Comments on: One Company’s Approach for Ride-Alongs with Salesreps http://davesteinsblog.esresearch.com/2009/10/19/one-companys-approach-for-ride-alongs-with-salesreps/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=one-companys-approach-for-ride-alongs-with-salesreps An Independent Expert's Observations on Sales Performance Improvement Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:56:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dave Stein http://davesteinsblog.esresearch.com/2009/10/19/one-companys-approach-for-ride-alongs-with-salesreps/comment-page-1/#comment-825 Dave Stein Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:37:49 +0000 http://davesteinsblog.esresearch.com/?p=2756#comment-825 I got a chance to meet a bunch of the sales training team from Ricoh, Jill. What a committed, competent team. I got a chance to meet a bunch of the sales training team from Ricoh, Jill. What a committed, competent team.

]]> By: Jill http://davesteinsblog.esresearch.com/2009/10/19/one-companys-approach-for-ride-alongs-with-salesreps/comment-page-1/#comment-824 Jill Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:28:34 +0000 http://davesteinsblog.esresearch.com/?p=2756#comment-824 Ride-along days are so powerful for the rep, the manager and the customers they visit. It is great to see a company formalizing that activity. They can be a waste of time or destructive if not done correctly. I think everyone wins when proper preparation and time is spent on this important activity. Thanks for the focus. Ride-along days are so powerful for the rep, the manager and the customers they visit. It is great to see a company formalizing that activity. They can be a waste of time or destructive if not done correctly. I think everyone wins when proper preparation and time is spent on this important activity. Thanks for the focus.

]]> By: Dave Stein http://davesteinsblog.esresearch.com/2009/10/19/one-companys-approach-for-ride-alongs-with-salesreps/comment-page-1/#comment-814 Dave Stein Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:38:10 +0000 http://davesteinsblog.esresearch.com/?p=2756#comment-814 Thanks for the comment, Steve. For my readers, The Brooks Group is one of the firms ESR covers. In addition to other areas, The Brooks Group has proved themselves to be experts at coaching approaches. Thanks for the comment, Steve.

For my readers, The Brooks Group is one of the firms ESR covers. In addition to other areas, The Brooks Group has proved themselves to be experts at coaching approaches.

]]> By: Steve Hackett http://davesteinsblog.esresearch.com/2009/10/19/one-companys-approach-for-ride-alongs-with-salesreps/comment-page-1/#comment-813 Steve Hackett Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:54:01 +0000 http://davesteinsblog.esresearch.com/?p=2756#comment-813 I would like to respond to Dave Steins recent blog "One Company's Approach To Ride Alongs With Sales Reps". There is no substitute for a sales manager riding along with their sales reps in the field. If the manager wants to sleep well at night they need to spend time in the field with their reps. Dave is right. Most sales managers do not spend enough time in the field with their reps and in addition, few managers have received any type of training on how to conduct field coaching with their reps. There are six rules to effectively conduct ride alongs with the reps. It starts by understanding exactly what you want to accomplish on the call. Managers need to set the expectations not objective of the call. Here are the six rules for effective ride alongs: - Don't get sand bagged. Tell the reps what you are looking to observe (all phases of the sale) - Establish the roles. There are three different roles for a call. You can be the leader and the salesperson observers you. Co-op the call. Both you and the rep jointly participate with specific roles. Observer. You simply observer the rep. - Notify the prospect of the roles. If you do not the tendency is that the attention is drawn to the manager and the rep feels left out. - Don't change the roles. This can be very hard if the sale starts going south. You as the manager need to decide if losing a battle is worth winning the war, The best opportunity to make points and potentially change bad habits is in real-time. This is hard but. - Start coaching immediately after the call. Ask reps how they felt the call went. Give feedback and suggestions on ways to improve on the calls. - Set objectives (points of emphasis) for the next call. This gives you an opportunity to reinforce the correct habits or best practices immediately. The ride along should be a very positive learning and coaching opportunity to help the reps develop the skill set required to be a successful performer when you are not available for the ride along. If the manager does not make it a priority it won't happen. Make sure you identify what you want to see on the call and follow the six simple rules for an effective ride along and you will see dramatic improvement in your reps skill set. Good selling! I would like to respond to Dave Steins recent blog “One Company’s Approach To Ride Alongs With Sales Reps”. There is no substitute for a sales manager riding along with their sales reps in the field. If the manager wants to sleep well at night they need to spend time in the field with their reps.

Dave is right. Most sales managers do not spend enough time in the field with their reps and in addition, few managers have received any type of training on how to conduct field coaching with their reps. There are six rules to effectively conduct ride alongs with the reps. It starts by understanding exactly what you want to accomplish on the call. Managers need to set the expectations not objective of the call. Here are the six rules for effective ride alongs:
- Don’t get sand bagged. Tell the reps what you are looking to observe (all phases of the sale)
- Establish the roles. There are three different roles for a call. You can be the leader and the salesperson observers you. Co-op the call. Both you and the rep jointly participate with specific roles. Observer. You simply observer the rep.
- Notify the prospect of the roles. If you do not the tendency is that the attention is drawn to the manager and the rep feels left out.
- Don’t change the roles. This can be very hard if the sale starts going south. You as the manager need to decide if losing a battle is worth winning the war, The best opportunity to make points and potentially change bad habits is in real-time. This is hard but.
- Start coaching immediately after the call. Ask reps how they felt the call went. Give feedback and suggestions on ways to improve on the calls.
- Set objectives (points of emphasis) for the next call. This gives you an opportunity to reinforce the correct habits or best practices immediately.

The ride along should be a very positive learning and coaching opportunity to help the reps develop the skill set required to be a successful performer when you are not available for the ride along. If the manager does not make it a priority it won’t happen. Make sure you identify what you want to see on the call and follow the six simple rules for an effective ride along and you will see dramatic improvement in your reps skill set.

Good selling!

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