Best B2B Sales Coaching Services to Boost Your Team’s Performance

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Best B2B Sales Coaching Services

How to compare coaching providers by what your managers can still do when the coaching ends, and which type of service fits your team.

By Iain Swanston, Founder, Klozers

Updated 10 November 2026

9 minute read

In short

The best B2B sales coaching services leave your managers able to coach without the provider. Compare each service on one test. When the outside coach leaves, can your managers hold each salesperson to a plan the salesperson wrote, on their own live deals, every week? If the answer is no, the coaching stops when the sessions stop.

Key takeaways

Compare B2B sales coaching services by what they leave your managers able to do, not by the number of sessions they sell.
In the Salesforce State of Sales report (2026), 46% of sales professionals said they rarely get feedback on their sales conversations.
Coaching changes behaviour when a manager holds a salesperson to a plan the salesperson wrote.
Every coaching conversation should end with one written action on a live deal, with the name of a buyer and a date.
An outside coach is most useful when the work has an end date and a measure agreed before it starts.

What are the best B2B sales coaching services?

The best B2B sales coaching services are the ones your managers can continue without the provider. That is the test this guide applies. A service can have experienced coaches, good reviews and a clear method, and still leave nothing behind once the contract ends.

Most lists of the best B2B sales coaching services rank providers by reputation, price or the number of coaches they employ. Those factors matter less than one question. When the coaching ends, who in your business will hold each salesperson to what they agreed to do?

If the answer is nobody, the service sold you sessions. If the answer is their manager, every week, against a plan the salesperson wrote, the service changed how your team is managed. The second is what you are paying for.

This guide does not rank named providers. It compares the five types of B2B sales coaching service you will be offered. It explains why coaching often stops working when the coach leaves, and it gives you the questions to ask before you sign.

What types of B2B sales coaching service are there?

Most providers sell one of five types of B2B sales coaching service, or a combination of them. The types differ in who does the coaching, what each salesperson is measured against, and what remains in your business when the work ends.

Type of service	Who coaches	Measured against	What remains when it ends
One-to-one sessions with an outside coach	An outside coach, with each salesperson separately	The coach’s own method, or goals the salesperson sets in the first session	The salesperson’s notes. The manager is often not part of the work.
Group coaching sessions	An outside coach, with several salespeople together	A topic chosen for the group	Shared notes on the topic, with no link to each person’s deals unless the coach adds one
Training managers to coach	Your own managers, after a course on coaching	A coaching model the managers learn	A skill in your managers, if they have the time to use it
Call recording and scoring software	Software, with review by a manager	Scores set inside the tool	A record of calls and scores. Change depends on a manager acting on them.
Coaching attached to a training programme	Your managers, supported by the provider for a set period	A plan each salesperson wrote, and measures agreed in advance	Managers who coach against a written plan, and a result you can measure

None of these types is wrong. Each one fits a different situation. The difference that matters is in the last column. A service that leaves a written plan, and a manager who uses it every week, continues to work after the invoice is paid. A service that leaves only notes does not.

One-to-one sessions with an outside coach

An outside coach meets each salesperson for a fixed number of sessions, often every week or every two weeks. This suits a senior salesperson with a specific gap, or a new hire in a senior role. The risk is that the manager is not in the conversation. Nothing then connects the sessions to how that salesperson is managed from day to day.

Group coaching sessions

An outside coach works with several salespeople at once, on a topic chosen in advance. The cost per person is lower than one-to-one coaching. Unless the coach works on each person’s own deals, the group discusses the topic in general terms. Each salesperson then has to decide alone what it means for their accounts.

Training managers to coach

The provider trains your sales managers in a coaching model. This is the right investment when your managers have never been taught to coach. It works only if managers then coach regularly, and that depends on time. Many sales managers also carry their own targets, run forecasts and handle escalations, so coaching is the first task they postpone.

Call recording and scoring software

Software records sales calls, transcribes them and scores them against criteria set in the tool. It gives managers far more material than they could review themselves. A score does not change behaviour on its own. Someone still has to agree with the salesperson what they will do differently on the next call, and then check that they did it.

Coaching attached to a training programme

Here the coaching is part of a programme, not a separate purchase. Each salesperson writes a plan during the training, applied to their own deals. Managers then coach against that plan, and the provider supports the managers for a set period. This is the model Klozers uses, and it is explained later in this guide.

One and two day sales workshops

Bespoke, measured, and built to last.

Every workshop is built from a blank page around your team’s own live deals. No slides. Every topic carries a KPI you agree up front, then track and prove afterwards.

Pre and post assessment, so you see the change

Worked on your real deals, in the room

Manager Embed Plan and calls at 30, 60 and 90 days

Delivered in person by a practitioner, not a presenter

Trusted by teams at Microsoft, Panasonic, TikTok, Bizerba, Marangoni and Lathams.

Why does coaching stop working when the coach leaves?

Coaching stops working when the coach leaves because, in many services, the coach was the only person checking. The salesperson met the coach, agreed some actions and returned to a manager who was not in the conversation. When the sessions end, the checking ends with them.

Survey data suggests that little feedback is the normal position in sales teams. In the Salesforce State of Sales report, 7th edition (2026), 46% of sales professionals said they rarely get feedback on their sales conversations. Only 34% said their organisation runs regular one-to-one meetings with managers. The survey covered 4,050 sales professionals in 22 countries, between August and September 2025.

These figures come from a vendor survey, so treat them as an indication, not as a measurement of your own team. Where they hold, an outside coach may be the only regular source of feedback a salesperson has. Remove the coach and the feedback stops.

