In the last Tip, we talked about coaches and how important they are to our sales and account management success. We defined a coach as someone who:


is knowledgeable
is credible
is willing to help
wants us to win
wins if we win


The key to this definition is that a coach wants us to win because there's something in it for them.

Makes sense, right? Then why is it so challenging to find these people? One reason is because it's hard for us to figure out the win, and people will rarely make our job easier by sharing it with us. In fact, they may not even know it themselves. Here are some common types of coach wins:


resolve an issue/achieve an objective
gain political advantage
resolve stress/work less/sleep better
help someone that they want to win (personal)


So what are some questions we can ask in our research efforts to try to figure out how a person might win when they work with us? Here are a few (these questions assume that there is a specific issue or opportunity identified):


What impact does this issue have on you/your boss?
What do you/your department/your company stand to gain if this opportunity is realized?
How do other key players feel about this situation?
What does an ideal solution look like?
When this situation is resolved, how will things be different?
How would you describe a perfect outcome?
How will this solution affect you and your day to day job?
How visible is this project within the organization?


In order to create coach relationships quickly and effectively, we have to find the win. Hopefully these questions, and others you come up with, can help you do just that.