FAQs - Executive Coaching

How is Executive Coaching different to consulting or business advice?

Executive Coaching is a form of consulting, however, it is not about giving specific advice about how to run your business. Instead, it is about helping you to implement new skills, transformational change and making choices. The coaching offered by Training 4 Thought includes dealing with issues that are preventing you from achieving your goals or dreams.

What level of experience do the coaches have in my industry?

Effective coaches are detached individuals who have little or no experience in your industry, for example, in Information Technology. Having technical expertise in an industry can be more of a hindrance to a coach. This is mainly because it is difficult to be detached from one's own expertise in an industry and not be an advisor. This may be one of the reasons that companies prefer to hire outside Executive Coaches rather than use their indoor experts.

Why do people hire Executive Coaches?

They want to achieve more easily Individuals who want more from their efforts, their business and their lives People who want to grow and develop

Who hires the services of an Executive Coaching?

Anyone can hire a coach who wants to grow, achieve easily and who want more.

Where does the Executive Coaching focus with a typical client?

There is no such thing as a typical client. The Executive Coach focuses on what the client wants most. In addition, the Coach helps

• Develop the client's personal foundation
• Set goals based on the client's values
• Create the client's personal energy

The focus is not on problems, but on solutions. We help clients to not just get good - we help them to be BRILLIANT!

Why does coaching work?

There are a variety of reasons why coaching works. In summary, some of the reasons include:

• The client is able to bounce ideas off the coach to create better solutions through synergy
• The client sets better goals that the client is motivated to reach AND that are in line with their full potential.
• The client gains more effective methods and processes, which result in greater success.

Is coaching just another fad or is it here to stay?

Coaching has been around for over 100 years, particularly in the area of sports. Executive coaching has become popular in the last two decades for a variety of reasons:

People are tired of working in areas and doing jobs they 'ought to' or 'should do'. As working cultures seem to include long hours, most working people spend 50-75% of the waking hours in their jobs. Instead of having a just a job, more and more people want 'a job with life'. They want to be in roles that have real meaning in their life, but they see this as being some faraway dream. Having coaching support means that such dreams can now be realised!

Some people are doing great in life. Why do they need a coach?

Such individuals may not need a coach. However, it is interesting to find out if they are doing what they have always dreamed of? Are they debt-ridden or are they financially independent? Are they putting up with life or do they have what they want? Research shows that most people expect much more out of their lives. An Executive Coaching can support people to achieve this.

Can I hire a coach for just small projects?

Yes, a Coach can be hired for specific projects and events. In many cases, the clients choose to retain the services of the Coach as more exciting goals appear.

How long is my commitment to a coach?

Commitment to a coach tends to vary from three months up to 21 months. However, this can stop immediately if the coaching is not working.

Is Executive Coaching the same as counselling or psychotherapy?

Executive Coaching is NOT counselling. It can sometimes have elements of psychotherapy as part of the programme in achieving desired goals.

FAQs - Sales Training

I cannot afford to have the life-blood of the company - the sales people - to go off to training courses.

As salespeople are considered the life-blood of many companies, isn't it worthwhile investing in these individuals? A salesperson that can sell effectively is a happy salesperson. Happy salespeople means happy customers, which mean more profits for the company!

My sales people are very successful and learn on the job. Why should they attend sales training courses?

Research shows that companies that invest in training their sales staff helps their personal development and, consequently their sales results improve. Poorly trained salespeople reflect badly on the company's image and, hence, the organisation's long-term survival. Furthermore, quality sales training means the life-blood of the company can sell more effectively and more often.

We've hired sales trainers before. They give a few days of training and we never see them again. How are you any different to other trainers?

An important principle for Training 4 Thought is that of ensuring our clients get value from our services. In the sales training programmes, we separate the training modules out over a period of time so that the learners can implement their new skills and get it 'in the muscle'. This is revisited at the next session followed up by further action as well as new material. Thus this natural development of the individual learners guarantee they successfully achieve the results is being sought. This way we guarantee results by helping you get results!

Our salespeople hardly use any techniques that they have learnt on the courses anyway. What's the point of training them?

