"Coaches" are critical in our sales and relationship management activities. We define coaches as people who want us to win because they win when we win. Most of us can look back on our best sales experiences and find that a coach or coaches were integral to our success. We may not have called them coaches at the time, but they fit the description. We may not have known there was a win in it for them, but we can see it clearly in the rear view mirror.

Ironically, even though these people are critical to our success, many of us don't really think much about developing coaches. Instead, we just do it instinctively. So what's the problem?

The problem is that by acting instinctively we are not maximizing our potential. If coaches are so important, why not act with specific intent and develop these relationships by design? If a coach wins when we win, then we are certainly more likely to develop coaches by proactively trying to figure out how to help them win. We can do our research with potential coaches, asking good questions and really listening to their answers. Often, their win is right in front of us. Once we know that, we are off to the races.

Equate this topic to other important objectives we set. Aren't we more likely to hit a financial goal if we set a specific target and work to achieve it? The same thing is true with coaches. By setting goals and working with intent, we are more likely to develop more of these relationships more quickly. This, by the way, could go a long way to helping us hit our financial goals as well!