From infamous to famous, as most sports writers put it, Ron Artest has certainly made quite the comeback. It has been a long road for Artest ever since that brawl in Detroit, but it was one that he traveled well. There were many steps that the new NBA champion had to take to restore his superstar status, and many of these steps can be applied in the sales industry.

Coaching is much more effective when driving employee performance, especially  inside sales and customer service personnel. Management is about telling people what to do; whereas, coaching is about asking and understanding why performance levels are the way they are. The opportunity is for managers to learn how to coach to help drive performance and the bottom line.

Below are a few coaching tips to increase the learning opportunities when riding along with sales reps for observation:

As coaches, managers, and employees we have certainly come across the occasional (or regular) recruit with a bad attitude. They don’t want to be a team player, they complain about policy, other people, management, and in general make a work atmosphere uncomfortable. These bad apples can certainly spoil the entire bunch if not dealt with, but how do you deal with these types of people..

Years ago I was walking through a client site, it was strangely quiet and all the manager's office doors were shut. I asked a manager, “What’s going on around here, why is everyone so quiet today?” He responded by explaining that all the managers were busy doing their yearly reviews of their staff, and that they were due to HR by the end of the day. While this may be a typical scenario, it left..

Coaching and mentoring a children's basketball team and coaching adults in a business environment should not be all that different. In order to successfully coach both children and adults we must reward effort, and allow pupils to learn from their mistakes. Just telling them what they are doing wrong and then walking away in either situation won't work. Typically it’s easiest to just reprimand,..

Over the next 10 years, Gen X-ers will be needed to take over the positions left behind by the baby boomer generation.  While this seems like an obvious statement, what is not obvious is what companies should be doing to prepare this new generation, or even how to keep them around long enough to fill the positions that will be opening. Recent reports point to GenX-ers as being the first group..

Engagement with your employees, is the most effective coaching tool we have.  What comes first and what comes last is remembered best, so engaging first thing in the morning, or right before the end of day is highly effective.  How are you beginning your morning, or leaving your team at the end of the day?  

Trade shows can be a very successful lead generation tool, often though they are not as successful as they could be because companies don't prepare enough.  To effectively prepare for a successful trade show you must role-play and practice your skills, and then follow up after the event.

Leading up to the event you must have your team practice their skills. Working a trade show is different than..

According to a recent survey by the Hay Group, 64% of the top 20 Best Companies for Leadership, say their people are expected to lead even when they are not in a position of authority, a mere 35% of average companies have this mentality. By expecting that all employees demonstrate leadership skills they are developing employees internally to move up their ranks. Strategies like this reduce turn..