{"id":4338,"date":"2016-03-08T16:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T16:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=4338"},"modified":"2023-10-18T17:35:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T17:35:58","slug":"guide-digital-coaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/guide-digital-coaching\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sales Manager\u2019s Guide To Digital Coaching"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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No one would suggest technology should replace all in-person meetings with a customer or prospect, and the same is true of coaching the sales reps who conduct those meetings. Just as smartphones, apps and related tools offer an ever-increasing complement to traditional ways to conducting business, though, there are ways digital devices could make sales coaching more consistent, accessible and effective.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoaching\u201d is a broad area, of course, and there might always be some situations where it\u2019s better to do a de-brief or put out a fire by dealing with an employee face-to-face or at least on the phone. A big part of coaching, however, is being open to employees, being able to listen actively and offer suggestions and support whenever and wherever it\u2019s needed. In that sense, it\u2019s a lot like offering good customer service, which is another area where digital tools have become really powerful.<\/p>\n

These are some examples of coaching scenarios that might come up via technology, and how best to make use of them.<\/p>\n

Try The \u201cOut Loud Before The Outbox\u201d Test<\/b><\/p>\n

The most common digital coaching tools most managers probably use today is e-mail. It\u2019s become a critical application in most organizations, though it also offers plenty of opportunity for misunderstandings, resentment and even worse. That\u2019s because tone is tricky to get across in email messages. In fact, email tone is misinterpreted at least 50 per cent of the time even those 90 per cent of people believe they understand it correctly, according to a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The best fix? Before hitting the \u201csend\u201d button, read the e-mail as though the recipient were sitting in front of you. Does it sound like your natural speaking voice? And more importantly, does it get across the kind of information that\u2019s helpful? You may not be able to do this for every e-mail, but if you\u2019re providing coaching \u2013 in other words, inspiration, ideas or instruction on how to improve performance \u2013 be mindful of how the message might be received.<\/p>\n

Act Like An App<\/b><\/p>\n

Even if you only use a handful of apps today, you\u2019ve probably noticed when you pick up your smartphone that there are often a number of push notifications waiting for you. These might be reminders of friends\u2019 birthdays on Facebook, or data on how many miles you\u2019ve walked from a fitness tracking app. Push notifications have become a staple for developers<\/a> to not only convey information but encourage behaviour among smartphone users \u2013 like remembering to keep using the app.<\/p>\n

Sales coaches can take a similar tack. If you know a rep has just wrapped up a meeting with a client, use text messages for a quick check-in and encouragement. Ask smart questions about new business needs, unanswered questions and so on. Suggest the rep update what\u2019s most relevant into a CRM tool<\/a> to nurture the prospect along. As with app notifications, these messages should not only nudge reps but give them something useful in return, like an action item that will take them one step closer to closing the deal.<\/p>\n

Become A Social Media-Style Cheerleader<\/b><\/p>\n

Go on Twitter, LinkedIn or even Facebook. What\u2019s the most common thing you see in the feed? It\u2019s probably the various \u201clikes\u201d to a status update or something that was shared on the platform. Offering a \u201clike\u201d is easy but it also offers an affirming boost<\/a> that suggests the audience wants more of the same.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s always debates over whether something like emojis or emoticons are over-used today, but think about effective ways to applaud sales reps who seem to be doing the right things, whether it\u2019s sharing information, updating account records in CRM or making good use of marketing materials to educate their clients.<\/p>\n

Share Coaching-Worthy Content<\/b><\/p>\n

Plenty of bosses send out links to their team via e-mail to articles they think are interesting or useful. Sometimes, though, there isn\u2019t enough context around what employees should do with the information, so they go unread. No matter which digital channel you use for sharing content, make sure it has the same kind of specific call to action that you\u2019d include as part of marketing you do to your actual customer base.<\/p>\n

Also, mix up your media. Rather than links to articles, learn from the growing trend towards photos and videos by offering reps a helpful look at products in action, clips from helpful talks at industry conferences or even infographics that can visualize data analytics in meaningful ways.<\/p>\n

Get more sales tips to fuel your success in 2016 and beyond in Saleforce\u2019s free eBook:<\/p>\n

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<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just as smartphones, apps and related tools offer an ever-increasing complement to traditional ways to conducting business, though, there are ways digital devices could make sales coaching more consistent, accessible and effective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sf_justforyou_enable_alt":true,"optimizely_content_id":"","post_meta_title":"","ai_synopsis":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"sf_topic":[68],"sf_content_type":[],"coauthors":[2],"class_list":["post-4338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","sf_topic-sales-cloud"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Sales Manager\u2019s Guide To Digital Coaching - Salesforce<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Just as smartphones, apps and related tools offer an ever-increasing complement to traditional ways to conducting business, though, there are ways digital devices could make sales coaching more consistent, accessible and effective.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/guide-digital-coaching\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Sales Manager\u2019s Guide To Digital Coaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just as smartphones, apps and related tools offer an ever-increasing complement to traditional ways to conducting business, though, there are ways digital devices could make sales coaching more consistent, accessible and effective.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/guide-digital-coaching\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Salesforce\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-18T16:55:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-18T17:35:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/10\/Coaching.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"945\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"495\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Salesforce Canada\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Salesforce Canada\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/guide-digital-coaching\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/guide-digital-coaching\/\"},\"author\":[{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/67746feea2d6a73653ce0c10f94077a5\"}],\"headline\":\"The Sales Manager\u2019s Guide To Digital Coaching\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-18T16:55:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-18T17:35:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/guide-digital-coaching\/\"},\"wordCount\":783,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/guide-digital-coaching\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/10\/Coaching.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/guide-digital-coaching\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/guide-digital-coaching\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/guide-digital-coaching\/\",\"name\":\"The Sales Manager\u2019s Guide To Digital Coaching - 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