Yesterday we discussed how salespeople are taking on some characteristics and duties of coaches.  For example, it is a coach’s job to provoke people to be successful, however it is increasingly becoming the salesperson’s job as well.

When trying to learn and deploy techniques that will elicit success, most salespeople struggle to find a critical issue that would capture the interest of a senior executive.  Moore puts it this way:

“For any given prospect or customer, your sales and marketing team can generate a long list of industry wide and company specific problems that could be better addressed.  The key is to find the one that matters so deeply that even in a downturn the money will be found to fix it.”

As you know, there is no shortage of problems out there.  I think that any of us could quickly develop a list of things in our own lives and businesses that could use some improvement.  The challenge is to prioritize these problems, and focus energies on specific ways to solve them.

Moore admits that even salespeople have a difficult time attaching a direct monetary value to a problem.  Of course, this is an appropriate framework for a corporate sale, but is it appropriate for coaching?  In most cases, it is.

Here is a framework that will help you identify issues that are relevant:  As you consider problems, ask yourself this question:  Is there a direct and measurable payoff (preferably monetary) for solving the problem?  If there is not a payoff, then it’s time to place priority on a different issue.
 
This is not something many coaches and managers do very well.  It even becomes more of a challenge for a coach or manager who has the responsibility of coaching a large number of people.  It is easy to get into a rut and try to apply a one-size-fits-all formula.

Here are a couple of ideas that may help you be successful at this task:

1.  Think like a businessperson.  As you attempt to put yourself in a person's shoes, ask tough business questions.  What issue can put this person out of business?  What seriously jeopardizes this person’s ability to compete?  What tasks are this person’s competitors and better performing peers achieving that this person is ignoring?  If you’re not a credible source of advice on an important topic, is there someone you can elicit help from who is?

2.  Keep track of the information.  Not everyone you’re coaching has the same issues.  Since your approach must be customized, it is important to have a way to record and reference the information you’ve collected and the advice that you’ve offered.

During tough times, we’re all careful about what we buy.  Our coaching must address pertinent business issues people must solve in order to survive.  If we’re not proficient at this task, we may be one of the expenses that gets cut.

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