by Steve Chriest

I'll never forget the sales training and guidance I received from Al, my first sales manager. Fresh out of college, and eager to start my first job, I walked into Al's office on Monday morning and asked him when we would get started with my training. Al handed me a thick, white binder stuffed with brochures and product information sheets, leaned back in his chair and said, “I'm going to tell you what my first sales manager told me - “If you want to learn how to swim, there is no quicker, better way to learn than to jump right into the middle of the lake. Here is your binder with all our product information. Now, go get ‘em tiger!”

I soon figured out that Al wasn't really a sales manager, and he certainly wasn't a coach. What I needed at that time, since I knew absolutely nothing about sales, was a good coach. So, what could Al, as my sales manager, have done to act like a good coach for me?

First, besides providing some basic product knowledge, Al could have assumed the role of a teacher. He could have taught me some of the fundamentals of selling. Effectively teaching fundamentals, in any discipline, are common to all good coaches.

Sales managers, who are also good coaches, must do more than teach fundamentals to their sales teams. One of the most important things all good coaches recognize is that practice doesn't make perfect –only perfect practice makes perfect! Once the manager teaches fundamentals, the learning's must be continuously reinforced. Good coaches know that even world class athletes must practice the fundamentals of their sports throughout their careers.

In the case of vendor sales, for example, selling fundamentals should include how to prospect for new business that fits the profile of a profitable relationship for their company, how to qualify sales opportunities, how to efficiently perform the work that must be done to move opportunities through a sales funnel, how to close sales opportunities and how to effectively manage established relationships.

Once the sales team understands and grasps the fundamentals, the sales manager, as a good coach, must reinforce the practice of those fundamentals until execution of sound fundamentals becomes part of the team's DNA.

Sales managers who are good coaches know that teaching and reinforcing, the cornerstones of good coaching, are never-ending processes. Sales managers who are also good coaches are hard to find. It's even harder to find sales managers who have learned how to become great coaches. Next week we will explore the attributes of great coaches.

Copyright © 2006 Selling Up TM . All Rights Reserved.

About the author: Steve Chriest is the founder of Selling Up TM ( www.selling-up.com ), a sales consulting firm specializing in sales improvement for organizations of all types and sizes in a variety of industries. He is also the author of Selling Up , The Proven System for Reaching and Selling Senior Executives. You can reach Steve at schriest@selling-up.com .