The BEST Leadership Educators for Sales Managers Based on Feedback and Research

The insight these educators share with our attendees is valuable to sales leaders. We have all sorts of anecdotal insights into how their messages will benefit the attendees. What we also have, however, is support from the empirical findings from our Through the Eyes of the Sales Rep* (TESR) survey to help demonstrate the importance of their message within the context of sales leadership, management and coaching. 

The following data comes from the TESR results of veteran EcSell clients. In other words, these are managers and organizations who are experienced with the basics of the EcSell Institute sales coaching philosophy. We limit our analysis to these veteran organizations to demonstrate two main points:

• First, there is a capacity for continued growth even within the most experienced and seasoned managers.
• Second, even within a group of managers who are performing well, there are managers who execute their coaching at an even higher level.

This is important because it shows that these individuals lead in ways that are different enough that they illicit greater performance from their teams (which means anyone could learn from their success).

For this analysis, we call these managers “Top Coaches” and they are the managers who lead teams that are in the top 20 percent to sales goal attainment within their organization. These are the best of the best in terms of team productivity. For each of the survey items discussed below, we limit our examination to only “top box” responses, or responses that are the highest or best response. Again, we’re looking at the best of the best.

As you’ll see below, Top Coaches lead their teams in different ways than their organizational peers. And just like continuing education is beneficial to sales reps, so it is for sales managers. The following touches on each Summit speaker and the how their message is connected to the way Top Coaches coach. Let’s dive in:

Bill Eckstrom: "For the Love of Coaching"  

As Bill discussed in his TEDx Talk, we grow most when we are challenged or in discomfort. The same applies to sales reps and sales performance. As can be seen in Figure 1 below, sales reps who have a top performing sales coach are more likely to strongly agree that their sales manager pushes them to perform at higher levels. Bill will push this idea forward and apply it to the ins and outs of leading a team in his talk, “For the Love of Coaching.” (Learn how you can positively affect change through positive pressure here.)

Figure 1: Top Coaches and Sales Rep Growth

Brandon Rigoni, Ph.D.: “What I didn’t know about my millennial employees and how it changed the way I coach my teams.”

Brandon Rigoni is a guy after our own EcSell Institute heart by heavily using data and research to support his insights. His presentation will help sales managers gain better insights into how to effectively lead the ever-growing millennial section of the workforce. Individuals from the millennial generation (sales reps who are 37 years of age or younger) have different occupational and coaching expectations and needs than sales reps in other age groups.

For example, Figure 2 shows that millennial sales reps in our sample more than double the importance they place on their sales manager being both a boss and a friend when compared to older sales reps (age 53 or older). This presentation will help identify these types of generational differences and how to tackle them. (Too busy to coach your millennial employees? Start here.) 

Figure 2. Millennial Expectations of Manager Relationship 

Peter Jensen, Ph.D.: “Building Powerful Relationships: the #1 driver of employee engagement and resilience.”

Another attendee favorite, Peter Jensen, will highlight the importance of building and maintaining a strong relationship between sales leaders and the people they lead. Working in sales often means working in a fast-paced environment that carries high levels of pressure. (Begin to harness your stress in your current role by checking out this whitepaper.)  

Based on our research, as shown in Figure 3, sales managers that are most open about their successes and their failures have teams that perform at a higher level. This level of vulnerability and openness in an often-chaotic profession is one type of behavior that can build resilient and engaging relationships in the sales team. Look to his presentation for many more valuable insights into fostering the well-being and resilience of your team. 

Figure 3. Top Coaches and Vulnerability

Alice Heiman: “The Sales Leader’s Role in Mastering the Complex Sale.”

Leading a sales team can be a mind-boggling challenge and isn’t for the faint of heart. Alice Heiman knows this, and her presentation focuses on how to better understand the complexities of this world and how to corral and conquer many of its challenges. Top Coaches play a huge role in helping their team find success in navigating even the most complex sale.

In Figure 4, we see that Top Coaches know how to give their team the kind of feedback that helps sales reps sell more – almost double that of their peer coaches. This session expands on this topic by helping managers understand their role and how to have the most impact in that role.  (Get a head start on improving your feedback in one of our most popular articles.)

Figure 4. Top Coaches and Feedback Helpfulness 

Clint Longenecker, Ph.D.: “Career Success and Survival in the 21^st Century: A Mandate for Life-Long Learning.”

Clint Longenecker will not only entertain you but educate you on why life-long learning is important. If the concept of life-long learning doesn’t get you excited, Dr. Longenecker’s presentation is even more important for you to hear. One of the most beneficial ways to grow the performance of sales teams is to continue to not only be life-long learners ourselves, but to find ways to assist sales reps in life-long learning pursuits. 

According to our research (in Figure 5 below), Top Coaches understand the value of learning and increase performance by finding opportunities for their team members to grow and develop their selling skills. Working on your understanding and capacity to help others (and yourself) to be a life-long learner is not only important, but as Dr. Longenecker will demonstrate, can also be fun. (Here are 8 ways you can help your people grow in the meantime.)

Figure 5. Top Coaches and Growth Opportunities  

Simply, to excel your coaching game, you need to do two things:

• First, you need to identity areas where your coaching performance can be enhanced. Our research above highlights a few areas where Top Coaches do things differently than other coaches. If they can do these things that increase sales, so can you.
• Second, figuring out how to improve your coaching in these areas doesn’t need to be solitary, confusing, or hard to find.

Exploring opportunities to learn about what you can do to be a better mentor, leader, and coach through educational opportunities like presentations discussed above could be a game changer. These snippets of data help to demonstrate that the nurturing and growth of the sales manager is just as important (if not more so) than the things sales departments typically do to push the growth of their sales producers.

Even a seasoned sales manager who is executing the blocking and tackling components of the job is still missing out on the less obvious ways they can improve their coaching and, ultimately, what their team members can achieve.