2 min read

Your Sellers Want Coaching!

As a sales leader, you likely know that coaching can help you act as a force multiplier and increase seller performance.

But where do you find the time, right? Between analyzing reports, leading pipeline and deal reviews, evaluating forecasts and acting as a super closer, you’re stretched pretty thin as it is.

The good news? There’s a way to integrate coaching without taking time away from your family, your morning workout routine or anything else that keeps you sane.

Before we share how, though, let’s talk about why this is important.

Did you know that 76% of sellers* have a high drive to succeed, however the average quota attainment for B2B sales organizations is only 47%**. What gives? Gartner calls this seller drag, or demotivation away from work. Two primary sources of drag include:

1) a lack of development opportunities and

2) unactionable manager feedback

…both of which can impact performance and attrition.

How can you overcome seller drag? Invest in your sellers’ growth and development with coaching.

So, how do you find the time? Ask yourself this: do you really need to find more time or optimize the time you already spend with your team?

Here’s the thing, there are misconceptions about coaching being a heavy lift. The truth is that coaching can be both formal and informal, and since it’s all about empowering your team to find the solutions on their own, it will actually end up saving you time.

Coaching is not about giving the answers - it’s about asking the right questions. Whether you’re doing a quick sync following a customer call, responding to a text or Slack message, leading a pipeline or call review, you can use each opportunity to coach your team. Try asking questions like:

How else could you approach it?
What have you thought about but haven’t tried?
What’s worked for you in the past?

If you create the right culture within your team, you can even do group coaching on your team calls and encourage social learning with peer coaching.

We get that you want - and maybe even need - to get every deal over the finish line. Coaching will help you do that and then some. By focusing on enhancing the collective performance of your team, you’ll see an exponential increase in win rates because you’ll be able to increase motivation and retain your sellers by giving them what they want: coaching!

* 2022 Gartner Seller Motivation Survey

** 2023 Forrester Blog - Seth Marrs