Anyone doing sales for any span of time would agree that it is one of the toughest, trickiest businesses today. Dealing with people, winning their trust, making a sale, and strategizing your every move is harder than one may think. Having effective business communication skills is one your best tools to navigate the trade, but it’s still easier said than done.

What’s even harder is being the lead person of a sales team and being tasked to coach your people. Making a sale is hard; coaching people to do it is even harder. Sales work involves so many different skills rolled into one, and the industry is challenging and fast-moving, you either keep up or get left behind.

Here’s How You Can Keep Up:

• Measure progress with effective metrics

Develop metrics and systems of measuring your progress towards a given goal. There are certain activities that indicate progress towards achieving the sales target, and there are also activities that are “nice to do” but are not important to the process, so be mindful of the difference. For instance, following up on a lead or creating a proposal is important, while alphabetizing or color-coding leads is not.

• Hold Regular Mock-Sales Presentations/Calls

If lawyers hold mock-trials to practice their skills, so can sales professionals. Every month, pick the actors for the mock-sales presentation. Don’t forget to pick someone that would play as “customer” or “client.”

Use this time to hone each team member’s sales pitch and presentation skills, so encourage everyone to comment on the seller’s performance, both where they were brilliant and areas of development.  Also, make sure the person playing “customer” won’t go easy on the subject of the mock sales, because people won’t get anything from that.

• Coach your team and develop their talent

Remember that you too were once a simple sales person who rose through the ranks. How did that happen? Well, maybe that’s because you had a team leader who saw your potential and harnessed it.

Try to do the same to your team, always be on the lookout for opportunities to coach and help them develop their skills. Point out possible improvements in their pitches, rebuttal, or presentation skills, and don’t be afraid to share new insights and tips you’ve learned for yourself. By sharing the business communication skills you learned when you were in their position, you’ll be able to help them improve and inspire them at the same time.

Inspire Your Team, Then Reward Hard Work

Never forget to acknowledge and reward top performers. Business communication skills shouldn’t just be used for training and coaching people, it should be used for acknowledging them. Nothing motivates a person more than the thought that his hard work is seen and appreciated.