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Working in sales can be tough. At times, it can be downright terrible.

But tough times aren’t as hard or as frequent when there’s a strong sales coaching program in place

A manager’s job is to not only achieve sales but to keep the team motivated as well. 

Here are 8 sales coaching techniques you can use to inspire your team.

1. Top to Bottom

Your sales people won’t be motivated and inspired if they sense that the people in higher positions aren’t. So the first sales coaching technique you need to remember that coaching starts with you and your attitude. Come into work every day with a smile and always be positive. 

Make sure you also embody the company values and mission statement because your team is watching you.

2. Small Wins

sales coaching techniques aren’t always about making everyone else better. Sometimes it’s just recognizing the wins when you can. It’s important to celebrate not only the large wins but also the small ones. Track daily or weekly goals so that when they’re completed, your team has something to celebrate.

Doing this ensures your team ends the day (or the week) on a positive note and comes back to work excited to keep doing well.

3. Recognize Success in Team Members

Recognize your reps publicly when they’ve achieved goals or found success in some way. This will inspire them to keep up the good work and will motivate other members of the team to do better. 

One set of successful sales coaching techniques is to enroll any team members who are struggling in additional enablement or e-learning courses for refresher training.

4. Recognize the Whole Team

sales coaching techniques tend to focus on the individual. But it's important to recognize the whole team in front of the department or company. When this happens, your team feels valued, and it also shows your reps how vital they are to the company’s success.

5. Offer Incentives

Another sales coaching technique to inspire and motivate your team is to run contests or offer incentives. You can offer these to an individual winner or to a section of the team. However you decide to determine the winner, make sure that it’s set up so the same person or people don’t always win. Everyone should be able to participate and have a chance of winning.

6. Team Building

When putting together your yearly budget, include some money for off-site team-building days / events. By giving your reps a chance to get to know each other away from the office, you’re helping them form deeper connections. This helps foster camaraderie and friendships that they’ll take back to the office. 

7. Show Them They’re Valued

There is more to sales coaching techniques than helping your team meet sales goals or work together in a team. Employees need to know they’re valued and that their career development is important to you.

Show them they’re valued by meeting with them individually and making plans to help them achieve their career goals.

Give Them Mentors

In conjunction with helping your employees achieve their career goals, give them mentors as well. Mentors are people they can talk to about their goals and any problems that they’re having. They’re also there to give advice and to pass on knowledge.

It’s a great way to develop employees and retain them.

8. Seek Their Opinions

Your sales people are the ones that interact with your customers most often. Thus, they have a wealth of knowledge on what customers are looking for and what processes are or are not working. Ask your team members for their opinions frequently. You’ll not only end up with better processes but a more inspired and happy team.

Wrap up

Sales is hard. And sales is variable. But good a great sales coach, and great sales coaching techniques, can make sales easier and the droughts shorter. A good sales leader might be the difference between making your quarter or missing it by a mile. 

Thankfully, with these 8 sales coaching techniques, you can’t go wrong and should have your team ship shape in no time.