What do business coaching and modern sales have in common?

This article is part 2 of 3 for the introduction of Pasi Pesonen, VP Sales at Filtrabit.

Pasi Pesonen, global clean business specialist, leads Filtrabit sales by coaching his team and business partners to build and share value.

Pasi finished his Business Coach Certificate right before joining Filtrabit, a company whose business overlaps both climate tech and clean tech.

Coaching is second nature to him, having also coached sports teams as a hobby. After a career as a national team and club player in Ultimate Frisbee, he coached his team to several Finnish national championships and to be one of the best teams in Europe.

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What do coaching and sales management have in common?

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– Business coaching and selling are both based on deep trust and an open mind.

Relationship building with the customer has the same foundation as executive coaching. One needs to be entirely open minded and prepared to listen carefully.

The coach gives the space to reflect and helps the coachees to realize themselves with his or her questions.

I love open questions. In sales, you can use open questions to give your negotiating partner the space to unlock new possibilities for your business.

A foundational objective of a sales organization is to build trust. It’s a requirement for the seller and buyer to start defining shared values, that in turn lead to win-win outcomes.

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What did you pick up from the certification process?

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– I got my certification from Business Coaching Finland before joining Filtrabit’s management team. I did a 4-month program that included 5 real-world coaching cases.

The leaders I had the privilege of coaching were in the US, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Finland. The kicks I got from it were unbelievable.

You don’t give answers. You lead them to realization. Fully present, you listen to what comes and build on it. In coaching, you don’t know in advance what you’re going to end up with. Likewise, when in sales, knowledge is constantly accumulating.

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Open-ended questions

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You let the other person talk and then you go deeper and deeper. You simply can’t create far-reaching preconceptions about the situation of the client or coachee and, in particular, about the future solution.

Yet coaching is not suitable for all situations. Sometimes you need to give a clear idea of how to act.

In sales and coaching, the most important thing in common is that you are deeply present, and you really listen. It’s rare these days for someone to actually listen. It makes a huge impression on the other side.

Both coaching and sales work best when both parties are placed on the same level. The seller is not allowed to look at the customer from above, but it’s also not good to settle below. Equal, mutually respectful conversationalists can achieve more together.