Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal

Getting stellar sales performance: why sales managers mentoring, coaching and technology capabilities
make the difference
Komal Khandelwal Das Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay Subrata Das

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To cite this document:
Komal Khandelwal Das Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay Subrata Das , (2014),"Getting stellar sales performance: why
sales managers mentoring, coaching and technology capabilities make the difference", Development and Learning in
Organizations: An International Journal, Vol. 28 Iss 5 pp. 13 - 16
Permanent link to this document:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/DLO-02-2014-0012
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Educators and Recruiters", American Journal of Business, Vol. 15 Iss 1 pp. 55-64
Nigel F. Piercy, David W. Cravens, Neil A. Morgan, (1997),"Sources of effectiveness in the business#to#business sales
organization", Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, Vol. 3 Iss 1 pp. 45-71

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Getting stellar sales performance: why

sales managers mentoring, coaching
and technology capabilities make the
difference
Komal Khandelwal Das, Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay and Subrata Das

Komal Khandelwal Das is

based at Department of
Management, GLA
University, Mathura,
India.
Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay
is an Associate Professor
based at Department of
Management, Symbiosis
Institute of Media &
Communication, Pune,
India. Subrata Das is an
Associate Professor
based at Department of
Mechanical Engineering,
Hindustan College of
Science and Technology,
Mathura, India.

elling is a critical organizational activity, at the core of which is each salespersonss

competency and performance at the front-line of any selling process. In the current
buyer-driven and unpredictable markets, the salesperson often has minimal control,
and there is no rational script or process that can be followed.

Dynamic selling and preparing an innovative point of selling orientation recently

emerged as pivotal challenges for sales organizations. Lassk et al. (2012) provided
insights on the essential core competencies that salespeople need, in particular;
customer-oriented selling, post-sale service and pro-active recovery methods. In
addition, the need for core marketing competencies is growing exponentially but also
constantly shifting and interchanging. Salespeople with a lack of suitable preparation
will never yield stellar results. However, sales training can often be too inflexible, too
slow or too generic to be fully and effective.
While the sales manager has to handle a multiplicity of functions (e.g. setting or
implementing competitive strategies or targeting market segments), we argue that the
importance of their skills in developing others is increasing. It has been established that
managers clarity of their role and attitude in the context of coaching and mentoring the
team significantly influences a salespersons performance. That capability, together
with their technological competence, is pivotal to ensure effective functioning in current
and future sales arenas. Managerial interventions play an essential role in creating a
competent sales team; well-positioned to attain the objectives and the vision and
mission work of the organization (Hooijberg, 2009). Therefore, this article advocates a
greater emphasis on the development of manager capabilities to positively impact
sales force performance. Below is a concise summary of some of the latest research on
how Sales Managers can influence and help create higher levels of professionalism and
results in any sales force by developing their coaching, mentoring and technological
capabilities.

Coach and get involved in formal development

Here, we use the term coaching to include any tactical developmental conversations
between the manager and the salesperson. It has been shown that sales managers with an
optimistic attitude and an understanding of creative approaches for learning consistently
deliver more value to their organizations (Lassk et al., 2012). Empirical studies have already

DOI 10.1108/DLO-02-2014-0012

VOL. 28 NO. 5 2014, pp. 13-16, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1477-7282 DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS

PAGE 13

explored that multi-source feedback, supplemented with coaching, increases sales

productivity (Hooijberg, 2009). For example, Motorola, having identified the key
competencies needed to drive the business forward, involved sales managers as part of
their knowledge provision to individual salespeople (Keenan, 2000).

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Successful managers act as part of any knowledge or skill application process by

structuring pre and post-developmental action plans that are adjusted to the individual
salespersons strengths and that build their core-marketing competency and sales
personality characteristics. A sales personality characteristic is a reflection of the
trainees sales attitude, such as whether they are an optimist, resilient, assertive, social,
expressive and/or committed to the cause.
Experience has indicated that continued interaction between the sales manager and their
salespeople can be a crucial starting point for anticipating and designing formal learning
events. Managers should evaluate the skill levels before any intervention. This can be done
by documenting the strengths and weaknesses of each member of the sales team,
(Plemons, 2010); by ensuring the inclusion of sales team opinions, suggestions and
perceptions of what they require and through the use of questioning techniques or 360
degree assessment. Determine what is going well and identify areas that need to be
amended. The manager needs to be actively engaged in deciding what is required to
consolidate priority areas and what needs to be changed or developed (Lassk et al., 2012).
Finally, for purposeful on-or off site training, managers must focus on the impact of any
intervention; the learning transfer how the new knowledge/skill will be utilized in the
tangible selling domain.
The managers role in each persons formal development plan is likewise concerned
with effectively organizing resources like sales tools and emerging technologies, taking
action to structure interventions, techniques and bundle interventions into functionality.
Any development plan should present how it will impact on sales results. Managers
should incorporate regular feedback and support mechanisms (assessments,
observations and work-performance) and monitor and review progress at regular
intervals.

