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> Living on the Top Line - The Book > Joe's Blog > Coaching farther down the line is required and necessary
Coaching farther down the line is required and necessaryIn the retail furniture business where consumer decisions are highly considered and consultative selling requires high level communications skills, coaching salespeople is an activity that has to be carried out much farther down the line than most managers believe or practice. here's why:
Sales training is ususally a matter of people having to learn things that are not "natural" to them. Ways of talking with and dealing with consumers around issues that are rooted in the consumer's home, and where solutions are far more complex than just picking a nice looking item or two. Great presentation skills are not good enough. Mistakes are costly in both dollars and consumer self confidence, and many women are loath to risk making such a mistake, so they simply decide not to decide.
But, the right approach from a position of understanding instead of just presenting and closing can make all the difference. Coaches have to know this approach thoroughly and be right there at the point of contact to ensure salespeople follow the processes that will ensure it happens.
Always remember that the reason some cusotmers don't buy is simply that they need just a little more help to "see" the pieces coming together in their rooms. Coaching has to be done right down on the line of scrimmage - where our game is played every day. The difference between a close rate of two buyers out of ten shoppers and one of three out of ten is 50%. You still lose 70% of the time, but you do 50% more business jsut by offering more help to everyone, so the few who take it become your customers.
Read my book "Living on the Top Line" availabel at Amazon to learn much more about this simple lesson and how to apply it to your work.
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