The State of Sales Coaching 2019 - Allego · The State of Sales Coaching 2019 | 10 We’ve noted the difference of opinions about coaching quality and impact between reps and managers,

The State of Sales Coaching 2019

The State of Sales Coaching 2019 | 2

Table Of ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Coaching’s impact on deals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Frequency of coaching interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Coaching quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Where’s The Disconnect? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Sales coaching types and styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Perceived value of skills coaching among reps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Coaching support and training provided to managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Barriers To High-Quality Coaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Managers’ use of technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Organizational support and training for coaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Formal coaching methodologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17



Effective sales coaching is critical to sales success. In fact, research shows that good sales coaching can dramatically improve win rates. If it’s that valuable, everyone should be doing it well--but are they?

In reality, many factors make it difficult for managers to coach effectively: lack of training, geographical separation, time constraints, and communication gaps, to name a few. With these hurdles, effective coaching can fail for even the most well-intentioned and dedicated sales managers.

High-quality coaching requires not only effort and collaboration between sales managers, reps, and sales enablement professionals, but also agreement on coaching effectiveness and best practices. Without agreement, it’s hard to make improvements and drive increased sales success.

To find out how these stakeholders feel about coaching effectiveness, we surveyed nearly 300 sales reps, managers, and sales enablement professionals, asking them fundamental questions about their perceptions and preferences. While we found alignment in some areas, reps, managers, and sales enablement leaders differed in their opinions about coaching quality, coaching needs, and even the impact of coaching on results. Left unchecked, differences between key stakeholders on coaching quality and value can pose a significant risk to revenue goals, and even threaten the relationship between reps and managers.

Read on to find out what the data showed, what it means, and how you can use this information to improve coaching efforts at your organization.

Introduction

https://blog.sellingpower.com/gg/2017/01/the-powerful-sales-metric-no-one-is-measuring.html


Coaching’s impact on dealsWhat the data showed

Front line sales managers and reps disagree about whether coaching from managers affects deal outcomes.

What it means

If reps don’t believe that coaching helps them--especially when their managers feel differently--it’s a big red flag. Recognizing the value of coaching in deal outcomes fosters a trusted relationship between reps and managers, making continued coaching more welcome. Conversely, coaching that is perceived as ineffective means that reps are more likely to ‘go rogue,’ making them harder to coach and even sowing distrust.

Does managers’ coaching positively affect deal outcomes?

Nearly all managers think their coaching positively affects deal outcomes (93%), but only two-thirds of reps agree (67%).

Far too often training is applied as a solution to a problem it can’t solve. The same applies to coaching. Matching the right solution to the performance problem it will solve is a key skill that most managers aren’t ever taught.

Mike Kunkle, VP of Sales Enablement, SPA & SPASIGMA


Coaching qualityWhile reps and managers agreed that more coaching is needed, they disagree on the quality of coaching being provided.

What the data showed

Almost all managers thought that they provided high-quality coaching, but only about two-thirds of reps agreed.

What it means

A huge gap in perceptions here spells danger. There’s clearly a disconnect, although it’s not evident from this question alone why reps and managers have differing opinions.

Frequency of coaching interactionsWhat the data showed

Reps and managers agree that coaching doesn’t happen enough. When asked about whether reps received an optimal amount of coaching, over 1/3 of managers and reps said they did not.

What it means

Insufficient coaching means reps are losing winnable deals, sales cycles are taking longer than they should, and deal sizes are smaller than they could be. In other words, lack of coaching hits the bottom line.

Do managers provide enough coaching?

Over a third of reps and managers feel they don’t spend enough time on coaching.

Do managers provide high-quality coaching?

93% of managers believe the coaching sessions they’re providing are of high quality, but only 68% of reps agree.


Coaching is not effective unless you understand the competencies that need addressing. Coaching to specific competencies drives better performance in the long run because it focuses on areas of need, and doesn’t waste time where assistance is unneeded.

We asked managers and reps about the kinds of coaching managers typically do in order to understand why they disagree about quality and impact. As you’ll see, there is an important difference of opinion about topics and delivery style.

Where’s The Disconnect?


Sales coaching types and styles What the data showed

Managers’ responses show a consistent belief that they spend most of their coaching time helping reps hone their craft. Overall, managers also felt their style was very collaborative.

In contrast, reps felt that managers use a tactical, top-down coaching approach. Instead of coaching to sales competencies, reps think managers deliver mostly deal coaching and coaching to deal- and pipeline-related activities. This was especially true among reps in the technology and financial services sectors.

What it means

Managers are under the gun to deliver, and may suffer the “tyranny of the urgent” in their coaching efforts rather than looking at competency-based approaches that are more likely to improve long-term sales results. Reps see them as doing a lot more telling than teaching, providing lots of one-way feedback rather than encouraging collaborative skills development.