Mentor each individual

However, coaching does not necessarily resolve deeper underlying issues like a lack of
motivation, low self-esteem, self-efficacy or limited competence. Thus, mentoring is also
pivotal. Here, we define mentoring as a more strategic interaction that is aimed at assisting
the individual salesperson in both their longer-term career progression and their personal
development. All too often managers focus only on short term results. Managers should
also interact with individuals taking a longer-term view and initiate mentoring with an open
direction to follow and targets to attain. Talking about their preferred career pathways,
where they want to aim and any specific milestones to be reached for future promotion will
all help an individuals motivation to action. With fluid markets and constantly shifting skill
requirements, managers can assist individuals to self-direct their learning by helping them
to understand their learning preferences and to see how they determine themselves. Such
support helps sales people to proactively enhance their knowledge, adapt to modifications
(whether market, structure or product), feel appreciated and therefore remain connected
with the priorities and strategic aims of the business.

Technological savvy
The sales managers ability to use sales tools and technology is also tightly correlated with
salespeoples performance and outcomes. Technologies primarily embody philosophies
and ideologies and have potential to provide emergent learning paths and recognizable
performance improvements.

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The manager needs to be savvy enough to identify effective, technology-driven learning

systems. For example, IT-based expert systems that can incorporate field-tested
cognition experiences or two-way interactions on digital platforms that leverage
remembrance and behavioural enactment (Hooijberg, 2009). The Sales Manager is
needed to address how enhanced technological capabilities, reinforcement mechanisms
and techniques in the management of technology can change the actions of the sales team
to increase results (Lassk et al., 2012).
It can be useful to integrate technology and work with a group of technology experts
and sales consultants to produce appropriate resolutions. As an example, Cisco
developed an integrated model for their sales associates by combining video
conferencing in real time, desktop conferencing, collaboration and privilege of remote
access, all of which increased learning and productive speed. Customer relationship
management systems can integrate tangible data from financial systems and intangible
data from salespeople. Emerging technology such as mobile apps (iPods, iTunes and
smart phones, tablets and cloud computing) and social media (Facebook, Twitter,
blogs, YouTube) also have important implications in the sales process as well as for
self-directed learning.

[. . .] and finally
From our studies, we plan to incorporate managerial capabilities that are distinguished
from other effectiveness factors such as trainees, training and workplace. We aim to identify
those that enable the sales force to transfer the best components of development
interventions and reach stellar levels of performance. From this, we will create a framework
for a sales training plan that is realistic, creative and pro-active, that will perhaps infuse an
adrenaline rush in any sales team, and provide significant developments in their
professional workplace and personal lives in equal measure.

Keywords:
Training,
Mentoring,
Organization development,
Coaching,
Development strategies

In conclusion, the future of the sales manager role is highly dependent on mentoring,
coaching and technological skills, if they are to enrich sales performance development
plans, increase productivity and deliver improved results that will be recognized. In a
tumultuous business environment, developing appropriate new metrics based on market
orientation, maintaining enough energy to outpace competitors moves and building
strategic relationships are no longer sufficient. The managers developmental role is also
critical. Nevertheless, further work needs to be done and documented to provide more
evidence of this essential tie.

References
Hooijberg, R. (2009), Using multisource feedback coaching effectively in executive education,
Academy of Management Learning & Education, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 483-494.
Keenan, W. Jr (2000), Sale training ROI, Industry Week.
Lassk, F.G., Ingram, T.N., Kraus, F. and Di Mascio, R. (2012), The future of sales training: challenges
and related research questions, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Vol. 32 No. 1,
pp. 141-154.
Plemons, S.K. (2010), Why sales training is important to a company, Fort Worth Business Press,
Vol. 22 No. 35, p. 48.

About the authors

Komal Khandelwal Das is an Assistant Prof at Hindustan Institute of Technology and
Management (HITM), Agra. She has completed her graduation in B Com (HONS) from
Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra, India and Post graduation in M Com (Human
Resources) from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. She is a Management scholar,
and has seven years of experience in Academics. Her research interests include Sales
Training and workforce performance evaluation. She is currently Pursuing PhD, from GLA

VOL. 28 NO. 5 2014

DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS

PAGE 15

University, Mathura. Komal Khandelwal Das is the corresponding author and can be
contacted at: komal1316@gmail.com
Ashwani Kumar Upadhayay is an Associate Professional, affiliated to Symbiosis Institute of
Media & Communication, Pune.

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Subrata Das is an Associate Professor at Hindustan College of Science & Technology,

Farah, Mathura. She graduated in Mechanical Engineering, has completed her Post
Graduation in Production Engineering and PhD in Management (Operation Research)
NSOU, Kolkatta and has a total experience of 16 years in academics. She has five
publications in refereed journals and two books published, one for LAMBERT Academic
Publishing. Her interests lie in domain-designing, developing and executing instructional
and blended learning interventions for academic courses, professional training and
workshops. She also imparts expert knowledge and direction to endeavour development
and assessment of students and professional workforce.

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