Sales Coaching | Forrest Performance Group

Posts Tagged ‘ sales coaching ’

Sales Leaders: Make 2013 a Year of Transformation

February 6, 2013

Tags: executive coaching, Jason Forrest, Leadership Sales Coaching, Leadership Sales Coaching the seminar, sales coaching, sales management, sales manager, transforming from manager to coach

Leadership Sales Coaching–The Seminar provides 15 strategies to transform from a sales manager to a sales coach.

See details below.

PRICING:

$995/person
Group rate (four or more people): $895/person
Register by March 26th for early bird pricing ($845/person) and contact laura@forrestPG.com for group rates.

SCHEDULE:

Monday, April 22, 7-9: Cocktails and appetizers
Tuesday, April 23, 9-4: Seminar, Day One
& 7-9: Dinner
Wednesday, April 24, 9-4: Seminar, Day Two

LOCATION:
Call 972-373-8900 to book rooms and mention Forrest PG event for special rates at the unique NYLO hotel (12 minutes from the airport). Reservations must be received on or before Monday, April 1st in order to receive the group hotel rate.

ABOUT JASON FORREST

JASON FORREST (named one of 2012’s Top Young Trainers for Training magazine–a national, industry-wide publication) is an expert at creating high-performance sales cultures through complete training programs. He incorporates experiential learning (rather than theory) to increase sales, implement cultural accountability, and transform companies into sales organizations. A sales professional at heart, Forrest is the author of two previous books. Forrest’s competitive distinction is his behavior-modification approach (which focuses on people, process, and presentation) and his focus on culture change.

ABOUT FORREST PERFORMANCE GROUP

Forrest Performance Group specializes in culture change and creating urgency within sales teams and management. Forrest PG’s competitive distinction is its behavior modification approach as applied to a variety of programs, education, seminars and sales coach training offerings all aimed at dramatically improving sales force success.

Visit ForrestPG.com for more information.

Avid Builder: No Fear of Conflict

November 9, 2012

Tags: Avid Builder, consumer confidence, Fearless Selling, industry publications, Jason Forrest, published articles, sales coaching

“Without struggle, there is no progress.”—Frederick Douglass

Training that doesn’t change behavior is nothing more than education. Coaching takes it to the next level—providing changed results and equipping sales professionals to become the best version of themselves. It’s a challenge to get your people to exceed their own expectations, but one of the most important qualities you can have to make it happen is no fear of conflict. Because conflict allows you to grow your people and also to build trust.

Houston Agent Magazine: Brokers as Agents

September 14, 2012

Tags: Accountability, cultural change, hot beliefs, Houston Agent, industry publications, Jason Forrest, published articles, sales coaching

People can be afraid of that word – accountability. They think it’s going to mean someone’s breathing down their neck, shining a spotlight on their every misstep and making them feel they’re just not enough. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. When your team members see that time with you increases their paychecks and helps them achieve more satisfaction in their careers, they will want you to play the role of coach in their lives.

On Coaching and Cookies–the X Factor Sales Coach

August 15, 2012

Tags: development and leadership training programs, Jason Forrest, management coaching, new home sales consultants, new home sales management, new home sales trainer, new home sales training, sales coaches, sales coaching, sales management, X Factor Sales Coaches

“All fighters are pig-headed some way or another: some part of them always thinks they know better than you about something. Truth is: even if they’re wrong, even if that one thing is going to be the ruin of them, if you can beat that last bit out of them… they ain’t fighters at all.” –Eddie, Million Dollar Baby

Salespeople are fighters. Why else would they give up the security of knowing their income each paycheck, work retail hours, and miss weekends and holidays with their family and friends?

I’ve got a little three-year-old fighter on my hands in my son, whose circumstances (including my instructions) aren’t going to separate him from what he wants. Is it a challenge to parent him? Sure. But it’s rewarding, too. Of course he has to learn how to follow instructions and I have to teach him respect and temperance. It’s like you. As a home sales consultant, you need team members who will allow you to help them ditch the programming and beliefs that hold them back.

But you also gotta have people with a little spunk. Remember–this is sales! If your sales pros don’t have an edge, they ain’t gonna make it. So yes, salespeople tend to have a little bravado and think they know better. And that can be challenging. But they also tend to be like my son–purposeful and persevering toward reaching their goals.

So don’t be discouraged if you get a little push back. What you have is a fighter. And you can work with that.

Respect them, earn their respect, and sell them on the reasons they should want you to be their coach. I guarantee if you start proving that your coaching puts money in their pockets, they’ll be lining up at your door.

To hold yourself accountable, strive to make your coaching sessions worth the $600-an-hour going rate for such coaching right now. Wait for your people to give you permission to coach them. And once they give it–coach them. Hold them accountable to being their best.