There is a second reason. Most coaching measures the salesperson against something they did not write: the coach’s method, a competency model or a scorecard inside a software tool. A salesperson can accept that feedback in a session and still see it as someone else’s standard. When nobody is checking, they return to what they did before.

“Coaching works when a manager holds a salesperson to the plan they wrote themselves. A plan we write for them is only a document.”

Iain Swanston, Founder, Klozers

What should a coaching service leave your managers able to do?

A coaching service should leave your managers able to run a short, regular coaching conversation on live deals. The conversation should use a plan the salesperson wrote and a measure agreed in advance. Four things make that possible.

A plan the salesperson wrote

The plan should come from the salesperson, in their own words, about their own accounts. People defend a plan they wrote. A plan given to them is a document they can disagree with. When a manager asks whether an action happened, the salesperson answers for their own commitment. There is no argument about whether the standard is fair.

One written action on every live deal

Every coaching conversation should end with one action on a real deal. The action names the buyer the salesperson will contact, what they will ask for and the date. If the deal has a weakness, such as no agreed next meeting, the action is written against that weakness. A conversation that ends with general advice gives the manager nothing to check the following week.

A measure agreed before the coaching starts

Agree what will change, and how you will count it, before the first session. The measure should be something the salesperson controls. Examples include the number of open deals with a next meeting in the buyer’s diary, or the number of proposals sent without a discount. Satisfaction scores from the coaching sessions do not tell you whether selling changed.

An end date, and a handover to the managers

External coaching should have an end date, and the provider should hand the coaching to your managers before that date. A service with no end date has no reason to make itself unnecessary. Ask in advance what your managers will do on the day after the last session.

How do you choose a B2B sales coaching service?

Choose a B2B sales coaching service by asking each provider the same six questions and comparing the answers. Ask for specific answers, not a description of their method.

Who coaches each salesperson after the contract ends, and what will that person need to do it?
What is each salesperson coached against: a plan they wrote, or a method the provider brings?
Will the coaching use our salespeople’s own live deals, or prepared scenarios?
Where are our managers in the process: in the sessions, coached themselves, or not involved?
What measure will we agree before the coaching starts, and who records it?
When does the service end, and what do our managers receive at that point?

A provider that answers with specifics has thought about what happens after the sessions. A provider that answers with its coaching method and the experience of its coaches has not answered the question you asked.

Ask also how the provider will learn the way your team already sells. Coaching that ignores what already works asks experienced salespeople to abandon habits that win deals, and they will resist it. If your team has no agreed way of selling yet, the provider should explain how it will build one with you, not import one.

Finally, ask who the coaches are. A coach who has sold to other businesses will understand deals with long sales cycles and several people in each buying decision. Coaching experience outside sales is not the same thing.

When is an external sales coach the right choice?

An external sales coach is the right choice when the person who needs coaching has no one inside the business who can coach them. Three situations are common.

A sales leader who reports to a chief executive or a board with no sales background.
A new sales manager who has never been shown how to coach.
A senior salesperson on one large deal, who needs an opinion from someone outside the business.

In these cases one-to-one coaching from an outside coach is sensible. Agree the end date, the measure and the handover at the start, in the same way as for any other coaching service.

An external coach is the wrong choice when the aim is to change how a whole team sells. Coaching each salesperson separately is expensive, and it leaves the managers outside the work. For a team, coaching should strengthen the manager’s role, not replace it.

How does Klozers coach salespeople?

Klozers coaches through your managers, as part of a training programme. Coaching is not sold as a separate service, because coaching without a plan has nothing to hold people to. This page explains how coaching embeds a sales programme.

During the training day, each participant writes their own 90 Day Action Plan after each topic, applied to their own open deals. Every topic carries a KPI that the client agrees before the day. Managers receive a Manager Embed Plan, which describes how to reinforce the behaviour, with follow-up calls from Klozers at 30, 60 and 90 days. Managers then hold each salesperson accountable to the plan that salesperson wrote.

Where a team wants more support, a 90 day coaching programme is available, in which Klozers coaches the managers and the salespeople. Every programme is built for one business, starting from how your team already sells. See bespoke sales training for how a programme is researched and designed. For the habits that make manager coaching work from week to week, read effective sales coaching.

Do this on Monday

Check whether coaching is happening in your team this week.

You do not need a provider to check whether your salespeople are being coached. You need three salespeople, three live deals and fifteen minutes with each person.

Choose three salespeople. Ask each one to choose one live deal that matters to their number this quarter.
Ask each salesperson to write one action for that deal, in their own words. It should name the buyer, what they will ask for and the date.
Put fifteen minutes in the diary with each salesperson next week. Discuss only that action: did it happen, and what did the buyer say?
Count how many of the three actions happened. That number is your baseline for how much coaching your team gets today.

Common questions about B2B sales coaching services

What is B2B sales coaching?

B2B sales coaching is regular, structured feedback that helps a salesperson sell to other businesses. Good coaching works on the salesperson’s own live deals, ends with a written action, and checks that action at the next conversation. A sales manager usually does it, sometimes with support from an outside coach.

What is the difference between sales coaching and sales training?

Sales training teaches a team new skills, usually over one or more days. Sales coaching helps each person apply those skills on their own deals in the weeks that follow. Training without coaching is often not applied, and coaching without training has nothing new to apply.

Should sales managers coach, or should we hire an external coach?

For a team, sales managers should coach, because they see each salesperson every week and they remain when an outside coach leaves. An external coach is useful for sales leaders, new managers and specific large deals, or to support managers for a set period.

