Episode #29
I never coached my team. Now I lose sleep if i miss a session | EP29 | Brett James
Most sales leaders think they're coaching their team. A lot of them are managing it and calling it coaching. In this episode, Brett James sits with Mark Ackers to talk about the sales coaching techniques he runs every week and the difference between coaching and managing a sales team - call playback, specific-segment role play, asking questions instead of giving answers, and where the line sits between coaching a deal and hero managing it. He's also honest about what that intensity has cost the people who worked for him, and about the cancer diagnosis that changed how he leads. Download the Modern Revenue Leader's Sales Coaching Manual: https://bit.ly/4nyx5m2 Who this episode is for: You lead a sales team and suspect you're doing too much of the selling yourself You can't stop taking over your reps' calls and you know it isn't helping them You want practical sales coaching techniques you can run this week, not theory You've been promoted for being the best seller and nobody has taught you how to coach Key takeaways: Managing people and coaching people are two different jobs - Brett ran a sales team for years without realising coaching was even a thing Call playback is the technique that flipped it for him, and he'd been recording calls for years before anyone suggested reviewing one with a rep Keep pipeline one-to-ones separate from coaching sessions, because run together the deal always wins and the skill never gets touched Ask questions rather than hand over answers - Brett makes himself go last, on the basis that a rep who works it out remembers it Stop role playing whole calls and role play one specific moment instead, like the close of a demo, and call it practice rather than role play Hero managing is stepping in to win the deal for your rep, and Brett is honest that he still does it because he wants the deal Ask people how they are before you open the pipeline - it's the smallest change he made and the one he wishes he'd made years earlier Connect with Mark Ackers on LinkedIn Connect with Brett James on LinkedIn Follow MySalesCoach on LinkedIn Like, leave a comment and subscribe for more! Brought to you by MySalesCoach. www.mysalescoach.com
