important would it be that you could "touch" your customers on a regular basis? If you are looking for a job, how much easier would it be to get that interview if you knew someone at that company? If you had a plumbing nightmare (yeah, I have had one of those) how great would it be that you were connected to a plumber that you sold a truck to? Maybe that lady that just came into your store is starting her own internet advertising company and you are looking for some help with AdWords. 

con·nec·tion - (k-nkshn)  - A person, especially one of influence or importance, with whom one is associated, as by kinship or common interests

I am guilty; we all are. Take a moment to go through your lists and start connecting on as many networks as possible and then stay connected. Make sure that you are not just "connecting", but that you are conversing with these new connections as well. People want to deal with someone they know. If they feel like they know you, they will be more willing to deal with you when you have a product or service they need. 

I recently lost my job at a company I had been with for 16+ years. It was time for a change, I just didn't get to decided on the timing of that change. I have no ill feelings toward the company or my former boss; I wish them well. I do wish that I had taken the time to be more connected to my clients, the sales reps who called on me, the people I had met on a daily basis. I am glad I have a stack of business cards, a phone full of numbers and an email address book.

Take the time to connect today and start talking to those connections on your SOCIAL networks. It is called social for a reason; it is time to be social and connect. Do you have other places to look for the "hidden" contacts in your life, either professionally or personally? If so, leave a comment and let us know.

Can a Mouse eat an Elephant?

In my last post we talked about your closing ratio and the number of opportunities you need to reach your goal. As a reminder the formulas are: Number of Sales/Number of Opportunities = Closing Ratio and Sales Goal/Closing Ratio = Number of Opportunities needed. Now let's look at the rest of the equation. 

How many working days this month?

This answer seems easy, but most people miss it the first time through. Yes there are 30 days in the month, but most of us work a 5 day work week not a 7 day week. With that said you probably only have 20 to 22 working days depending on what day the month starts and ends. Once you determine your working days you can then determine how many opportunities you need a day.

Number of Opportunities/Working days = Daily Plan  

Now when you get up everyday you have a goal for the day. I need to see at least X number of opportunities. Now we could stop there, but the next logical question is: How do I get in front of X opportunities today? You can now take this same principal and drive it backwards to get that answer as well. What actions lead to that face to face opportunity? How many phone calls do you need to make to get that appointment? How many emails do I need to make to get that phone call? How many visits do I need to make before I get the face to face with the decision maker?

Real Life Example

Now let's look at an easy real world situation. I have a salesperson who wanted to by new bedroom furniture; simple enough but he did not want to go into debt for it. The first thing we needed to determine was a timeline for this goal and how much it would cost. He decided that he wanted to get this done within 6 months and that it was going to cost $1,200. The next step was to back into the goal and break it down into a realistic timeline. Based on the numbers he needed to save $200 a month and at the end of month 6 he would have the funds. Given his average commissions this translated to less than 1 car extra a month, so he applied that 1 car to his formula above and within 5 month he had saved enough to get the bedroom furniture. He did the same thing to save for a down payment on a house as well!!

Can a Mouse eat an Elephant?

Yes, one bite at a time. The key in all of this is going to be your daily tracking (small bites) to reach your goal. You need to have the discipline that every day you are going to track your opportunities, phone calls, emails, or whatever the ACTION is that will get you to your goal. Tracking the actions that will get you to your dream is the "secret" to getting there once you have determined how to get there. If the boss tells you that you need to sell 17 widgets this month, the task might sound overwhelming, but if you break it down to the daily level, or even an hourly level, it becomes less of a mouthful. Now when broken down to the daily level, you know that you need to see 3 opportunities today, that becomes realistic.

Now it is time to work backwards into your goals and make those actions bite-sized pieces.

Working Backwards

Steven R. Covey taught us to think with the end in mind. Decide what it is you want to accomplish and work backward from that point. This means that we must have a dead line for our goals. So many of us decide we want to accomplish something but we never give ourselves a time frame in which to complete the task.

After 17 years in the Automotive Sales business, I am used to deadlines; they come at the end of every month, at the end of each quarter and the end of each year. However, it is best that we breakdown those deadlines into shorter time frames that push us to reach our full potential. We will go through a sales example so you can get the point.

In car sales, most salespeople have a number in mind that they would like to sell by month end. This isn't an arbitrary number, but normally associated with a bonus level. The average salesperson when asked will be able to tell you they are going to sell X (whatever that bonus number is) that month. But most will not have any idea how they are going to there. For the example let's use 16 as the number that we are trying to achieve. For the sake of the conversation we are going to work on a 30 day month; if there are 31 days in the month it just means you have an extra day to hit your goal.

Sales/Opportunities = Closing Ratio 

The first question that needs to answered is what is your closing ratio. Don't cheat yourself here; be real. How many deals have you closed in the last 3 months, divided by the number of opportunities you have had to do business. Again, don't cheat yourself; count each person that you were in front of; just because you were not strong enough to overcome "Just looking" does not mean they were not a opportunity. Just because you could not get past the "gatekeeper" to get to the decision maker does not mean this is not an opportunity. Make sure you count all your opportunities to do business. Do not let your pride get in the way of your closing ratio. You don't need to make this number public, but once you know it you can work on it as well. It is important to make sure that you use at least a 3 month period so that you take out any anomalies from month to month. 

Goal/Closing Ratio = Number of Opportunities

Now that we have determined your closing ratio we need to determine what it is going to take to get there. This is where we determine how many opportunities we need to be in front to reach our goal. This time we are going to back into the number by dividing your goal by your closing ratio. For example, our goal was 16 and let's assume that our closing ratio is 25%. The formula would look like this: 16/.25 = 64. You need to be in front of 64 opportunities this month.

My next post will continue the equation and give another real life example where you can work backwards toward your goals. Now go figure out your TRUE closing ratio and the number of opportunities you will need to reach your goal. 

What is Chasing Fly Balls?

Chasing Fly Balls is my reminder, that to win the game you must understand the game and the little things that get you there. If we are going to win this game, I have to chase down and catch that fly ball. So many times we know what our goals are and we chase those goals without knowing how to get there. In the words of Steven R. Covey "Think with the end in mind". I think we all do that; I want to land the sale, I want that new job, I want to pay the bills off and a thousand other goals and dreams.

So many times we don't take the time to think and develop the plan to get there. If your goal is to win the ball game, you must get 27 outs, you must score more runs than your opponent and you must make fewer mistakes than the other team. These are the tasks that will get you to the end of the game with the desirable results.

In the ballgame, as in life there are a thousand what ifs and twists, and it becomes easy to forget about the little things that are going to get us the "win". Too many times we forget those actions and just focus on winning the game.

If you are in sales, are you chasing the sale or the specific actions that will get you that sale. In my career I have seen too many sales "professionals" chasing the sale without knowing what specific actions will get them the desired results. What is your closing ratio? How many prospects/clients do you need to see to get to your goal? It is now the middle of the month, where should you be to reach your goal? If you can't answer these questions, then you are chasing the sale rather than the Fly Ball. These are not the only answers you need to close the sale, but it is the start of the foundation for which you will build your plan.

Answer this: What is your number one goal/resolution/dream for 2012? That answer came very easy, I am sure.

Answer these (these might be a little more difficult): What specific actions must you take to get there? What time line have you set for yourself? Have you written down your goal/resolution/dream? Have you broken down the timeline for reaching these and given yourself milestones?

Goals get written down. Dreams happen in our heads. Dreams can become goals once you start writing them down and the specifics actions for getting there.

Looks like you have some dreams to write down and specific actions to write down as well. My next post will be on working backward from your goals and dreams to set specific actions and milestones during your journey.