How do you measure whether sales coaching worked?

Agree a measure before the coaching starts, and record it before and after. Choose something the salesperson controls, such as the number of open deals with a next meeting in the buyer’s diary. Do not rely on how much salespeople enjoyed the sessions.

Unleash your Sales Potential | Hire a Sales Coach

by Iain Swanston

Sales Coach - Top Question from Google

What is a Sales Coach?

A sales coach is a professional who helps sales professionals develop their skills and knowledge, with the goal of improving their sales performance. Sales coaches may work with individuals or small groups of sales reps, and may use a variety of techniques, such as one-on-one coaching, role-playing, and interactive activities to help sales professionals develop the skills and knowledge they need to be successful.

Sales coaches may focus on a range of topics, including sales strategy, sales techniques, customer relationship management, communication skills, and problem-solving. They may also work with sales leaders, sales managers and sales professionals to identify and overcome any personal or professional challenges that may be hindering their sales performance.

Sales coaches are typically experienced sales professionals themselves, with a proven track record and may have a background in sales management or training. They may work with sales professionals at all levels, from entry-level salespeople to experienced sales managers and sales leaders.

Overall, a sales coach can be a valuable resource for sales professionals who are looking to improve their skills and increase their sales performance.

There’s a new way to deliver sales growth…

Don’t buy Sales Training until you’ve watched this video…

1. What are the benefits of sales coaching?

Sales coaching can offer a range of benefits to sales professionals, sales managers and organizations as a whole, including:

a) Improved sales performance: By helping sales professionals develop their skills and knowledge, sales coaching can help improve their sales performance. This may include increased sales revenues, higher conversion rates, and better customer satisfaction.

b) Increased confidence and motivation: Sales coaching can help sales professionals feel more confident and motivated in their roles, which can lead to improved performance.

c) Personalized development: Sales coaching is typically more personalized than sales training, as it is tailored to the specific needs and goals of the individual or small group. This can make it more effective in helping sales professionals develop the skills and knowledge they need to be successful.

d) Greater accountability: Sales coaching often involves setting specific goals and tracking progress, which can help sales professionals stay accountable and motivated to achieve their objectives.

e) Enhanced team culture: Sales coaching can help foster a positive and supportive team culture, which can lead to improved collaboration and teamwork.

Overall, sales coaching can be a valuable resource for sales professionals and organizations looking to improve sales performance and achieve long-term success.

2. The business case for sales coaching

Here are a few statistics that support the need for sales coaching:

a) Companies that invest in sales coaching see an average of 8.9% sales increase: According to research by the Corporate Executive Board, companies that invest in sales coaching see an average sales increase of 8.9% within the first year.

b) Salespeople who receive coaching are more likely to hit their targets: Research by the Sales Executive Council found that salespeople who receive coaching are 63% more likely to hit their targets compared to those who do not receive coaching.

c) Coaching leads to increased productivity: A study by the International Coach Federation found that coaching leads to a productivity increase of 86%.

d) Coaching leads to improved employee retention: According to research by the Corporate Executive Board, companies with high-quality coaching programs have a 7% lower turnover rate compared to those without coaching programs.

e) Coaching leads to better customer satisfaction: A study by the Corporate Executive Board found that companies with high-quality coaching programs have a 13.5% higher customer satisfaction rate compared to those without coaching programs.

These statistics demonstrate the significant impact that sales coaching can have on sales performance, productivity, employee retention, and customer satisfaction.

3. Individual sales coaching vs Group sales coaching

Individual sales coaching involves working with a single sales professional on a one-on-one basis to help them develop specific skills and knowledge. This type of coaching is typically more personalized and tailored to the specific needs and goals of the individual.

Individual coaching may be conducted in person or virtually, and may involve a range of topics such as sales strategy, business development and sales calls. An effective sales coach would also deliver one on one sessions on techniques, sales cycle, controlling sales conversations, role-playing, interactive activities, and feedback sessions. A sales coaches job is to help build confidence and encourage sales reps to reflect on their own sales performance.

It’s not the role of the sales coach to motivate reps. Top performers in sales are self motivated not just by revenue goals and more sales, but by their own professional development.

Group coaching, on the other hand, involves working with a small group of sales professionals to help them develop their skills and knowledge. Group coaching may be conducted in person or virtually, and may involve a range of techniques, such as group discussions, interactive activities, and role-plays.

Group coaching can be an effective way to help sales professionals learn from one another and share best practices. An effective sales coach may attend team meetings, support weekly sales meetings and drive performance improvement across the sales team.

Overall, both individual and group coaching can be effective approaches to sales development, and the most appropriate approach will depend on the specific needs and goals of the sales team or individual, as well as the resources and time available for development.

4. How do I create a sales coaching programme

Creating a sales coaching program can be a complex process that requires careful planning and attention to detail. Here are some steps to consider when creating an effective sales coaching program:

a) Define your goals: Clearly define your goals for the coaching program. What do you want to achieve? What specific skills or knowledge do you want to develop in your sales team? Having clear goals will help you design a program that meets your needs and helps you achieve your objectives.

b) Identify your target audience: Determine who your coaching program will be for. Will it be for your entire sales team, or just a specific group? Understanding your target audience will help you tailor the program to meet their specific needs and goals.

c) Determine the format: Decide on the format of your coaching program. Will it be in-person, virtual, or a combination of both? Consider factors such as convenience, cost, and the preferences of your target audience when choosing a format.

d) Select a coach: Choose a coach who has the experience and expertise to meet your needs. Consider factors such as their background, their coaching style, and their availability when selecting a coach.

e) Create a schedule: Determine the frequency and duration of your coaching sessions. Will they be weekly, biweekly, or monthly? How long will each session be? Consider the schedules of your participants and the goals of your program when creating a schedule.

f) Plan the content: Design the content of your coaching program to meet your specific goals and the needs of your target audience. This may include topics such as sales techniques, customer relationship management.

