Coaching your staff, is different than managing your staff. Coaches are dedicated to improving their employees, no matter what the cost. The result, if done effectively is increased sales and higher morale. Many believe the process of coaching is arduous, time consuming, and filled with questions; and, nothing could be further from the truth. A well designed coaching plan can accommodate your skills, abilities, and schedule so that you and your staff members experience success. Keep in mind, it is up to you and is dependant on your commitment to improving, not maintaining status quo, in your staff for results to take place.

There are a number of different ways that you can coach your staff to better performance in short increments of time. One particular technique is the "30 second coaching technique." This technique is designed to make an immediate impact on a staff member for a job well done. If an employee is struggling with up and cross selling, and you overhear them performing that skill successfully, recognize it. Stop, and if appropriate, place a hand on their shoulder and mention, "Bob the interaction you just had with Sally from ABC Company was excellent! I heard you offer our deluxe upgrade option to her and that was a great decision based on her needs. Keep up the good work!" This technique seems so simple but leaves your staff member with a great feeling, thus impacting their future calls of this type. Positive affirmations can go a long way in improving performance.

Another great technique that can be used is the peer to peer coaching technique. This particular method has colleagues working with one another on a specific skill or attribute. If a staff member is struggling with cold calling, two reps may be asked to role play a cold call. Following the interaction they may score one another and provide feedback for additional improvement. The great part about this technique is that it does not require the manager to be present. The manager would want to check back and see how the interaction went and review the evaluations that were provided to the employees.

Finally, as you can see there are a variety of unique ways that you can coach your staff to better performance based on what they are struggling with. They key is that as a manager, you need to make the decision to improve your staff and they need to commit to making the change. Being a good coach can be challenging at times, but by weathering the storm you will experience increased sales and better performance overall.