In sales coaching programs, your attitude has a big impact on your results. These six tips are the key to success.
Before you begin any sales coaching program, group sales coaching, or sales training session, you should ask yourself: How can I get the most out of this?
Too often, we let our attitude and bias get in the way of self-improvement. If you’re approaching a training program with a negative mindset, it’s doubtful you’ll learn anything at all. To grow your skills and overcome obstacles in your sales business, you need to be willing to try something new!
After working with teams across the country in a wide range of industries, Skillway sales coaches have identified which attitudes make the biggest impact on a salesperson’s success. By embracing these qualities, you can ensure you’ll get value out of your sales coaching experience. You need to:
- Be Curious
- Be Coachable
- Be Disciplined
- Set Bias Aside
- Take Risks
- Do The Work
These don’t all come naturally to everyone—but that’s not an excuse to allow negative mindsets to hold you back. By focusing on these positive approaches, you’ll be able to truly learn something new—and revitalize your sales game.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these ways to make the most out of a sales coaching program.
Be Curious
Be curious! This is known as a Learner’s Mentality. At the root, it requires accepting that you don’t know everything. Salespeople with a know-it-all mentality have trouble listening to a coach or paying attention to training because they feel like they have nothing to learn.
Salespeople with a curious mindset know that there’s a lot they don’t know. No matter how much experience or education they have, they say, “I’m not done learning yet!” If you embrace the idea that you’re never done learning, you’ll always be ready to learn—from books, courses, or a sales coach.
Be Coachable
Some people genuinely have a learner’s mindset but don’t want to learn from anyone else. Being coachable requires trusting the process and being open to the person coaching you.
A great coach—in sports or sales—can bring your game to the next level. However, this can only happen when you’re ready to step outside the box and stretch your comfort zone. You have to be willing to listen to someone else and be willing to try what they recommend.
Be Disciplined
Discipline is simply giving an appropriate amount of focus to your commitments. For many of us, it’s easier said than done. In fact, discipline is one of the hardest things for a sales coach to teach because it relies entirely on the individual. You’re the only one who can decide whether or not you have discipline.
Instead of looking at discipline as “I just have to do it,” think of it this way: What is the amount of focus that I’m going to give to this commitment? When someone trains for a marathon, they’ve made a commitment to a goal. Their discipline is the effort they put forth to achieve their goal. When you focus on your commitments, you’re choosing to be disciplined.
Set Bias Aside
During sales training or coaching sessions, salespeople will often tell their sales coach one of these phrases:
- I already know this.
- I’ve tried that before.
- That won’t work for me.
If you’re thinking this when you hear about an idea, you have a bias. These negative preconceptions virtually guarantee failure. However, salespeople with a positive mindset know that even if something hasn’t worked in the past, this time could be different!
Good ideas tend to stick around—they get repeated over and over because they actually work. If the universe is bringing a concept to your attention for the third or fourth time, then maybe it’s worth an honest try. This could be the time that it makes a difference in your life.
Take Risks
Often, sales coaching requires a salesperson to take some risks. Trying something new requires us to face the chance of failure—and failure is something that most people try to avoid.
However, the most successful people in history have all had something in common: they were willing to take risks. Without risk, nothing changes.
You’re not perfect. Just give it a shot—if you screw up, it’s okay. Don’t let the fear of failure (or the fear of ruining a tough-guy persona) prevent you from greater success. Be willing to try something new, even if it means you might make a fool of yourself. The more you risk, the bigger the payoff when it works!
Do the Work
Just do it! Quit making excuses, put in the effort, and do the work.
Listening to a personal finance podcast won’t balance your budget. Watching an exercise video won’t get you into shape. A group coaching session or one-on-one sales coach can’t magically transform you into a top producer. To improve your performance in any area, you have to put in the work!
Get Your Money’s Worth
If you’re considering one-on-one sales coaching or customized group coaching for sales teams, you’re expecting a return on your investment. Positive, open attitudes toward a coaching program pay off. With a focus on being curious, coachable, and disciplined, you can take new concepts and apply them to your business.
Are you ready to put in the work? Skillway is ready to deliver real results. Contact us to find out how a customized coaching solution can help you CRUSH your sales goals and love what you do!
