Title Details

KEITH ROSEN is the CEO of Profit Builders, named one of the Best Sales Training and Coaching Companies worldwide. Keith has delivered his courses to hundreds of thousands of salespeople and managers in practically every industry; on five continents and in over 50 countries. Keith is the author of several bestselling books. As a global authority on sales coaching and the pioneer of leadership coach training, Keith was inducted in the inaugural group of the Top Sales Hall of Fame in recognition for his outstanding contributions in sales and leadership development. Inc.magazine and Fast Company named Keith one of the five most influential executive coaches. Keith was also featured on the award winning television show, Mad Men and was one of the first out of only a handful of coaches who earned the distinguished Master Certified Coach designation credentialed through the International Coach Federation. To get Keith's ebooks, articles and videos, visit www.KeithRosen.com.

About the Author xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction xvii

CHAPTER ONE The Death of Management 1

Becoming an Executive Sales Coach 1

But I’m Already Coaching 3

Making the Shift from Sales Manager to Executive Sales Coach 3

The Missing Discipline of Sales Coaching 5

Defining the Role of a Sales Coach 6

A Coach versus a Mentor 7

Nine Barriers to Coaching a Sales Team 8

Consultant, Trainer, or Coach? 12

Managers Don’t Have Time to Manage 15

Understanding the Commitment to Coach Your Sales Team 17

Get a Coach for the Coach 19

Five Core Characteristics of the World’s Greatest Sales Coaches 21

CHAPTER TWO The Coach’s Mindset: Six Universal Principles of Masterful Coaching 25

Management’s Eternal Conundrum 26

Hitting Rock Bottom 27

You Can’t Coach What You Fear 29

The Strong, Fearful Leader 30

Universal Principle of Masterful Coaching No. 1: Make Fear Your Ally 32

Universal Principle of Masterful Coaching No. 2: Be Present 36

Universal Principle of Masterful Coaching No. 3: Detach from the Outcome 41

Universal Principle of Masterful Coaching No. 4: Become Process Driven 45

Universal Principle of Masterful Coaching No. 5: Be Creative 49

Universal Principle of Masterful Coaching No. 6: Become Fully Accountable— for Everything 50

The Top 19 Excuses Managers Use to Justify Why Salespeople Fail 51

CHAPTER THREE Six Fatal Coaching Mistakes and How to Avoid Them 55

Coach the Relationship with Their Story 56

Fatal Coaching Mistake No. 1: Believing the S.C.A.M.M.— A Manager’s Most Elusive Adversary 57

Fatal Coaching Mistake No. 2: Wanting More for others than They Want for Themselves 63

Fatal Coaching Mistake No. 3: Are You Coaching Your Salespeople or Judging Them? 68

Fatal Coaching Mistake No. 4: Coaching Isn’t about the Coach 70

Fatal Coaching Mistake No. 5: Share Ideas, Not Expectations 71

Fatal Coaching Mistake No. 6: Mismanaging Expectations: Are You Preparing Your Sales Team for Change? 73

