This is a new series of product-focused blogs to help our customers achieve even greater ROI with LevelEleven. To view other stories in the series, click here.
In sales coaching, context matters
That’s one of the many reasons we built our new activity snapshot feature within LevelEleven coaching. Another important reason is that many of you, our awesome customers, requested it. You told us you wanted the ability to not only see this period’s sales metric performance, but also performance for prior periods and team averages. We were happy to oblige.
Now, you can utilize historical activity data in weekly one-on-ones and sales coaching sessions. In addition to seeing rep performance for the current period, managers can view activity snapshots for the last period, last four periods and year to date. There’s even a column for the current team average so you can view how reps stand against the rest of their team.
The historical data in this feature has been very insightful for many managers, and we want to make sure you’re also getting the most from it.
How to use activity snapshots for better sales coaching
A best practice for one-on-one sessions is to start by asking the rep what’s working or not working, as well as where the rep needs help. After that, review the current period’s activity data. Depending on how often you hold these sessions, you might be analyzing activity data for the current week or the current month.
For the metrics that are shown in green (ahead of pace to goal) or blue (on pace), commend the rep and ask him to tell you about some of the recent successes he’s had. For metrics that are red (behind pace), ask how you can help him get those back on track. What does he think he needs to work on? Use the Socratic Teaching method to help the rep reach his own conclusions, which generates buy-in and sharpens critical thinking skills.
The new historical data in our activity snapshot feature allows you to look beyond what’s happening right now. You can identify trends over time and determine if the current performance is in line with past periods or if it seems to be an outlier for that particular rep.
Let’s say a rep is falling behind on New Business Meetings. The current period metric will appear in red. With activity snapshots, you can determine whether this metric is usually behind pace for the rep.
In our example above, you can see that this rep is usually ahead of pace. She might just be having an off week. You can still commend her for her past performance, but also point out that she is behind this week. Remind her to keep an eye on that metric, and ask if there’s anything, in particular, you can do to help her get it back on pace.
For a rep who’s historically been behind pace (shown above), you’ll need to have a different conversation. Be candid with the rep about her performance, and try to understand why she’s consistently not hitting her numbers. Explain that this absolutely must turn around. Otherwise, she may not be a good fit for your company.
Effective sales coaching is now a mission critical expectation for modern sales teams. LevelEleven Coaching activity snapshots are just one way we’re enabling it for you. To learn more about how to get the most from your Activity Snapshot feature, click here. Not a LevelEleven customer, yet? Start here!
