It’s a natural tendency for sales managers to enjoy, and excel, at this form of coaching more than any other. Part of the reason is that it’s comfortable to step back into an environment that, most likely, has pleasant memories for them. They recall when they achieved such field success culminating in their promotion to the position of sales manager. Don’t think I’m being critical of this comfort zone. As a matter of fact, any field and sales process knowledge you have should be passed on to your team members. That includes your successes and your failures.

There are, however, some behaviors that will increase the effectiveness of this time and also increase the performance skills of your sales personnel. Let’s review them.

Do’s

• First and foremost, always make it a positive and rewarding experience for the salesperson. Let him know that you are there to help, not just criticize. Think back to the mistakes you made as a new salesperson. Relax and have fun.

• Request (actually require) that the field salesperson provide you with a call plan for the day you are to be with her. Not just who the customer is, but why the call is being made. This should be accompanied with a brief historical perspective of each of the account’s activities and the relationship with your organization, including any customer personality issues you will need to be aware of. Ask the salesperson to make sure that his calls are a mixture of established customers, at various stages of the sales process, and new prospects, where the door is still to be opened fully.

• Meet with the salesperson in a relaxed environment on the early morning of the customer call. This can easily be done at a restaurant over a cup of coffee and breakfast. Hold a discovery session with him about how he thinks the day will unfold and what challenges he sees ahead. Listen for any strong personal concerns that you will want to pay special attention to during the calls.

• During your preliminary discussions, establish a non-disruptive communications signal that will let you know when the salesperson would like you to jump into the conversation and will let the salesperson know when you feel you have something to add. There are silent signals such as crossing of the legs or a shift of the briefcase, as well as verbal indicators such as commenting on how interesting a subject is or a straight-out request for the other’s involvement. This is just to smooth the baton hand-off in the most professional way.

• While still in the relaxed preliminary morning talks, show the salesperson the evaluation forms you’ll be using during the day so he can understand your focus.

• One final note regarding the early morning planning activity. Reach agreement on how you will be introduced when first meeting the customers, and how your role during the day will be explained. There is probably a clear understanding between you and the salesperson, but every once in a while it can create confusion or hesitation in the customer’s mind. You might, for example, inform the customer that you are field riding with the salesperson to collect market intelligence about the changing use of technology.

• Coaching during the co-calling day can be most successful if you don’t overwhelm the salesperson. Start off with what he did well. Do anything you can to set him at ease. It’s best if you coach on one particular skill set per call. For example, you might coach on the discovery phase or the objection handling phase. If you feel the need to coach on more than one skill, try to make them contiguous. For example, you could easily link presentation skills with closing skills. If you coach on too many skills at once, the next call will, most likely, be a challenge since he will be focusing more on what he should do next instead of on the customer. Remember, what you want to see is a steady improvement, not an instant matching of your skills.

• Coach on the particular skill set immediately after each call. Don’t wait until lunch or the end of the day. Work with your personnel while the events are still fresh in his mind and when he can best prepare for changed behavior at the next call.

• At the end of the day, or days, spend a few moments providing the salesperson with your overall impressions of his skills. Remember to be positive before you criticize. Also, let him know what will follow. Let him know how you will document the day’s activities and when you would like to ride along with him again.

• When you return to the office, transfer your notes onto a formal evaluation form. Put a copy in the salesperson’s personnel file and send him a copy of it.

• Before you ride along with him again, always review your previous records so you have a benchmark to measure performance growth.

Don’ts

• Don’t demand the personal time of the salesperson the night before your ride-along. Of course, there might be times when your salesperson wants you to join him for dinner, but make it optional. Sometimes she might have personal plans, and your intrusion could be adding to her stress about your field presence.

• Never interrupt or correct the salesperson in front of the customer unless she has just given life-threatening information, as in the pharmaceutical and medical industries where a situation needs to be corrected immediately. I know this might be hard, but if you interrupt or correct her, her credibility is diminished and it will make it hard for her on future solo calls. Also, the customer will have a tendency to migrate to the highest expertise level they can in your selling organizations, resulting in your getting all the direct inquiry calls that should have been handled by your salespeople. If your team member makes a mistake, part of the learning process is to develop skills at correcting errors made in the field. This is a skill you can coach well on, since you probably remember when you made errors and what you had to do to fix the problem.

• Never avoid documentation! This is an important function of your role and will have ramifications for all concerned. Take notes, transfer them to formal evaluation forms, and store the information away for future reference when you might be called upon to make another field visit or promote, counsel, or dismiss the salesperson