We ‘LOVE’ sales people, no genuinely…we ‘LOVE’ them, but they can be ‘slippery little critters’ when it comes to performance coaching them.
We’ll get to the topic of using GROW when coaching shortly, but first some context.
So why ‘slippery little critters’? We’re not being disingenuous…but when we see a manager ‘performance coaching’ a sales person we’re impressed at how well the sales person can ‘duck-and-dive’ and make excuses for why their performance isn’t where it should be. Here are some classics;
· ‘It’s tough out there, competitor X is just buying the market right now’.
· ‘If we had better / more competitive products / solutions / offers I’d be okay’.
· ‘Talk to credit and risk, they haven’t got a clue how hard it is out there’.
· ‘I blame the economy / exchange rates / the Chinese, Germans, Americans’.
· ‘If I didn’t have such time consuming / awkward / complex accounts I’d be okay’.
· ‘I’ve had no support from you / training / finance’.
· ‘I’m just overloaded with admin…if there was less of this stuff I could see more customers’.
· ‘The customer just can’t make up their mind’.
Sound familiar?
We’re NOT saying some of the reasons are untrue…selling isn’t easy, even if it’s done well.
Performance issues can stem from one of FOUR typical sources:
1. Lack of KNOWLEDGE (I just don’t know it).
2. Lack of SKILL (I know it…I just can’t do it).
3. Lack of MOTIVATION (I know it…I can do it…I just don’t want to).
4. BARRIERS / BLOCKS (I know it…can do it…want to…but can’t because of...).
Knowing the above can help the manager to diagnose the root-cause of the performance issue. If it’s a knowledge gap the solution might be different to one used to solve a skill gap.
Simple questions a manager could ask to identify the root-cause;
1. Knowledge – ‘Tell me how you would’, ‘Describe x to me’, etc.
2. Skill – ‘Show me how you would…’, ‘Demonstrate it to me’, ‘Do it so I can see’, etc.
3. Motivation – ‘You know it, I’ve seen you do it, so why aren’t you?’
4. Barriers / Blocks – ‘You know it, you do it, you seem to want to…so what’s stopping you?’
Once a manager knows the reason for the performance gap the coaching conversation can then become more effective…but here is where we have a problem with the GROW model.
We’re fans of GROW. A significant number of organisations use the; Goal, Reality, Options and Will / Wrap-up / Way Forward model. Let’s be clear, it’s a GREAT model. We use it and will continue to.
The issue is when it is used by unskilled managers (e.g. sales managers) and where they use it in a PURELY ‘pull’ style. This means they are being ‘pure’ in ‘seeking answers’ from the coachee (the sale person).
Here are some simple examples of a ‘pull’ style of use of the GROW model;
· Goal – ‘What is your goal for this meeting / the client meeting / your learning needs?’ etc.
· Reality – ‘What’s been happening?’, ‘What have you tried?’, ‘What’s working?’ etc.
· Options – ‘What could you do differently?’, ‘What would the customer say?’ etc.
· Will / Way Forward – ‘What are you going to do next?’, ‘What are your key actions?’. etc.
They’re all good, but it allows the sales person to immediately ‘DEBATE’ the Goal and Reality…and bring forward items from their ‘book of excuses’.
The result is a very ineffective coaching session. The essence of learning and development is lost. The manager ends up trying to persuade the sales person and rarely gets into the heart of coaching in the OPTIONS phase of GROW. It all becomes a massive waste of time.
Rather than be wedded to the PULL style, our strong advice is to use a PUSH, PUSH, PULL, PUSH approach. This removes the ambiguity and makes the GOAL and REALITY tight. There is no debate, it’s non-negotiable. It can happen quickly and allows for time to be spent on OPTIONS (where the magic happens). Here’s an example;
· Goal (push); ‘You need to be seeing more problem owners, at least 3-4 to have influence in the account’ (this is not up for debate…especially if sales have been told / trained to do this)
· Reality (push); ‘When reviewing your accounts, you only have 1-2 problem owners for each, this is insufficient’ (these must be facts…and are, again, not up for debate).
· Options (pull); ‘What can you do to ensure you have the right number of problem owners for each account?’ (seeking ideas…this then becomes the heart of the discussion / coaching).
· Will / Way Forward (Push); ‘So then, I want you to do x, then y by this date’ (specific and time-bound actions).
The Goal, Reality and Will / Way Forward should ideally be NO MORE than 1-2 sentences each. More than this and you end up overcomplicating the coaching session.
Get to the heart of the coaching. Ensure your set-up is tight and not open for discussion. By doing this the coaching will be 100’s of times more effective.
For more information or help on how we help sales organisations to be more effective – just contact us.