5. How do you coach a sales person?

Coaching a salesperson can be a rewarding and challenging experience, as it requires strong communication skills, a deep understanding of sales techniques, and the ability to adapt to the individual needs and goals of the sales rep. Here are some steps to consider when coaching a salesperson:

a) Establish a relationship of trust and respect: Building trust and respect is essential for any coaching relationship. This may involve establishing clear expectations, being open and honest with feedback, and showing genuine interest in the salesperson’s development.

b) Identify the salesperson’s strengths and areas for improvement: Assessing the salesperson’s strengths and areas for improvement can help you tailor your coaching to their specific needs and goals. This may involve observing their sales interactions, reviewing their performance data, and asking for feedback from the salesperson and their colleagues.

c) Set specific, measurable goals: Setting specific, measurable goals can help the salesperson stay focused and motivated, and can provide a roadmap for their development. Consider setting both short-term and long-term goals, and be sure to track progress regularly.

d) Provide ongoing support and feedback: Offer ongoing support and feedback to help the salesperson develop their skills and knowledge. This may involve one-on-one coaching sessions, role-playing, or other interactive activities that allow the salesperson to practice and apply what they have learned.

e) Encourage self-reflection and continuous learning: Encourage the salesperson to reflect on their performance and seek out opportunities for continuous learning. This may involve encouraging them to read industry publications, attend training.

6. What are the best sales coaching techniques?

There are a wide range of sales coaching techniques that can be effective in helping sales professionals develop their skills and knowledge. Here are a few examples:

a) One-on-one coaching: One-on-one coaching involves working with a sales professional on a one-on-one basis to help them develop specific skills and knowledge. This type of coaching is typically more personalized and tailored to the specific needs and goals of the individual.

b) Role-playing: Role-playing involves simulating real-life sales situations and allowing the sales professional to practice and apply what they have learned. This can be a useful technique for helping sales professionals develop their communication and problem-solving skills.

c) Interactive activities: Interactive activities, such as case studies or simulations, can be a useful way to engage sales professionals and help them apply their knowledge to real-world situations.

d) Group coaching: Group coaching involves working with a small group of sales professionals to help them develop their skills and knowledge. Group coaching may involve group discussions, interactive activities, and role-plays, and can be an effective way to help sales professionals learn from one another and share best practices.

e) Feedback sessions: Providing ongoing feedback can be a valuable technique for helping sales professionals improve their performance. Feedback sessions should be conducted in a constructive and supportive manner, and should focus on specific areas for improvement.

Overall, the best sales coaching techniques will depend on the specific needs and goals of the sales team or individual, as well as the resources and time available for development.

7. Examples of sales coaching questions

There are a wide range of sales coaching questions that can be effective in helping sales professionals develop their skills and knowledge. Here are a few examples:

What are your specific goals for this coaching session?
What are your current challenges in the sales process?
What do you feel confident about in your sales approach?
What are your areas for improvement in your sales approach?
How do you currently handle objections from prospects?
How do you currently build relationships with prospects and customers?
How do you currently follow up with prospects and customers?
How do you currently measure your sales performance?
What are some best practices or strategies that have worked well for you in the past?
What resources or support do you need to achieve your goals?

Sales coaching questions should be tailored to the specific needs and goals of the sales professional or small group, and should be designed to encourage reflection, learning, and action. By asking thoughtful and targeted questions, sales coaches can help sales professionals identify areas for improvement, develop new strategies and approaches, and track their progress towards their goals.

8. What skills does a sales coach require?

A good Sales coach requires a range of skills to effectively coach sales reps including:

a) Sales expertise: Coaches should have a deep understanding of sales techniques, customer relationship management, and the sales process. This may involve having a background in sales management or training, or having extensive experience as a sales professional.

b) Communication skills: Coaches should have strong communication skills, including the ability to listen actively, ask clarifying questions, and provide feedback in a constructive and supportive manner.

c) Coaching skills: Coaches should have a strong understanding of coaching principles and techniques, including how to set goals, provide feedback, and facilitate learning and development.

d) Adaptability: Coaches should be able to adapt to the specific needs and goals of the salespeople they are working with, as well as to any changes in the sales environment.

e) Empathy: Coaches should be able to show empathy and understanding for the challenges and concerns of the salespeople they are working with, which can help build trust and rapport.

By developing these skills, coaches can become more effective at helping sales professionals develop their skills and knowledge, and improve their sales performance.

9. Does a sales manager need a sales coach?

Sales managers can benefit from sales coaching just like sales professionals can. In fact, sales coaching can be especially valuable for every sales manager, as they often have a greater responsibility for leading and developing their sales teams.

Sales coaching can help a sales manager develop a range of skills, including:

Leadership skills: Sales coaching can help sales managers develop their leadership skills, such as communication, delegation, and team-building.
Sales techniques: Sales managers can benefit from sales coaching to help them stay up to date with the latest sales techniques and best practices.
Coaching skills: Sales managers who are responsible for coaching their team members can benefit from sales coaching to help them develop their coaching skills and techniques.
Problem-solving: Sales managers often face a range of challenges, such as managing difficult customers or navigating complex sales environments. Sales coaching can help them develop problem-solving skills and strategies to address these challenges.

