Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions: A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives

APPENDIX

THE PLAYBOOK OF QUESTIONS FOR SALES COACHES

The salesperson you want to turn around. The problem you need to resolve. The tension among coworkers or team-mates that desperately needs to be defused. The sale that must be closed. The passion and drive within each salesperson, especially your rookies, which are essential to uncover. The underperforming veterans who are in a slump and require additional support, gentle encouragement, and a deeper sense of accountability in order to bring out their very best. The candidate who you would love to hire but is considering a position elsewhere.

Whatever the situation, challenge, or solution, the one common denominator and the tool used consistently by the world’s best coaches when approaching any scenario are questions. Not just any questions but powerful, creative, and well-crafted questions delivered at the right time, in the right way, to the right person.

Questions are at the very core of all coaching tools and strategies. Questions are the essence of coaching. Coaches draw their power from questions and questions are where the magic of coaching originates. Questions are where great opportunities are born, new ideas are ignited, self-imposed limitations are exposed, and vast possibilities are discovered.

Paradoxically, questions can very quickly become the prime source of devastation, damage, and disappointment for the manager who misuses or abuses them. Oddly enough, questions can put people on the defensive, make them ...