CHAPTER FOUR Tactical Coaching 77

Who Do You Coach? 77

A.G.R.O.W.T.H. Success Indicator to Determine Personal Coachability 78

Don’t Coach the Squeaker 80

Coaching the Whole Person 80

Developing Sales Champions from the Inside Out 81

What Do You Coach? Coach the Gap 82

Do I Coach Them or Train Them? 84

What Exactly Can You Coach? 88

The Top 10 Characteristics of Highly Effective Salespeople 89

CHAPTER FIVE The Seven Types of Sales Managers 91

The Seven Ps 91

The Problem-Solving Manager 93

The Question is the Answer 97

Solution-Oriented Questions 98

CHAPTER SIX Ignition On! Now They’re Inspired 101

The Pitchfork Manager 101

Push versus Pull— A Simple Model of Motivation 103

Let Your Salespeople Tell You What Motivates Them 104

Ask Your Salespeople How They Want to be Coached 106

Motivate through Pleasure Rather than Consequence 107

Communicate from Abundance Rather than From Scarcity 108

Make Acknowledgment Unconditional, Measurable, and Specific 110

Make Your People Right, Even When they’re Not 113

Create New Opportunities Rather than Make People Wrong 116

CHAPTER SEVEN Assumptive Coaching and Dangerous Listening 119

The Pontificating Manager 119

Eight Barriers That Prevent Masterful Listening 121

Listening through Filters— A Manager’s Lethal Weakness 122

Just the Facts, Please 125

Encourage Silence 125

Focus More on the Message than on the Messenger 126

Listening to Someone or Listening for Something 127

Make People Feel They Are Being Heard 129

The Presumptuous Manager 131

Don’t Believe Everything You Tell Yourself 132

Get Out of Your Way and Out of Your Head 133

Be Curious 140

CHAPTER EIGHT Vulnerability-Based Leadership 143

The Perfect Manager 143

Express Your Authenticity: Become Vulnerable 146

Embrace Your Humanity 147

Evidence of an Emerging Culture 148

Vulnerability and Trust 149

The Passive Manager 151

Embrace Healthy Conflict 153

Call Them out Using the Coaching Edge 153

Take a Stand for Your Salespeople 154

Declare What You Really Want for Your Sales Team 156

The “I’m Sensing That” Statement 158

The Proactive Manager 161

A View from the Sidelines 162

CHAPTER NINE Facilitating an Effective Coaching Conversation 169

Preparing for the Coaching Session 169

The Anatomy of a Coaching Session 170

The Coaching Prep Form 171

Strategic Coaching Questions 175

The L.E.A.D.S. Coaching Model 176

The Management Conversation 179

The Coaching Conversation 183

Going Deeper— Breakthrough Coaching 191

How Much Coaching is Enough? 203

CHAPTER TEN The Art of Enrollment 207

It’s All about Connection 207

Making an Impact 210

Leaving Your Legacy as a Manager 211

The Art of Enrollment 212

Enrollment is a Universal Phenomenon 214

Creating the Possibility for Change 215

The Six Steps of an Enrollment Conversation 216

Case Study: Enrolling Someone to Improve their

Quality of Work 218

Case Study: Enrolling Someone to Become More

Accountable 222

The Written Word: Crafting a Compelling Message 226

CHAPTER ELEVEN The Seduction of Potential 233

Potential is the Holy Grail 233

The Seduction Begins: The Ether of Potential 235

The Hard Cost of Complacency 236

You Can’t Build a Business on Potential 237

When to give up and Let Go 239

Master the Art of Abandonment 240

The Top Trigger Points of Seduction 241

CHAPTER TWELVE Develop an Internal Coaching Program 243

Identifying a Turnaround Opportunity 244

Holding Your People Accountable 248

Week One: Introducing the Turnaround Strategy— An Enrollment Conversation 248

Week Two: A Minor Setback or Imminent Failure 252

Week Three: On The Winner’s Path 257

Week Four: A Successful Turnaround 264

Designing an Executive Sales Coaching Program 266

How to Turn Around or Terminate an Underperformer in Less than 30 Days 270

Fire Them and Then Hire Them 277

Tips from the Coaches’ Playbook 278

Conclusion 279

Final Thoughts on Being an Executive Sales Coach 279

Appendix 283

The Playbook of Questions for Sales Coaches 283

The 80-20 Rule on Coaching Questions 313

Index 315

"There is no other single activity to boost sales that works better than sales coaching and Keith's book, Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions, is the best ever written on how to do it well."
—Brian Tracy, Author,  Getting Rich Your Own Way

"Few management books are specific to salespeople and those of us who work with salespeople understand they're a different breed. Keith Rosen's book is a great one to study and apply or pick up here and there when you have a special need. His coaching ideas are clearly explained and easily executed."
—Tom Hopkins, author of How to Master the Art of Selling

"Winning in sales is no different than winning in life. If you embrace Keith's philosophy, you can certainly expect to win in all areas of your life, while making a profound and measurable impact on your salespeople's performance and attitude."
—Dr. Denis Waitley, Best Selling Author of The Seeds of Greatness and The Psychology of Winning

"Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions is a well written, easily readable, practical book for anyone who manages salespeople. Excellent content is combined with real case studies, coaching templates and action steps that make this book a must read and a desktop reference for every sales manager, executive or business owner."
—Dr. Tony Alessandra, Author of The Platinum Rule & Non-Manipulative Selling

"Warning! Get Coaching Salespeople into Champions or put your team and your company at risk. Keith Rosen's step-by-step guidance will transform you and your sales team into top performers virtually overnight."
—Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies and Founder, SellingtoBigCompanies.com

"Fluffless! Rosen continues to give practical, A to Z how-to advice. After you read it, simply do it!"
—Anthony Parinello, Author of Selling to VITO

“This is a book that will truly take entire sales organizations to the next level. Keith is spot on, and his approach to accountability in the coaching process is what so many sales people and sales managers are missing.”
—Tom Ziglar, CEO, Ziglar, Inc.

