Collaborators are easy to spot; they get the fancy titles that really just mean sales person. Director of Business Development, Vice President of Strategic Alliances, all of these great names aid them in getting in front of high level executives.
They dress in suits, are always carrying their laptop cases/briefcases, and are glued to their blackberries. They have little time for traffic safety, let alone meetings that will not turn into more opportunities for their high dollar, low volume, and long sales cycle deals. While many of us in the coaching and leadership roles have worked to this level before crossing over, some of us have never had that opportunity. If you are not a collaborator, or have never been one, you CANNOT COACH ONE. This does not mean you cannot have them on your team. It does not mean you cannot manage their work, pipeline, work habits, and mental state. It means that if you want them to grow as individuals, and blossom into consistent closers, you must have outside help. It can be other executives in your company, your CEO or another sales head with the experience. The key is, the person has walked the road of brokering with the top tier. Personally, I prefer to bring in trainers for this group, even if I can do the job myself. Why? Collaborators have worked hard to get where they are; they consider themselves experts, and need the voice of other experts to get them to stop and listen.
This may sound contradictory to what I mentioned earlier about good coaches training their teams, but when you get to higher level sales members, it is important to treat them as leaders. Know your limits as an educator. This does not mean you can skip the training. You should learn the curriculum ahead of time, and try and be an active participant in the studies. Train by their side, and meet with them over lunch a few weeks after your sessions. Share ideas and experiences based on what you have learned. This will strengthen the message, and if executed well, continue to foster a level of trust between you.
Finally, a critical element to training Collaborators is energy. Your training and trainer (you?) must be dynamic and engaging. Look at it like a cold call; you have about 10 seconds to grab ‘em, 10 more to get them interested, and 10 more to get their buy in to continue listening. Do not bring them into training just for the sake of training. If that first 30 seconds does not get them to open their ears, you may as well send them out on their next appointment. Frankly, if they are not going to get anything out of the training, they have better things to do.
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