Overall, sales coaching can be a valuable resource for any sales manager looking to develop their skills and knowledge, and improve both their performance and that of their sales reps.

10. What role should sales leadership play in sales coaching?

Sales leadership plays a crucial role in coaching, as they are responsible for setting the tone and direction for the team’s development. Here are a few ways in which sales leadership can support coaching within their organization:

Establish a coaching culture: Sales leadership can help create a coaching culture by emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and development, and by providing resources and support for coaching efforts.
Set clear goals and expectations: Sales leadership should communicate clear goals and expectations for sales coaching, and ensure that coaching efforts are aligned with the overall goals and objectives of the organization.
Provide resources and support: Sales leadership should provide the necessary resources and support to enable effective coaching, such as training materials, coaching tools, and dedicated coaching time.
Encourage self-reflection and continuous learning: Sales leadership can encourage sales professionals to engage in self-reflection and continuous learning by setting aside dedicated time for coaching, providing access to resources and training, and recognizing and rewarding the efforts of those who engage in coaching activities.
Model coaching behaviors: Sales leadership should model coaching behaviors by demonstrating a commitment to continuous learning and development, and by providing supportive and constructive feedback to sales professionals.

Overall, sales leadership plays a crucial role in establishing a culture of coaching and supporting the development of sales professionals within the organization.

11. What's the difference between sales coaching and sales training?

Sales coaching and sales training are two different approaches to sales development that can be used to help sales professionals improve their skills and knowledge.

Sales training is a structured program that is designed to help sales professionals develop specific skills and knowledge. It may involve a range of delivery methods, such as lectures, interactive activities, and simulations, and may be delivered in person or virtually. Sales training is typically more general in nature, and is focused on providing sales professionals with a broad range of skills and knowledge that they can apply in a variety of situations.

Sales coaching, on the other hand, is a more personalized approach that is tailored to the specific needs and goals of the sales professional or small group. Sales coaching may involve one-on-one sessions with a coach, role-playing, and interactive activities, and is typically more focused on helping sales professionals apply what they have learned to specific challenges or situations. Sales coaching may also involve setting specific goals and tracking progress to help sales professionals stay motivated and accountable.

Overall, the main difference between sales coaching and sales training is the level of personalization and focus on specific goals and challenges. Both approaches can be valuable resources for sales professionals looking to improve their skills and knowledge, and the most appropriate approach will depend on the specific needs and goals of the sales team or individual, as well as the resources and time available for development.

12. Do I need a background in sales to be a sales coach?

Having a background in sales can be beneficial for sales coaches, as it can provide you with a deep understanding of sales techniques, customer relationship management, and the sales process. However, it is not necessarily a requirement for successful sales coaching.

Sales coaches may come from a variety of backgrounds, and may have expertise in areas such as leadership, business development, communication, and coaching techniques. What is most important for a sales coach is the ability to understand the needs and goals of the sales professionals they are working with, and to provide support and guidance to help them develop their skills and knowledge.

Overall, while a background in sales can be beneficial for coaches, it is not the only factor that determines their effectiveness. The most important qualities for a sales coach are the ability to understand the needs and goals of their clients, and to provide support and guidance to help them achieve success.

“A fantastic learning experience”

Amanda – Account Manager

Coaching Sales Behaviours | Bringing out the Best

by Iain Swanston

Coaching Sales Behaviours – Top question from Google

How do you coach a sales person?

Unfortunately like sales there is no one way to coach a sales person that works every time. After all sales people are all individuals and therefore different so what works with one, may not work with the next.

With that said there are many commonalities and examples of best practice that will get you started on the path to success.

Mindset. Success in sales like many other areas in life is hugely dependant on mindset. Confidence, self belief, imposter syndrome, phone fear and self sabotage are all to common in sales people. With the right support these problems can be overcome, however, there is one area of mindset that many ignore – hunger. The best sales people are all hungry. Hungry to learn, hungry to help others and hungry for their own success. Whilst Vision Boards and Goal setting undoubtedly have a positive impact if the sales person you are coaching is not hungry for their own success you have a major problem. Many sales people ended up in sales by accident and many sales people are simply stuck in their current role and find it easier to stay than move on. Research from the Objective Management Group shows that between Sales Management & HR, 77% of sales hires are the wrong people. You can teach strategy, you can teach skills, but you can’t teach hunger.

Planning. Many companies and sales managers lack the time to implement personal development plans to their sales teams. Coaching often then becomes ad hoc, unstructured which in turn is reflected in the outcomes. In order for sales coaching to be successful and deliver an ROI, some simple planning needs to take place. In our experience it’s always best to work backwards from the objectives and tasks that the business need to happen. From there managers should document the skills required to successfully complete the tasks, followed by a GAP analysis, highlighting where the sales people are now, versus where they need to be. Lastly, this should all be documented and progress tracked to show the benefit for both the business and the coachee.

Focus. When coaching sales people it’s important to find a balance between what should be done and what can be done. Rather than giving sales people 3-4 different objectives after the coaching, we have always found it best to only give the coachee one objective to complete before the next session. This allows the sales rep to focus on one skill and perfect it before moving on to the next. A laundry list of objectives is rarely completed to any level of competency that the business would desire.

Data. It’s important for sales coaching to be both objective and fair in order for it to be successful. Where possible we therefore always advocate a data led approach. Data demonstrating the success and best practice of others is difficult for sales reps to deny. This in turn leads to the importance of CRM in any sales organisation, as this is where the majority of data resides.

