Sales Managers are Tinkerbells too

Sales Managers have been on a journey when it comes to coaching, and that journey has not finished. The role of sales managers is again evolving. However, only those who can move on from being superheroes and fixers (Tinkerbells) will succeed in the long term. Let me explain, and once you get it, you will forever be a better coach.

A quick fix over a better strategic outcome

A while ago now, coming fresh out of a sales manager’s job in Australia, I was appointed as the sales director of Indonesia. At that time, many things needed to be fixed, so I got right into it. After making ground in frontline sales efficiencies and effectiveness, I promoted the best salespeople to the position of Sales Manager. We improved our top line from a 1% growth to 14% in the second year. Boy, was this a formula for success!? Until I noticed some front-line salespeople expressing their concerns. With the help of their managers, big deals were successfully closed. They were the real deal makers. But without them, it was a lot more complicated. I realized that in the long term, this strategy needed to change.

Coaching…on what?

I then send all our sales managers on a Coaching for Sales Managers course. In those days, that was pretty groundbreaking. They learned to apply basic coaching skills, and the sales frontline was empowered to come up with the best possible options to go forward. We saw great examples in the classroom. And back at work, we saw improvement, but it was clear that coaching is not something for every sales manager. For them, it was hard to let go of being the Sales Superhero, and coaching was still very much focused on deal-making.

Enabling Coaching

Fast-forward to 2024. Have we changed? Yes, we have. Sales Managers realize that to help their teams perform better, they should coach on behaviours. If done well, they enable their salespeople to improve their selling behaviours and make decisions for themselves. Is that easy? No. It isn’t. Many are still falling into the ‘Tinkerbell’ trap. Enabling coaching is difficult. It is letting go of habits and entirely focusing on helping your sales executives to be empowered next time. We shouldn’t forget that most of the time, sales executives are on their own, on the floor or in the field. They have to figure out for themselves what works and what doesn’t.

What Enabling Coaching is Not

Enabling coaching is not advising like:

• This is what I would do (Superhero)
• Have you thought about XYZ (solution)
• Why don’t you contact that stakeholder and… (do the thinking for the sales rep)
• Organize a meeting with…(Telling)

But in reality, this is challenging. Sales managers are facing pressure to deliver results. Going back to my story earlier, you have to make a decision: fix it for your sales reps or help your frontline sales to find the fixes themselves. We all know this proverb:

“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”

Keep that thought when making your decision

For more information about Enabling Coaching and its challenges, I recommend you read this excellent blog post from Mark Savinson: Sales Manager Coaching: A Route to Development vs. a Clinic to Win Business.