Contributed by Jason Forrest, new home sales trainer/coach

Jason Forrest (named one of 2012′s Top Young Trainers for Training Magazine–a national, industry-wide publication) is an expert at creating high-performance sales cultures through complete training programs. He incorporates experiential learning (rather than theory) to increase sales, implement cultural accountability, and transform builders into sales organizations that build homes. A sales professional at heart, Forrest is the author of Creating Urgency in a Non-Urgent Housing Market and 40-Day Sales Dare for New Home Sales. As a consultant for many of the leading homebuilders in the United States, Canada, and Australia, Forrest’s competitive distinction is his behavior-modification approach (which focuses on people, process, and presentation) and his focus on culture change. Learn about our new home sales training programs at http://www.forrestperformancegroup.com.

X factor sales coaching

June 7, 2012

Tags: coaching X Factor sales professionals, cultural change, culture change, Jason Forrest, sales coaching, X Factor Sales Coaches, X factor sales culture, X Factor sales professionals

Market versus X Factor:
On new home sales marketing We’ve talked a lot about market salespeople versus x factor sales professionals, but what about x factor cultures?

An x factor culture is one that focuses on executing perfect presentations, rather than the numbers. They realize that when they focus on the process, the sales happen. The standard in the culture is that every prospect who walks into every sales office gets the best presentation. They bring it…every day. They won’t stand for bad attitudes or not executing what they know.

X Factor Coach versus Market Coach:
An x factor new home sales coach will either coach under performers up or out.

In order to create an x factor culture, x factor sales coaches must demonstrate their knowledge–that they own the process. You don’t have to be the best at executing the process, but you have to know it better than anyone else. Your demonstration helps create a culture of WANT TO rather than HAVE TO. Sell your team on why you want to be the best and lead by example.

X factor coaches will create a culture that says, “Don’t do anything that dishonors yourself, your team, or your family.” –Forever Strong

Contributed by Jason Forrest:

Coaching the sales process

May 4, 2012

Tags: buyer decision points, coaching X Factor sales professionals, creating urgency, Jason Forrest, lead conversion, new home sales process, sales coaching, sales management, sales process

“It is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing that assures the prosperous voyage.” –George William Curtis

There’s nothing predictable about the ocean. The best a sailor can do is know every crook and cranny of his vessel; be as prepared as possible for every shift of the wind; and get a lot of experience under his belt so he candle what the deep blue sea throws at him.

You can’t prepare your team members for every sales situation either. But by helping them perfect a repeatable process, you can help them get as comfortable as possible to face whatever comes their way.

It’s all about consistency–coaching your people to perform at a consistently high level so that every customer gets the richest buying experience possible–beyond what they will get from any competitor.

Think about Elton John or Lady Gaga, who practice until each song and motion becomes instinct. It’s the work that happens behind the scenes that helps make sure that each performance is consistently phenomenal. You are a part of perfecting the process, which helps eliminate variables and increase confidence.

Average salespeople practice until they can get it right sometimes, but professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong.

Sales pros: see more on the subject just for you.

Sales coaches: Watch for more on the subject in our upcoming Coaching Management book.

Contributed by Jason Forrest

What’s your why?

April 19, 2012

Tags: cultural change, inspiration board, J Forrest Group, Jason Forrest, Know the why, new home sales management, sales coaching

I always find that those with purpose are the most driven, successful, and happy people. Purpose is the why behind what we do. Why are you in sales? Why do you sacrifice weekends and evenings? What life goals do you have? (And I’m talking about the ones that go beyond what you’re going to do this weekend).

As we stay connected to our personal why, it helps us strive continually to be better. That’s why I love what one of the sales coaches I work with did with his team members. He had each sales professional create his/her own inspiration board–filled with images and words that remind them why they do what they do each day.

Not only does it help create trust and community among the team (this sales coach said there were a few tears as they each shared), it helps us stay centered on the things that matter to us–the very reasons we get out of bed and into our business suits each day.

Choose your base–cork board, poster board, an empty frame…a cookie sheet. It doesn’t matter–just as long as you fill it with your whys. You can even create it so that it can evolve and grow as you evolve and grow.

So what’s your why? Share in the comments below. Better yet–share what you learned from creating your own inspiration board!

Contributed by Jason Forrest

Sales Coaches – Encourage a Growth Mindset

February 13, 2012

Tags: coaching X Factor sales professionals, cultural change, growth mindset, sales coaching, sales management, transforming homebuilders, X Factor sales professionals

Contributed by Jason Forrest

Fearless sales professionals and coaches operate with a growth mindset. A growth mindset says, “What I am currently doing equals what I am currently getting. If I improve what I am currently doing, then I will improve what I am getting.” What we say to ourselves and our teams can have a direct impact on creating a growth mindset or fixed mindset.

