The Difference Between High and Low Performing Managers

EcSell Institute research shows

that more than 50% of sales managers knowingly execute less than 48% of the high performance coaching activities that will drive the most sales. The result of this statistic is obvious; sales revenue is left on the table due to the sales manager’s lack of willingness to execute. 

For perspective, how would a president, CSO, EVP sales, etc. respond to the above stats if they were applied to sales people?  What if they learned half of their sales people were doing only half of the activities that led to the best outcome? It would be unacceptable, heads would roll; yet in the sales leadership profession, this double standard is unknowingly accepted because coaching performance is not measured. How much more would be sold if sales leaders fully committed and behaved like high-performance coaches?

We have the answer: an additional $4.1 million per manager (read more in this white paper).

When delivering a presentation or workshop where I cover research surrounding activities and behaviors of high performing  coaches, inevitably some candid soul will make the comment “coaching is harder than I thought." I love it when this happens, for it means the concepts of high-performance coaching are sinking into the fiber of their being. And while great coaches sometimes make it look easy, it isn’t. 

If one is in a leadership position, defined by having people that report to them, by default they are a coach (tweet this).  Similar to athletics, they are a coach because they are accountable for the performance of individuals and hence the team.

Most seem to intellectually understand this objective, but few know what it takes to be consummately successful in this high-performance coaching endeavor. In business, and especially in sales, very few managers execute high-performance coaching activities or behaviors on a consistent basis. 

To read this full article, click here.