Coaches. For obvious reasons coaching is different to management, so a sales coach cannot force a sales rep to do anything in terms of the outcomes of each session. Conversely, if Sales Managers are doing the coaching then they can instruct the sales people to do things, however, if the manager has to “tell” the coachee what to do, then there is typically a problem with the mindset and any success will be limited.

At Klozers our Sales Performance coaching uses Sales Scorecards, which ensure accountability for the students. This is first used to identify a baseline, which is used to kick start and structure the sales coaching. To be effective, sales coaching should look at sales in a holistic manner. This will include addressing the all the key components of sales success, which are Mindset, Sales Craft, Activity and Development.

All successful sales people have the right mindset for success. Throughout a sales career, it is impossible to achieve success on every call or presentation. As such, salespeople need to be resilient and bounce back from rejection. Controlling our mind is a hugely important part of a successful career in sales.

We can use simple Vision Boards to identify personal and business goals. Once these have been identified it’s important to draw a correlation between the two which helps ensure sales people are focussed on the goals of the business not just their own.

Craft covers the key sales skills and competencies required to be a successful sales professional. Most modern sales roles require a huge variety of sales skills, some of which are forever changing given the fast paced nature of sales and marketing.

Activity covers the important aspects of preparation, goals, sales planning and sales actions. Development covers an ongoing commitment to improving sales learning. Reflecting on past performance is an important aspect of this section. At regular intervals it is important that salespeople reflect on their performance and use this to adapt their techniques or seek additional coaching or training.

Often when reflecting, salespeople and most sales managers tend to focus on the negative aspects of performance (e.g. the bits that didn’t quite work), but it is equally as important to reflect on the positives. If a certain sales pitch has been successful, then salespeople should reflect on what went well, and how that can be implemented in other sales pitches.

Sales coaching can be conducted online or in person, in a group setting or on a 1-2-1 basis. Regardless of the delivery method, the same coaching models are used.

How do you coach an underperforming sales person?

Sales coaching can motivate and enthuse an underperforming sales professional or team more widely. People are hard wired to resist change, and as such sales coaches need to be mindful of this and adapt their coaching methods to suit.

With that said, if you have an underperforming sales person you should follow this process (dependant on the HR laws in your country of residence).

Via a one to one meeting have an open and honest conversation with the sales rep around why the business thinks they are underperforming and what will happen if it continues. In most cases this does not necessarily mean they will lose their job. It could mean they have to retake initial training or have additional coaching. Every situation will vary but it’s important to have this conversation.

Work with the sales rep to understand the root cause of the problem and once you have done this work with them to develop an action plan that will help them overcome their current performance gap. It’s important to include the sales rep in the planning to get their buy in. The plan should detail the responsibilities of the sales rep and the level of performance required.

Lastly, the company and the sales manager should do all they possibly can to help and support the sales rep throughout the coaching period. This includes reviewing their own management and leadership style.

In some cases the sales rep may have already mentally checked out as no one wants to stay in a role that they are not performing in. In some cases, however, it is possible to turn results around and it’s always worth the investment in time and training given how much it costs to replace a sales person.

What is the key to coaching a successful sales team?

The key to coaching a successful sales team is ensuring that there is a culture of learning and growing throughout the team. In order to feed that culture you will require a continuous programme of training and coaching in place. There is no quick fix to achieving the best results.

As identified earlier, one-off sales training courses may have a short-term impact, but after only 30 days its success will ware off. As such, a continuous programme of professional development needs to be in place.

Employees want to feel valued by their employers, and now expect employers to contribute towards their professional development.

Without this in place, there is a concern that your best salespeople will look for other jobs. Recruiting new staff is a resource heavy and expensive process, and you still may end up with the wrong sales staff.

Hiring the wrong sales staff can have direct (lost sales) and indirect (damage to your brand) consequences for your company, so retaining the best staff is vital.

Sales coaching techniques

Sales coaches can use a range of techniques, and some coaches prefer certain techniques more than others. Whichever technique is used, sales coaching should be driven by data and be as factual as possible.

To be effective sales coaching should question the students, and a mixture of directive, non directive and collaborative style questioning can be used.

After sales coaching has been conducted it is important to measure the effectiveness of the coaching to see if it has delivered a suitable ROI.

If the sales coaching isn’t providing to be effective, then amendments will need to be made to it, either in the form of its content, delivery or programme.

Sales coaching models

There is a wide range of sales coaching models available, however, at Klozers we use either the PEDAL model which is Directive Coaching or the GROW model. The easiest way to explain the differences are:

PEDAL – Directive in style. Solving someone’s problem for them.

GROW – Non Directive in style. Helping someone solve their own problem.

In the PEDAL model the process is:

P = Position. The coach positions the reasoning/need for a new sales skill or sales process.

E = Explain. The coach explains how the new skills work.

D = Demonstrates. The coach demonstrates how to execute the new sales skills.

A = Assess. The sales professional practices the new skill and the coach assesses their competency and provides feedback.

L = Links. The coach then links the new skill to the sales reps role and key objectives.

The PEDAL coaching model is commonplace in areas where the correct execution of a skill is paramount and no choice is allowed. For example, when sales professionals need to comply with regulatory procedures, or when sales people need to follow a prove sales process.

But what does the GROW model involve?

GROW stands for:

G = Goal. What are the salespersons goals for the session?

R = Reality. What is the current reality?

O = Obstacles. What obstacles are holding the salesperson or team back?

W = Way. What way and actions do you commit to taking to move forward?

Sales Performance Coaching

Selecting the right sales coach is an important step towards improving the sales performance in your team. Quota carrying sales managers can often be swamped by their own workloads, leaving them with little time to fully dedicate towards coaching sales behaviours.