Encouraging a Growth Mindset:

Example: “Thank you for focusing on the 13 decisions of buying. You put forth a great effort and I can tell that it paid off with your new sale.”

Celebrate the process, even if it hasn’t yet resulted in a sale. Ask sales pros to share war stories on how they’ve moved sales forward in the process.

If a sales pro brings in an offer, use it as an opportunity to understand what they accomplished with the buyer. Ask them questions to find out what decisions they’ve accomplished. If they haven’t accomplished several of the decisions, talk them through it. Help them realize that not knowing enough about the buyer puts us in a position of weakness in the negotiation.

Examples of Fixed Mindset Feedback:

“Great job on making the sale.”

*This feedback doesn’t make a connection to the behaviors the sales pro has done to achieve the sale.

“Just write up any offer. We need sales!”

*This encourages sales pros to get off the process and focus solely on price. It might get you immediate results, but it confuses your team. It will also cost you sales in the future because you will only be able to get sales when you buy them.

You’ll inadvertently cripple your sales pros if you tell a struggling sales pro to “hang in there,” and that a sale “will eventually happen.” This promotes the belief that it’s a numbers game and has nothing to do with their efforts.

Examples of Growth Mindset Feedback:

You can encourage a growth mindset in a struggling sales pro by saying:

“Keep putting forth the effort towards the 13 decisions and the sale will happen.”
“Let’s focus on what you did accomplish with the buyer so that we can celebrate those victories.”
“Let’s focus on your last five prospects—the decisions you accomplished with them and where the sale stopped. Together, we will come up with a strategy to advance the sale.”

If you find yourself giving into a fixed mindset, work on correcting your language right then and there!

Jason Forrest is an expert at creating high-performance sales cultures through complete training programs. He incorporates experiential learning (rather than theory) to create urgency, increase sales, implement cultural accountability, and transform builders into sales organizations that build homes. A sales professional at heart, Forrest is the author of Creating Urgency in a Non-Urgent Housing Market and 40-Day Sales Dare for New Home Sales. As a consultant for many of the leading homebuilders in the United States and Canada, Forrest’s competitive distinction is his behavior-modification approach (which focuses on people, process, and presentation) and his focus on culture change. Learn more at http://www.forrestperformancegroup.com.

Sales Coaches – Trim the Management Fat

January 11, 2012

Tags: coaching X Factor sales professionals, cultural change, Leadership Selling, new home sales, new home sales management, sales coaches, sales coaching, X Factor Sales Coaches

By Jason Forrest

At a training session this week, we talked about the sales coach’s equivalent of one of the most common New Year’s resolutions—losing weight. Excess weight holds us back and keeps us from achieving all we want to achieve.

For new home sales coach (managers), it comes in the form of focusing too much on clearing our inboxes, checking items off our to-do list, and tackling excessive paperwork that we neglect the tasks that will really change our bottom line. Such administrative details “taste” great because they are, as Stephen Covey says, “tension-relieving.” But, like fats and sweets, we need to be temperate about those details or they will actually weigh us down.

“Exercising” by focusing on revenue-producing activities requires discipline but turns our new home sales teams into lean, mean, sales-generating machines!

Lose weight:

Count your calories-log the amount of time you spend on different activities throughout your days. Categorize them into non-revenue producing (described above) and revenue-producing (such as coaching your sales pros and walking with them through the front end of the sale).

Determine the percentage of time you are spending on each. If you are not spending the majority of your time on revenue-producing activities, your “diet” is off balance. Decide who can do the non-revenue generating stuff and divvy up the load wherever possible.

Gain Muscle:

The best way to gain ground is to stop managing and start coaching.

Here’s to a fit and profitable 2012!

P.S. Learn about our new home sales training programs.

The average salesperson versus the sales pro

November 10, 2011

Tags: J Forrest Group, Jason Forrest, Leadership Selling, motivational sales training, new home sales, new home sales and marketing, new home sales consultant, new home sales training, professional sales training, sales coaching, sales leadership training, sales team training, sales training and development, sales training program, sales training workshops, training for real estate agents

At J Forrest Group, we’re all about building X Factor new home sales teams–those that stand out from the crowd and are filled with sales professionals who revere their profession, solve customers’ problems, and refuse to accept a victim’s mentality.

Are you a sales pro? Watch to find out.

The Average Salesperson Versus the Sales Pro from J Forrest Group on Vimeo.

Posts Tagged ‘ sales coaching ’

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