I have been working with many sales organizations to help them with sales strategy execution. One question I got asked often especially in the introduction meetings is:” How is an Accountability Coach different from a Sales Coach?” Let me share with you my thoughts here.
1- What are the differences between Sales Coaching & Accountability Coaching?
Sales coaching is the process of developing and mentoring a salesperson through one-on-one relationships with a manager or peer. An effective sales coach helps sales professionals to self-diagnose deficiencies, enabling them to take greater ownership of their performance and improve their outcomes in the sales process. Sales coaches focus on the sales tactics and improvement of competencies.
An accountability coaching is a process that enables a much improved level of ownership and execution excellence. An effective accountability coach is a professional expert whose job is to give you guidance and encouragement that helps you to overcome resistance in order to provide the required motivation so you can achieve your goals within specified deadlines.
2 – What problems do Sales Coaching & Accountability Coaching help solving?
Sales coaching helps with: Lack of competency and or tactics in the sales team.
Accountability coaching helps with: Lack of progress, motivation and focus toward achieving goals.
3 – What value does the accountability coach bring to you and your team?
Accountability is that you deliver what you said that you would do in others eyes.
What it does for individuals is: A perception of personal brand/personal integrity.
What accountability does for a team is: high performing culture.
Accountability is a two ways street. Accountability can on one hand expose where things are lacking, and on the other hand help an individual or a team gain a positive perception and trust.
The ones who embrace a behavior of accountability for their results in a team, are not only perceived to be in the driver seat, they really are. They take full ownership of their actions. Accountability starts with holding yourself accountable, but also holding others accountable. Accountability coaching is about furnishing the team members with the tools so they can hold themselves and others accountable in order to achieve team success.
A sales strategy is defined as a documented plan for positioning and selling your product or service to qualified buyers to achieve desired results.
In sales strategy execution, accountability coaching is about creating a cohesive team to ensure the team is accountable to their actions. Through this process, sales can be held accountable to his/her actions and to actively engage with customers. Sales can also hold the team accountable to provide the support needed in due time. Therefore sales can successfully close the deal. This makes the entire team successful. The “ZL Accountability System“ including accountability coaching in combination, however, provides you a great methodology to differentiate from your competitors.
In a sales organization, you could have both sales coach & accountability coach. They are neither conflicting support nor overlap support . It depends what are the pain points the leaders that are trying to relieve for the team.
At ZL, our mission is to empower small to medium-sized businesses through a suite of bespoke consulting services encompassing market analysis, go-to-market strategies, project management, and PMO consulting. We are dedicated to delivering insightful, hands-on guidance and execution support, ensuring our clients not only achieve but exceed their strategic objectives. Our commitment lies in driving tangible business impact, fostering growth, and building long-term resilience in an ever-evolving marketplace.
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