Setting up a “ride along” in which the sales manager accompanies a
salesperson on appointments can be a fantastic sales training
opportunity, or a morale-busting disaster. The burden of turning the day
into a positive experience is on you, the manager.
First, sales managers need to set expectations before the big day. You and your salesperson both need to clearly understand your role. As a rule, sales training ride alongs will consist of one of three scenarios: the manager is a passive observer only, the manager does all the selling while the salesperson observes, or each takes active part in the day’s appointments. If you choose the last option, you’ll need to sit down with your salesperson and clearly establish what each of you will be doing. This helps to prevent confusion and bruised egos.
Next, you should establish the day’s activities, giving the salesperson enough lead time to prepare. For example, you might decide to have the salesperson make thirty cold calls and attend two appointments on ride along day. Giving the salesperson plenty of advance notice means she’ll have a chance to pull together a good lead list and make a couple of solid appointments.
You should also decide in advance what you’ll do if things get messy during a call or appointment. Do you jump in and take over, watch the ship go down, or throw a life preserver or two but otherwise stay out of it? Planning for such eventualities helps to keep you from saying or doing something you’ll regret later.
When you get to the actual appointments, it’s not a bad idea to let the prospect know what’s going on as well as giving them a heads-up on your planned level of involvement. This keeps the prospect’s attention focused on the person doing the actual presentation.
Finally, give the salesperson your feedback immediately after the call or appointment ends. You can then talk over any issues while the event is fresh in both your minds. It’s also a good idea to take notes while you’re observing your salesperson so that you have something concrete to refer back to afterwards.
Throughout the experience, remember that your role is to coach the salesperson – not judge them. If you uncover glaring issues in someone’s sales skills, that’s an opportunity to help them improve. Whatever you learn, you and your salesperson should decide on a measurable goal for her to achieve by your next scheduled ride along. Ideally, this should be a goal that reflects improvement in her areas of greatest weakness. For instance, if she is great at setting appointments but struggles to close, you might set a goal of a 25% improvement in her close-to-appointment ratio.
By Wendy Connick/ About.com Sales
First, sales managers need to set expectations before the big day. You and your salesperson both need to clearly understand your role. As a rule, sales training ride alongs will consist of one of three scenarios: the manager is a passive observer only, the manager does all the selling while the salesperson observes, or each takes active part in the day’s appointments. If you choose the last option, you’ll need to sit down with your salesperson and clearly establish what each of you will be doing. This helps to prevent confusion and bruised egos.
Next, you should establish the day’s activities, giving the salesperson enough lead time to prepare. For example, you might decide to have the salesperson make thirty cold calls and attend two appointments on ride along day. Giving the salesperson plenty of advance notice means she’ll have a chance to pull together a good lead list and make a couple of solid appointments.
You should also decide in advance what you’ll do if things get messy during a call or appointment. Do you jump in and take over, watch the ship go down, or throw a life preserver or two but otherwise stay out of it? Planning for such eventualities helps to keep you from saying or doing something you’ll regret later.
When you get to the actual appointments, it’s not a bad idea to let the prospect know what’s going on as well as giving them a heads-up on your planned level of involvement. This keeps the prospect’s attention focused on the person doing the actual presentation.
Finally, give the salesperson your feedback immediately after the call or appointment ends. You can then talk over any issues while the event is fresh in both your minds. It’s also a good idea to take notes while you’re observing your salesperson so that you have something concrete to refer back to afterwards.
Throughout the experience, remember that your role is to coach the salesperson – not judge them. If you uncover glaring issues in someone’s sales skills, that’s an opportunity to help them improve. Whatever you learn, you and your salesperson should decide on a measurable goal for her to achieve by your next scheduled ride along. Ideally, this should be a goal that reflects improvement in her areas of greatest weakness. For instance, if she is great at setting appointments but struggles to close, you might set a goal of a 25% improvement in her close-to-appointment ratio.
By Wendy Connick/ About.com Sales
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