In these circumstances, to avoid missed opportunities and good staff leaving, external sales coaching could be the answer. Our expert coaches at Klozers can help you with all of your sales coaching and training needs.

Coaching for Sales Leaders – how coaching drives growth

by Iain Swanston

How do you coach a Sales Manager? – Top question from Google

How do you coach a Sales Manager? – the short answer

To coach a sales manager, you must have an agreed sales strategy and a sales plan with KPI’s. The role of the manager is to execute the plan in line with the KPI’s, which is where they may need sales coaching.

Coaching Sales Leaders – here’s a more detailed look at what you can do to support your sales leaders.

Many sales managers have been promoted based on their sales skills and performance. Whilst these are valuable, the role of a sales manager is very different and thus requires different skills. The simplest example is coaching itself. Most salespeople have never coached another sales rep and the whole process is often new to them.

1. What are the business benefits of sales coaching?

The benefits of sales coaching are an important part of building a business case for your coaching programme, no matter how big or small. Whilst every business is different, we would suggest you take a data led approach to evaluate the “size of the prize” – the potential revenue benefits.

Let’s pretend that our top sales rep generates £500K in revenue per annum in an average year. In bigger teams of 10 plus sales people you should take the average of the top 3. There is no rule to follow here other than it must be truthful.

Next, take the average revenue figure that your B players – the middle sixty percent of your team generate per annum and as an example lets assume as a group they average £400k per annum.

The potential opportunity from sales training and coaching is therefore £100k per sales rep. In most cases the size of the opportunity is circa 10 x the cost of the training and coaching.

We encourage every client to work these figures out for themselves. Once everyone has agreed these figures then the business can work with the Sales Manager to create a coaching plan and set some KPIs.

2. How do you coach effectively in sales?

Effective coaching starts before the coaching itself. As a business we believe that coaching is not for everyone, as not everyone is coachable. This can be for a number of reasons, however, in our experience there are two main reasons as follows:

People are not motivated to learn and improve themselves
People do not believe that they need to learn and improve themselves

Your business will be no different – some people will be interested and respond to training and coaching and some people will only attend because they are told to. From our experience, Sales Leader have to make difficult choices and whilst there is no one size fits all we recommend the following:

Segment your sales team by current performance.

A Group – the top 20% of your sales team that mostly hit target.

B Group – the middle 60% that miss targets but are motivated to improve, want to learn and will respond to coaching and training.

C Group – the bottom 20% of people who never hot their sales target and whilst they may need training and coaching they have no interest in it and won’t respond.

Next, work with the A players to develop a coaching plan based on what they do that makes then A players. Where possible use the A players to co deliver some of the training and coaching to the B players.

The most important part here is to make sure that you hold the B players accountable to what has been agreed and taught.

This just leaves the C-Group. The easiest thing that any sales leader can do is ignore under performance. Some people end up in sales by accident and they are simply a round peg in a square hole. They may not admit it but these C players are unhappy, as no sales rep likes to be unsuccessful. The most difficult task of any sales leader is to let someone go, even under performers but that’s why they are a leader, that’s what drives success.

As a Sales Leader when you retain underperforming sales reps you are subconsciously self-sabotaging your own sales team. You’re a – player salespeople will look around your office and say to themselves “why should I work hard, why should I go the extra mile, when Jonny is still here and never hits a sales target?”. Before you know it they will have resigned and you are left trying to hire there replacement.

The best salespeople want to work with others at the top of their game, they want to train and get better, that’s what makes them the best.

So if you want your coaching to be effective you must first find people who want to be coached.

3. What is the key to coaching a successful sales team?

There are many key components to coaching a successful sales team and from our experience we would suggest:

The best coaching is based on data because data is difficult to argue with
Coaching needs to be regular and consistent to for the business and individual to benefit
You should follow a coaching process such as the GROW Coaching model
Coaching should be a KPI for both the coach and the coachee
Coaching should be based around established best practice and not theory
Each coaching session should be documented so you can demonstrate progress
Each coaching session should have an agreed list of actions as an outcome that are revisited.
Coaching sessions are not opportunities to critique salespeople or performance. They need to be positive and supportive.
Coaching should focus on the lead indicators of success not the lag indicators.

4. What does good sales coaching look like?

In our experience, the best starting point for good sales coaching is capturing and documenting what best practice in sales within the organisation currently looks like. Once documented this provides a baseline that no one can deny is achievable.

By best practice in sales, we mean the entire sales process from opportunity creation through to post sale whereby the customer is completely satisfied and happy to provide referrals.

In most cases lead generation is the biggest obstacle for salespeople, so demonstrating via real life examples of where a new enquiry converted to a sales and a subsequent referral to another client helps break down the “this won’t work mentality”.

Once you have identified this best practice, it’s important to map out the sales activities at each stage of the sales process. Again, in most cases the biggest problems are typically found at the start of the sales process when your team are trying to generate new sales leads.

Next up, document the type and number of activities that the top sales performer within the organisation does in an average week. This then becomes the baseline for sales activity. Be sure to document the lead indicators or KPI’s and not the lag indicators.

For example sales revenue is a lag indicator and if we use this as a KPI in an organisation with a 6 months sales cycle then it will be six months before we know if we have been successful. Look for the lead indicators – the sales behaviours that lead to the revenue.

Now the sales coaching process can start. For example, if the average sales activity of the top performer is 50 dials a day, 5 discovery calls and 2 presentations from which they close one deal, then the role of the sales coach is to bring every other member of your sale team up to this level.