"There are very few good books published for sales managers and most of them are filled with biased ideology and abstract concepts. Keith Rosen's book is refreshingly practical. It contains concrete steps on what to coach, how to coach and how to bring out people's hidden talents without resentment, or frustration. This is the clearly the best book on sales coaching I've seen in a decade."
—Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder and Publisher, Selling Power

"When it comes to building a top sales organization, Keith has got the market cornered on tactical leadership strategies for today's workforce. Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions is a winning playbook for managers who need to strengthen and invigorate their sales team through executive sales coaching."
—David Hirsch, Director of Business to Business Vertical Markets Group, Google

“We can give salespeople all of the training in the world, we can inspire them and motivate them, we can even provide them with the latest and greatest technology…..but in today's highly competitive marketplace, we can measurably accelerate their success through coaching and this is THE TACTICAL PLAY BOOK to help get it done!”
—Michael Norton, Chairman of the Board and Founder, CanDoGo™

"Great playbook that all leaders should read and reference.  Keith has done a tremendous job outlining the importance of coaching vs. managing.  Implementing Keith's playbook will drive the development of high performance salespeople and superior results."
—Kelly Carioti, Vice President, Specialty and Self-Service Retail, PepsiCo 

“Without effective coaching, sales performance improvement programs stand little to no chance of success, and so establishing an effective coaching program was one of the highest priorities for Microsoft sales managers, with high demand from sales leadership worldwide. Having experience working with several vendors, and looking closely at many other coaching programs available in the marketplace, Keith’s experience, expertise and approach won us over. Perhaps the clearest difference is that Keith’s approach makes a difference – it’s not simply theory and concepts – it’s practical with real-world situations. Keith also practices what he preaches, which sounds easy but bridging the knowing-doing gap is hard. With Keith, there’s no disconnect between what he teaches and what he actually does. He helps managers apply the principles of effective coaching regardless of the specific situation, no matter how difficult or ‘unique.’ His proven coaching framework is universally accepted, and as such, embraced by and complementary to every region, culture and business unit, regardless of where you are located throughout the world. There’s always something to learn from Keith and working with him is always an inspiration, so if you have the opportunity to do so, jump!”
—Mark Selleck - Senior Director, Worldwide Sales and Marketing Professions

“It has been an immense professional and personal privilege to have had the opportunity to work so closely with a world-leading master in the art of Coaching. Keith is an exceptional trainer who inspires and enthuses his audience. His passion for the coaching is evident in the way he shows up and conducts himself. He went to great lengths to understand our business and our company culture and has inspired many of our Sales leaders to become masterful coaches. I would highly recommend him both as a person and as a professional for any organization wishing to transform their Sales management team towards Sales management excellence.”
—Cillian O'Grady - Senior Director Business Development Group Oracle Direct at Oracle

“Our sales managers and I recently completed a program focused on “Sales Coaching”. The program was conducted by Keith Rosen, author of the best selling business book “Coaching Sales People into Sales Champions”. In my nine plus years in the Sports Industry, this was one of the most eye opening experiences that I have been through. What the program gave us, was the knowledge, structure, and game plan necessary to become better communicators with our staff and align our sales people’s personal and professional goals with the company's objectives, to increase performance.”
—Nick Forro - Director, Season Ticket Sales and Service at New York Yankees

“Since Keith presented the program I have observed our working environment take big steps forward. Our reps are empowered and thinking creatively to create new possibilities for our business, thus the management team has relinquished our roles as “Chief Problem Solvers” which has allowed us to spend more time observing and coaching reps. Professionally, I am happier and with less stress than ever before. I can't thank Keith enough for the impact he has made!”
—Jeff Ianello - Vice President, Sales at Phoenix Suns

“Keith Rosen was instrumental in "Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions" in my organization of hundreds telemarketing and telesales people across Europe, Middle East & Africa. He delivered his training course to all managers in the organization (~100) and offered periodic one-to-one coaching to its top leaders thereafter, including myself.  Through his actions, the coaching culture significantly penetrated the organization, resulting in better managers-as-coaches and ultimately in improved salespeople empowerment and productivity. Keith Rosen's insights into salespeople motivators & behaviors, as well as his training skills were key & necessary in initiating this culture change successfully.”
—Stéphane Rousset - Senior Vice-President Strategy, International Business at Fujitsu