(Journal article by George M. De Marco, Byan A. Mccullick; JOPERD–The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, Vol. 68, 1997)

I like this article as it challenges some of the more superficial approaches to training sales managers to coach. It is a challenge that so many duck and as I wrote in Quality Sales Managers Matters:

#1 High-performing sales manager’s impact reps engagement and financial performance. Reps reporting to great managers report high job satisfaction with four times more revenue than those working for poor managers.

#2 Coaching Is King—The manager activity most linked with sales rep success is coaching. However, their coaching ability to coach individual sales reps is the weakest.

#3 Who they coach is selective— Coaching low or star performers does not statistically improve performance. Core performers, the 60% center of the performance Bell Curve make significant improvements with coaching.

#4 Effective coaching hits the bottom line. Core sales reps receiving great coaching reach on average 102% of goal in contrast to sales people reporting poor coaching who achieve only 83% of goal. Good coaching can improve core performance by 19%. This is lower than with PDS’s and Huthwaite’s sales productivity projects (18%-30% sales increases)

#5 Great Coaching Is a Learned Skill—Quantitative analysis shows that five elements account for 77% of coaching effectiveness. Armed with this information, we can develop great coaches by focusing them on specific activities such as emphasizing the importance of targeting the best opportunities and spending at least three, but no more than five, hours coaching each rep per month.

The characteristics of coaching expertise, research into  coaching effectiveness, coaching expertise, and expert performance in other  domains, a profile of expert coaching has emerged. – Five distinct  Characteristics

Characteristics of Expert Coaches

1. Extensive, Specialized Knowledge

All around understanding of the internal and external sales  environments

2. Organize Knowledge Hierarchically

The ability to store and organize information as learning  patterns which allows them to compare idealized performance standards with the  present performance of their people.

At its core the experts are superior planners and  evaluators. E.g. expert gymnastic coaches used a model to determine and plan  for their athletes potential developing short- and long-term goals being set  and periodically reset according to the athlete’s progress.

Another study compared 10 expert and 10 novice basketball  coaches. The results indicated:

“..experts had more in-depth and detailed planning  protocols, with more augmentation, sub goals and anticipated problem statements  than novices. They planned practice sessions in bigger chunks, taking into  consideration more components of the problem at one time” (p.215).

3. Highly Perceptive & Superior Problem Solvers

Experts are uniquely capable of accurately perceiving  stimuli in game situations. They can sort important clues from other “white  noise” and then generate superior responses. They can see how all the pieces  fit together to help their athletes to plan, diagnose and strategize more  effectively. The experts solve problems more methodically

4 Accurately assess and prescribe performance

This positively impacts the quality and quality of coaching  during practice. Basketball experts spent 42% of their time in instruction In another study, expert coaches gave significantly more  feedback.

Expert coaches are able to detect what people need to know  and then find ways of supplying that information.

5. Exhibit Automaticity During Analysis & Instruction

Several studies on coaching effectiveness showed that  coaches of less satisfied high school teams often interrupted the flow of  practices to instruct, whereas coaches of satisfied teams typically provided  instruction as they played.

Commentary of Summitt’s coaching:

“provides succinct and rapid-fire instructive  and prescriptive feedback during play”

6 Self-Monitoring Skills

Experts are more self-aware, analytical, evaluative and  corrective of their performances. They are driven by the desire to improve  their own coaching performance

Developing Expertise in Coaching

1. Gain  More Knowledge
2. Study  successful coaches
3. Identify  the important. Organizational skills are critical to effective coaching.  Keep yearly, monthly, personal records
4. Stay perceptive, recognize problems early and solve them quickly.
5. Concentration is a must – focus on the task at hand and don’t let yourself  be interrupted or distracted. When analyzing a skill performance, focus  only on one aspect of the performance, not the whole skill.
   ”The sooner the coach can analyze skill problems, the sooner the will  move to the expert level”
6. Identify  & solve problems in a rapid, complete and correct manner demands skill  that continually needs to be developed
7. Increase  short- and long- term Memory – A great distinction between the experts and  others
   “the ability to acquire, retain and apply knowledge”
8. Make  it Automatic – develop practice routines, warm-up drills, pre-game activities
9. Regularly  monitor and evaluate your own coaching