Of the four options shown above, managers responded that their style is more collaborative, while reps felt that

the coaching they receive is more directive.

LEAST COLLABORATIVE MOST COLLABORATIVE


Perceived value of skills coaching among repsWhat the data showed

Reps feel strongly that skills-related coaching provides the greatest impact.

What it means

Managers have a tactical responsibility to help reps close deals, which often eats into their ability to provide skills coaching. These results are a good reminder that reps value the time managers spend helping them improve their selling skills as well.

53% of reps felt that more training on best practices to teach them skills or share new techniques would help them improve results.

The number-two response (49%) was “more skills coaching.”


Coaching support and training provided to managersAs you can see, sales training and enablement leaders are very keen on ‘coaching the coach,’ but also over-emphasize the tactical, deal-focused coaching that reps value less than skills-based activities.

This means that sales training and enablement leaders’ ‘coach the coach’ efforts may be perpetuating tactical approaches at the expense of more strategic ones.

Sales training and enablement leaders should consider focusing more of their manager training and support on skills coaching since it affects manager behavior.



We’ve noted the difference of opinions about coaching quality and impact between reps and managers, and the general agreement that coaching sessions need to happen more frequently in order to drive better results. But what are the barriers to better coaching?


There is general agreement that reps want coaching and that it works. Virtually all respondents say that coaching is supported in their organizations.

Yet managers feel constrained by time to deliver the coaching that everyone agrees is important.

What it means

Coaching quality suffers when managers feel time-constrained. This may explain the disparity in perceptions of quality between reps and coaches mentioned earlier.

Barriers To High-Quality Coaching



Managers’ use of technologySales enablement professionals recognize the need for software to improve the coaching process, but many of these tools remain underused.


The survey found a significant disparity between sales enablement leaders’ and sales managers’ view of technology support for coaching. Enablement leaders claim to provide it, but managers are not availing themselves of it.

What it means

Sales training and enablement leaders provide technology that sales managers don’t use. This barrier stems either from managers’ lack of knowledge about available technology, or from a lack of confidence in the solutions themselves.

The data also showed that sales reps’ and managers’ prefer face-to-face interaction when coaching, and perhaps this is partly to blame; managers and reps may be hesitant to use technology in lieu of face-to-face meetings, even when such meetings are impossible.



Organizational support and training for coachingSince sales reps want it, managers want to do it, and organizations like it, sales managers have lots of good reasons to improve their ability to coach. Software can help them, but they also need organizational support.


Nearly all sales training leaders said their company trains and supports managers for coaching, but far fewer felt they received enough. Sales managers also said that they needed more help identifying where to focus their coaching efforts, better means to motivate reps to incorporate coaching concepts into selling activities, and greater ability to prioritize which reps need the most coaching assistance.

What it means

Companies train and support frontline sales managers in their coaching, but sales training and enablement leaders don’t believe they’re doing it well. In fact, over one-third of teams want to do a better job “coaching the coach” but many have not taken action.

“Ways to motivate reps to use what was learned during coaching” was managers’ number-two response when asked what they needed to improve their coaching. Video coaching solutions provide a great way to motivate reps to practice their skills by tapping their natural desire to do a good job on camera, spurring them to record multiple practice takes before submitting the final version to a manager.

“The training and support I provide to help managers coach is adequate.”

Only 40% of sales training and enablement leaders felt the coaching support and training they provide

to managers is adequate.


Formal coaching methodologiesWhat the data showed

Three-quarters of organizations have formal sales coaching models, but many companies choose not to use third-party vendors in the process. Nearly half of all managers feel like they need additional training to help them diagnose performance issues and coach to them.

What it means

Even though adoption of formal sales coaching models is high, managers still feel unprepared to coach. If significant time and effort is expended to improving sales coaching without results, then the cost of a formal coaching approach–not to mention the implicit costs of ineffective coaching–can be significant.

Organizations with formalized sales coaching models

What Would Help Us (Managers) the Most to Improve Coaching: (top 3 responses)

Training on how to diagnose performance problems (where to spend your coaching time) 1 (45%)

Ways to motivate my reps to use what they were taught/ coaching and implement their action plans2 (42%)

Better dashboards so I can see who needs the most help (who to help) 3 (37%)



While fascinating, these insights don’t add value unless you can use them to improve your coaching efforts. At Allego, we work with over 160,000 users in sales, sales management, and sales enablement to help them address many of the same issues exposed in the survey results. Here are the best practices that we recommend:

1 . Look for ways to improve the dialog between managers and reps

Several survey responses pointed to differences in perceptions between reps and managers. Consider methods to gain agreement about coaching expectations between reps and managers, focusing on specific competencies that need to be improved. Then use a scorecard approach to understand how reps are improving their areas of need over time.

