HOW COACHABLE ARE YOU ?

My Perspective this week is very fitting and biased to say the least. But hear me out please.

Professional sales requires a strong ego and an awful lot of self confidence for sure. What I see sometimes in certain individuals is a serious uncomfortability admitting what they don't know. In otherwords, the strong ego and self confidence will not allow them to admit to any shortcomings ( at least not to anyone else and probably deny most of it themselves ).

Professional sales is a huge continuum of knowledge and different insights to what works and what doesn't. And especially now with this economy and the innovative approaches to networking and a myriad of other changes taking place; how can you not be open to learning, change, innovation, and the experience that another sales professional may offer you ?

I know this sounds like a commercial for my services; that's not the case. It doesn't mean I would turn down an opportunity to coach you. It means that I'm speaking in general terms about your willingness to change and admit that you don't know it all ( nor do I ). Coaching is a good thing and being open to being coached is what every TEAM ( professional sports being the best example ) wants their players to relish and enjoy.

Coaching ( and being coached ) is very different from management. Coach's accept responsibility for your growing success. That is their challenge and their responsibility.

Manager's critique, criticize, and mandate policies / paperwork to hold you accountable. Most do not accept responsibility for your growing success ( always anxious to take credit for it ).

Needless to say, there are many experienced sales professionals who have chosen to coach other aspiring sales professionals. There are numerous ones on the internet. Almost always, it doesn't cost anything to discuss what they have to offer. If you consider ( at some point ) a sales coach - make sure you ask a lot of questions and utilize your best judgement before engaging their services. Most want a time commitment and a definite dollar figure. Make sure you know all of those details before signing on the dotted line.

All that aside, spend some time asking and answering my original question at the start.

If you were on my Team ( and I owned or managed the business you sell for ) I would want you to be coachable. I would want you to want to be more successful and contribute to my success. And I would expect you to do whatever it takes to be more successful !

Thanks for taking the time to read this week's Perspective. Good Luck and Good Selling !