It is true to think that some sales training courses involve just the learning of techniques. These can be useful in the right context. However, using techniques alone will only lead to short-term financial gains at the expense of long-term business success. Selling techniques only have long-term beneficial effects when it is based on a principle-centred foundation. Then, the challenge is to use a fully integrated approach to communicating with your customer. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, too many training organisations pay only lip service to the use of fully integrated sales model. All Training 4 Thought sales training courses use a fully integrated sales model and ensure that clients leave the training programmes with practical tools and techniques that they put into full practice immediately.

We do our own in-house training. Why should we get outside consultants?

In-house trainers have much to offer to the sales force. Their knowledge of the company's products and services tend to be excellent. Often the trainers will be experienced members of the sales force. The trainer might even be an in-house trainer. However, the value brought to you by a Training 4 Thought Sales Coach is of the best quality in the training industry. Our Sales Coaches not only deliver leading edge, proven sales training; the Coaches themselves undergo regular skills training to ensure they maintain their own personal skills-base. In addition, they are also sales people who certainly walk-the-talk! For example, all our trainers are (at the minimum) qualified practitioners of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). Such a qualification includes sound knowledge in human behavioural patterns, which has much relevance in selling.

Anyone can pick up a sales training book and learn their trade from there. Why do we need a trainer or a coach?

If this were the case, then there would not be a personal development or training industry. This is similar to you client saying that they just need a catalogue for your products and services; they don't need anyone to persuade them to buy. The job of a sales trainer/coach is to help your salespeople to help clients buy from you!

Sales training costs too much.

The investment made in training salespeople is insignificant when comparing it to the cost of having an ineffective sales force and not training them. An ineffective sales force means falling sales (as you lose to the competition) and a high staff turnover (as salespeople experience dissatisfaction in their role). When your sales force attains high quality selling skills, not only do you retain successful staff, you also increase your sales turnover and profitability.

FAQs - Sales Management Training

Our Sales Managers are successful sales professionals. They can learn their management skills on the job.

This may be so in rare cases. More often than not, the wrong type of individual is promoted to a position that is so dissimilar to their previously successful status that they despair. Some Sales Managers relent and manage to attain a minimal level of personal success. Many others move onto either management positions elsewhere or they get a sales role.elsewhere! A Sales Manager's role is very often one of the most high-pressure jobs within an organisation. They are senior management's umbilical cord to the life-blood of the company - the sales force. Training and empowering a Sales Manager is critical to any company's success.

There's no need for our managers to get extra training over and above what we tell them to do.

A recent survey of the top 100 companies in UK shows that all the top 10 companies have excellent personal development opportunities for their staff. To guarantee that your key staff, such as Sales Managers, are retained, they must feel valued through personal development. Empowering them to make decisions allows senior management to focus on working on the company, not just in the company.

I am a manager and I motivate my sales team by giving them great financial incentives. What more can I learn from a training programme?

There are countless numbers of research showing that financial incentives are important, but there are several other factors that are more important than money alone. High job-satisfaction includes, for example, feeling valued as a member of staff and achieving personal growth and development. Financial incentives work.until someone else is willing to headhunt your Sales Manager to a more rewarding company who can also pay more money.

As a Sales Manager, as long as I hit budget, then my line-manager is happy.

If you and your team are consistently hitting your sales target, then congratulations! Most companies increase sales targets incrementally or by a significant amount, depending on the growth strategy of the company. Given such varying circumstances, the sales force sooner or later faces an increasing challenge. It is during these challenging and competitive times that a manager must know how to motivate their staff to deliver greater performance. It is also here that a manager has to have the ability to retain such staff. In today's business environment, being good is not good enough. A growing company will very easily change its personnel in order to have the best sales people and sales managers who not only deliver, but who excel in their jobs.

I am already over-stretched in my management position. Where will I find the time to be coached?

It is when a Manager is feeling over-stretched that he or she probably going to gain the most from coaching than in any other time. Spending one and half-hours a week to be coached may be one of the best investments you can make. The coaching will allow you to constantly assess and re-assess your goals and your objectives so that you can perform at your best. Our clients find that these ninety minutes a week results in a more effective and productive week. The results speak for themselves.