2 . Increase peer collaboration

In the survey, more best-practices coaching was the top area that reps wanted from their managers, but over 50% of managers felt that they don’t have time to provide high-quality coaching. How can managers deliver on these needs when they’re already strapped for time?

One approach is to make it easier to spread best practices through peer collaboration. Enabling high

performers to share best practices with others more easily eases the burden of coaching for managers, while increasing the velocity in which new ideas are adopted by the field. Using easily accessible video content with interactive feedback is key to making peer collaboration most effective.

3 . Focus on competencies, not just results

When a rep falters, it shows up in the results, but you can’t use results to right the ship. Focusing on competencies enables you to identify and improve the individual skills that lead to successful selling. And according to survey results, improving skills is one of the top methods with which reps thought managers could help them.

Following competencies over time is really important, too. Reps’ strengths and weaknesses should be identified during training, and then areas of need should receive additional reinforcement as reps move to the field. Also, keep managers in the loop by providing them with initial competency assessments and the ability to track competencies over time. That way, managers can continually fine-tune their coaching efforts to focus on the greatest areas of need.

Recommendations



4 . Use technology to your advantage

Survey results showed that reps prefer in-person coaching, but schedules and geography often make face-to-face activities difficult to coordinate. Coaching software solutions are a great way to nearly replicate the face-to-face experience in an asynchronous way, but with a few caveats:

• They must be easy to use, because neither reps nor managers will use software with a steep learning curve.

• There must be a way for contextual two-way communications. If you can replicate the give-and-take nature of live communications between reps and managers--even if those back-and-forths take place at different times--you can reclaim much of the value lost when participants can’t be in the same room.

It’s noteworthy that survey results showed a disconnect between sales managers and sales enablement leaders about the perception of software tools that were available to them. You don’t want to invest in unused software, so making sure that the coaching solution you select meets your criteria the best is extremely important.

5 . Strengthen the communication channels between sales leaders and sales enablement

When a newly trained rep leaves training and enters the field, sales managers need to be part of the transition, and they need to know what to do. At the same time, Sales Enablement needs to keep abreast of needs in the field so that they’re prepared to continually give sales teams what they need to succeed. How can you accomplish these goals?

• Share information about sales competencies during the transition from training to field sales. In the survey, managers strongly preferred dashboards to track competencies, for example.

• Adopt a formal sales coaching methodology, and consider using a third party to assist

• Work as partners to find coaching tools that best meet institutional sales coaching needs


Sales reps want more and better coaching, managers want to coach more effectively, and sales enablement and training leaders want to improve the support they provide. When the training and selling processes are more closely interconnected, sales managers spend their coaching time more effectively because they’re armed with better information. The strategic use of technology, combined with a formal coaching methodology, enables a smooth transition for reps from training to the field by empowering managers to provide ongoing targeted assistance for each rep’s needs. Both managers and reps can transcend limitations of time and distance through video coaching and role-play, and build a collaborative coaching environment where peers and SMEs play a vital role in sharing best practices for ongoing organizational success.

Survey DetailsWe worked with Canam Research to survey sales managers, sales reps, and sales enablement leaders about their experiences with sales coaching at their current organizations. Survey responses came from 67 frontline sales managers, 164 sales reps, and 57 sales training and enablement leaders across the technology, life sciences, and financial services sectors. The survey was administered using an online response tool to capture and summarize respondents information

Conclusion

Management should consider that an effective way to attract and retain talent is to create an environment where talented people can develop.

John Hagel, Co-chairman, Deloitte



About The Authors

Mike is a respected sales transformation architect and internationally-recognized sales training and sales enablement expert.

He’s spent 34 years in the sales profession and 24 years as a corporate leader or consultant, helping companies drive dramatic revenue growth through best-in-class learning strategies and his proven-effective sales transformation methodologies. Today, Mike is the Vice President of Sales Enablement Services for SPA and SPASIGMA. He consults, advises, writes, speaks, leads webinars, and designs sales learning systems that get results.

Mike Kunkle

Allego is a modern sales learning platform that combines training, practice, coaching and knowledge sharing into one app. It uses mobile, video, and peer collaboration to reinvent learning for the dynamic needs of sales teams. Allego’s speed and consumer app design match the pace of even the most hard-charging salespeople. If you can use Netflix, you can use Allego. With Allego, sales teams onboard faster, confidently deliver the right messaging, rapidly adopt best practices, coach and practice more frequently, and collaborate broadly with peers and the home office. Nearly 160,000 sales professionals across financial services, technology, life science and other industries use Allego to ensure they bring their A game to every customer conversation.

http://www.strategicpricing.com

https://spasigma.com/

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The State of Sales Coaching 2019 - Allego · The State of Sales Coaching 2019 | 10 We’ve noted the difference of opinions about coaching quality and impact between reps and managers,