Coaching Model: 6 Steps to Sales Coaching – ASPIRE

A Coaching Model Created by Siddharth Arora
(Sales Coach, INDIA)

Introduction

As a Coach, one of our key objectives is to help our clients to ‘inspire’ themselves to ‘aspire’ for what they truly want so that they can live a highly fulfilled life and become what they have imagined. However as a Sales Manager and Leader we know that “Sales” as a profession throws several challenges that makes the clients doubt their abilities to sell besides it bringing something new and unexpected. So the key question I had was to build a model that not just goes a little deeper into the client but also make it a little Sales specific.

Having studied the GROW Model (Goal-Reality-Options-Will) and the SPIN Selling technique (Situation-Problems-Implications-Need Pay-off) we decided to work on something that could take the best of both the concepts and devise a framework that could be used as a solid reference point in “Sales”.

GROW, as constructed by Graham Alexander and Sir John Whitmore, is a well-established coaching model and an excellent starting point as a framework for Sales Coaching. SPIN on the other hand is an acronym of four different types of sales questions that can take a disinterested prospect to someone who’s motivated to buy. These questions are:

• SITUATION questions
• PROBLEM questions
• IMPLICATION questions
• NEED-PAYOFF questions

Coaching Model: The 6 Steps to Sales Coaching – ASPIRE

Step 1 – What do we want to Achieve as Sales Executives? (Achieve)

Step 2 – What is the Situation we are in presently? (Situation)

Step 3 – What are the Problems/Issues we are grappling with? (Issues/Problems)

Step 4 – What are the Implications of these problems? (Implications)

Step 5 – What are the options to Reach our goal? (Options)

Step 6 – What is the action required to Exploit the best option; Next steps? (Exploit)

The foundation of the ASPIRE Coaching model has been designed to enable sales managers to undertake more structured coaching sessions with their sales executives than perhaps they have been used to. The increased structure will result in more depth to their coaching and as such will enable an increase in more understanding in their motivation and commitment to action.

ASPIRE provides more structure simply by the fact that there are more distinct stages described below:

A = Achieve

What is the sales executive attempting to achieve? This stage gives us an idea of what specifically the employee is trying to achieve from either the coaching session or from their business or sales objectives. Here the reasons behind wanting to achieve the objective are understood.

S = Situation

In this step we get to develop an understanding of the context as this background information can be used to guide the conversation in an appropriate way. It is important to spend time analysing the reality of the present situation so that a manager can establish a baseline.

P = Problem

Here the client may lead to discuss the issues and problems that he is grappling with that needs to be discussed.

I = Implications

Here the client discusses the implications of the issues of problems. Awareness is built around the magnitude, consequences and impact of the problems.

R = Reach Goals

This step attempts to help client discover the various options before him and stands on the premise of abundance. Time needs to be taken here and not the first option taken. The pros and cons of each option need to be checked. This stage can take time and many managers tend to “skip” through it. It is important not to ask leading questions thereby allowing the client to generate his or her own options.

E = Action to Exploit the best option

Once the options have been discussed and the best one is identified by the client, there are 2 aspects that need focus – A – To Encourage and enthuse the client to move to action. B – Identify the next step and build in accountability and support structure.

To round up the coaching model the following check-in questions can be asked to clarify that each milestone has been considered appropriately:

Milestone	Check-in Questions
Achieve: What do we want to achieve as Sales Executives?	What would you like to achieve? What will tell you that you have achieved your goal? What does your desired outcome look like? What will make you feel that you have achieved the objective? What difference is it going to create in your life?
Situation: What is the situation we are in presently?	What's happening? How do you explain the situation to yourself? What kind of picture do you have right now? What do you feel most strongly about in this situation?
Problems: What are the problems we are grappling with?	What is the biggest problem that you are facing with What might happen? How did you manage situations like this previously?
Implications: What are the implications of these problems?	What are the critical variables in this issue? What strengths could you use to handle this situation? What is the worst thing that could happen here?
Options: What are the options to Reach our goal?	What's standing in the way of an ideal outcome? What criteria will you use to assess the options? What are the possible options to make it happen? What else…? What do you think getting in the way?
Exploit: What is the action required to Exploit the best option?	What’s the next step to build in that area? What support do you need to accomplish…? How will you make yourself accountable for the same? What can you put in place to make this goal easier to achieve?