Read Along About Ride-Alongs

Salespeople grow by watching, doing, coaching, training, and mentoring. One of the best ways to do all of these is a Ride-Along. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, a Ride-Along in the "selling world" is the opportunity for the sales manager and the sales person to ride together for a day while making multiple sales calls.

There are many different methods and purposes for Ride-Alongs. You need to decide what your purpose is. Here are some possibilities:

To flatter prospects or customers with a visit from the boss.
To coach the salesperson.
To introduce a new product or service that the salesperson may not be fully versed in.

As a sales training company, we have done the second type of Ride-Along to coach and grow the salesperson. I'd like to share some tips for owners and sales managers on how to be more effective at it:

The salesperson sets up the appointments. I suggest that you plan on a whole day for the Ride-Along. The "coach", who is usually the sales manager or a sales trainer, uses the valuable time in the car to brief and debrief. You, the coach, are coaching and observing such things as:

Did the salesperson arrive on time?
Did the salesperson establish bonding and rapport with the receptionist or ignore him/her?

Yes, these things matter. You, the coach, after some bonding and rapport, would pretty much be quiet. Your role is really that of observer. You realize that you can't learn much about your salesperson's effectiveness if you are interjecting during the sales call. I know that it might be difficult, but remember the fantastic growth opportunity here.

Once the sales call is over, when you're driving to the next appointment, ask the salesperson what he (or she) thought he did right and what he would change if he had to do it all over again. As you're doing this, give your input as well. Conclude with plenty of compliments on what he did well.

If you happen to be competent in Neuro-Linguistic Programming or the DISC model, ask your salesperson if the customer/prospect was Visual, Auditory, or Kinesthetic. In addition, ask your salesperson if the customer or prospect's behavioral style was primarily Dominant or Influencer, Steady Relator, or Cautious Compliant. If you're unfamiliar with these models, stick to what you know and do best.

With salespeople who have the desire and commitment to grow and become more effective, you will see a marked difference throughout the day. When done correctly, Ride-Alongs are a great way to affect a permanent change in the behaviors, techniques, and attitudes of salespeople. So grow your people. Set up a plan to do Ride-Alongs on an ongoing basis.

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