Hiring a Sales and Marketing Coach

You're in the market for a sales and marketing coach, but you don't know where to start.

You may be thinking...

• "How much is this going to cost?"
• "How do I know this is going to work?"
• "Who can I trust with my unique business goals?"
• "I have so many questions and no one to answer them."

If this sounds like you, keep reading. Manage Inbound is focused on helping you overcome these challenges and provide the most accurate information about finding the right sales and marketing training program for your business.

You might be asking questions about what it takes to succeed in a training program.

"What kind of tools and resources are required for success? Who needs to be trained and how do I get them on board? Do I need to hire additional staff?" 

Tools and Resources

During training, your coach will likely provide a resource library consisting of videos, templates, and guides to help you and your team put training into practice.

To succeed with inbound marketing and online sales, you'll need robust sales and marketing software and a modern CRM to connect with customers.

You'll want a CRM that allows users to easily track conversations with prospects and report revenue. 

Your sales team will also need video editing and recording software to send personalized videos to prospects. 

For marketers and content creation, you'll want a content management system (CMS) that allows for easy collaboration and minimal development work.

It is important to use web analytics tools to track and analyze your website to monitor the success of your content and make data-driven decisions.

Our suggestion is to use HubSpot which has all of these features and more. It's a platform that allows you to manage your website and blog along with your entire marketing and sales funnel, all in one place. 

Resources 

Who Will Be Trained?

Typically, training is aimed at employees working in a company's sales and marketing departments, including individuals such as:

• Content Manager/Marketing Manager - Trained in content creation, visual asset creation, and content delivery (via the website, social, and other platforms).
• Sales Team - Trained on assignment selling, utilizing the content created by marketing to help buyers make a purchasing decision.
• Customer Service Team - Trained on identifying prospects and engagement channels. Also, how to best facilitate customer service tickets.
• Leadership Team - Trained in leadership and management skills, taking on more responsibility and learning from mentors within the company or networking with other professionals in the field. 

The goal is to provide relevant training to employees who play a role in the sales and marketing efforts of the company. 

Additional Staffing Recommendations

Hiring in-house staff for video and content creation can be a crucial part of succeeding in a training program.

Having dedicated team members that create and manage your content, both in written and video form, will allow you to cultivate a content-oriented atmosphere in your company. 

A content marketing manager is responsible for developing and implementing a content strategy that aligns with a company's overall marketing goals. 

As experts in creating high-quality, engaging, and relevant content that answers buyer questions, these individuals are also responsible for managing and analyzing the performance of the content to ensure that it drives traffic, increases engagement, and generates leads.

A videographer is responsible for creating content that can be utilized by both sales and marketing teams. They'll be able to produce high-quality content quickly because they will be familiar with the staff, style, and tone of your business.

Getting Your Team on Board

Getting organization-wide commitment for training and coaching is a critical step in building a successful and competitive team. 

For training and coaching to work effectively, it's essential that company leadership align on shared values that support a culture of learning, growth, and development.

These shared values are:

• Commitment to learning and development
• Continuous improvement
• Collaboration and teamwork
• Respect for diversity and inclusion
• Focus on results and impacts

By aligning these shared values, company leadership can create a culture that supports and reinforces the training and coaching efforts.

Additionally, involving key stakeholders in the conversation can help ensure that learning and development benefit both the organization and its employees. 

You'll want to involve your leadership team and all members of your sales, marketing, and customer service teams.

Resistance from team members is common, so it's important to address objections head-on and provide support and incentives to encourage participation. 

Takeaway:

Training your sales, marketing, customer service, and leadership team will allow you to succeed. Hiring additional staff solely dedicated to creating written and video content is highly encouraged.

Marketing training can range from a free online course to investing time and money into a customized training course and marketing coach for your team. 

If you hire a marketing coach, you can expect to pay upfront costs of $3,500 to $10,000 per month. Most coaching programs last 12-24 months, so that’s a total investment ranging from $42,000 to $240,000. 

Training and coaching partners have a finite relationship with their clients, so the financial investment also ends once the relationship ends. 

The approaches and techniques used in training, and the cost associated with these services, are constantly evolving. 

The costs of these services can vary greatly depending on:

• The type of training and coaching offered: The costs of services can vary greatly depending on the length, depth, and scope of the training and coaching. For example, specialized one-on-one coaching services may be more expensive than group coaching or online training courses.
• The experience and qualifications of the trainers and coaches: The costs of services can vary greatly depending on the trainers' and coaches' expertise and credentials. Highly experienced and credentialed professionals may charge more for their services.
• The size and location of the company: The costs of services can vary greatly depending on the size and location of the company offering the services. Larger companies may charge more due to their overhead costs, while companies located in more expensive areas may charge more due to higher living expenses and operating costs.

Additional Costs

Other costs to be aware of are hiring staff and utilizing MarTech software.

• Hiring a content marketing manager can cost between $50k - $75k annually
• Hiring a videographer can cost between $45k - $60k annually, plus the upfront costs of video equipment ranging from $2.5k - $5k one-time cost
• Investing in sales and marketing software, like HubSpot, can cost $400 - $2,000 monthly

Takeaway:

Training can be a large upfront financial investment but will allow you to become self-sufficient in the long term, lowering the costs of outsourcing work.

During and after your training, you'll start to see gains in both your staff performance and your revenue performance. 

Here's what you can stand to gain from investing in training:

• Knowledge and tools to deliver your message in a way that buyers like to consume content.
• Become consistent in content creation and delivery.
• An abundant pipeline through your content creation and by answering buyer questions.
• You’ll become the most trusted advisor in your industry, with buyers coming to you for all their industry-related needs.
• Knowledge of how to utilize content and become intentional with your sales process. For example, sales reps can send potential buyers a guide (like what you're currently reading) to answer questions about purchasing your product/service. Educating the buyer pre-appointment gives them more confidence in purchasing.
• Learn how to look at your sales pipeline in a way that shows you what you’re doing well and where you can improve, and what actions you need to take to make improvements so you can grow consistently over time.
• Salespeople will be well-trained in conversations that involve helping a purchaser make a buying decision. Keep in mind that “selling is helping.” 

Takeaway:

When you invest in your team and not in outsourcing, you can win more business and be in control of all aspects of your business.

The difference between marketing training and agencies essentially boils down to who is responsible for carrying out the marketing strategy and activities.

Marketing training and coaching is designed to help teams learn the skills and strategies they need to do the work themselves.

In other words, coaches don’t write blog articles and content for their clients; they teach the client how to write for themselves with guidance on how to improve. Clients build an in-house team, which can be large upfront financial and time investment.

Traditional inbound marketing agencies do the work for you. They provide guidance on what should be done and then complete those tasks. They deliver the completed work to the client for feedback and approval. Hiring an agency can be more expensive in the long term.

Take a look at the pros and cons of hiring each type of partner:

Takeaway:

When choosing marketing training or agency service (or both), it's important to consider what will work best for your business regarding budget, goals, and resources.