5. What challenges do you face when coaching salespeople?

The majority of challenges when sales managers are coaching salespeople revolves around two main areas:

Sales activity or behaviours – we call this Productivity. These are the actual sales behaviours required to generate new leads, close deals etc. The majority of these sales behaviours have no immediate impact or reward, and in a society that is heavily influenced by the instant gratification of likes and shares, many salespeople struggle with the discipline of constantly prospecting when the reward can be months down the line.

Skills & Knowledge – we call this Performance. Whilst productivity coaching is focussed around getting more done, performance coaching is about increasing conversion. Increasing the number of leads that convert to an opportunity and the number of opportunities that convert to deals can have a dramatic effect on profitability.

Whilst these areas are important there is a much bigger challenge we often find when coaching and it is simply motivation. The top performers are so self-motivated they find their own answers to the points above.

Motivation or rather a lack of it can be caused by a multitude of things, however, unless the sales manager can find a way to help the sales team motivate themselves then they will struggle.

Motivation can come from within and it’s important to tie the business goals to the personal goals of the sales team. Whilst goals are important, what’s more important is to find a “cause”. A cause is self-fuelling, it has an energy all of it’s own that drives people forward.

6. The Impact of Coaching on Sales Performance

Coaching impacts an individual in two different ways. The first is tangible and therefore quite easy to measure, however, the second is intangible and arguably more important, but difficult to measure.

What we mean by the tangible impact are mostly skills based activities such as questioning, telephone, discovery, presentation, negotiation skills and the plethara of other skills that the modern sales person requires to be successful.

There are a number of ways and different tools that can help you measure the impact of skills coaching. However, it’s worth first thinking of the journey that learners go on as they learn new skills.

As demonstrated by the Theory of Learning, learners move through four stages of learning before they reach peak performance.

a) Unconscious Incompetence – the learner is inept at the skill but unaware of this.

b) Conscious Incompetence – the learner is inept but is now aware of this.

c) Conscious Competence – the learner can perform the skill well but needs to think about it

d) Unconscious Incompetence – the learner can perform the skill without thinking about it.

The speed by which learners move through the four stages is dictated by the time invested in learning the new skill, the learning support available.

Unfortunately in sales, sometimes people need to fail first before they understand there might be a different approach that they could benefit from adopting. These people are not coachable and will always resist any form of intervention.

Next up is the intangible impact on the individual which as we said is much more difficult to assess. In sales one of the most important intangible benefits is confidence. Without confidence salespeople will simply never be successful.

It takes a certain level of confidence to prospect, to present, to negotiate etc, however in sales confidence is fragile, it gets shipped away with every unsuccessful call, every no from a prospect and every failed negotiation.

The biggest killer of confidence is often the empty sales pipeline. Once it’s empty is usually much harder to refill your sales funnel as your confidence becomes overwhelmed with desperation and you enter a vicious cycle of decline.

In addition to confidence, another important intangible impact from coaching comes in the form of Emotional Intelligence. In short Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the art of identifying and managing emotions both in ourselves and those around us.

Sales can be a rollercoaster of emotions and controlling these is never easy but also managing the emotions of the people around you is hugely important. At a presentation, a negotiation or a simple sales conversation the emotions of your prospect and how you respond can be the difference between winning the sale or not.

7. Talk to us

Klozers provide Exec Sales Coaching and Sales Performance Coaching services across four time zones. Our sweetspot is working with small and medium size businesses to help them take on the big brands within their industry and win.

Our team a have a wealth of experience and are happy to provide an initial consultation at no charge.

Sales Coaching – For Individuals and Sales Teams

by Iain Swanston

Sales coaching and embedding

Sales Coaching

Sales coaching is how a manager keeps training in use on live deals. Coached against one agreed standard, the same sessions also produce the evidence that behaviour changed.

By Iain Swanston, Founder, Klozers

Updated 11 November 2026

13 minute read

In short

Sales coaching is regular one-to-one work between a manager and a salesperson on the salesperson’s own live deals. It keeps what was taught in training in use. It works best against a written standard, agreed before the training and assessed by the manager at day 30, 60 and 90. With certification, those same coaching sessions produce the evidence that behaviour changed.

Key takeaways

Training gives people knowledge. Coaching makes sure they use it on live deals.
Coach the salespeople who want to improve. With the others, hold a direct conversation about performance.
Coach against one agreed, written standard, not against each manager’s personal preference.
Write each requirement so a manager can see it in a live account and assess it without interpretation.
Certification turns the coaching sessions at day 30, 60 and 90 into checkpoints, and gives the manager a certification of their own.

What is sales coaching?

Sales coaching is the work a manager, or an external coach, does with a salesperson to improve how they sell. It takes place one to one, on the salesperson’s own accounts, over weeks and months rather than in a single session.

It is different from sales training. Training gives a group of people new knowledge and practice in a short time. Coaching is what happens afterwards, when the salesperson is busy again and the pressure of the quarter returns. Most of what people learn in training is used only if somebody checks that they use it. In most sales teams, that person is the sales manager.

This guide covers when to coach and when not to, which coaching model to use and how to run a coaching session. It also covers how to coach a remote team and who coaches the managers. Finally, it covers the part most coaching guides leave out: how you know the coaching worked.

Why invest in sales coaching?

Because training without coaching is rarely used for long. The clearest evidence comes from outside sales. Olivero, Bane and Kopelman (1997) studied 31 managers and supervisors in a public health agency, not salespeople. A three-day training programme increased their productivity by 22.4%. When eight weeks of one-to-one coaching followed the training, the increase was 88.0%.

The study has limits, and the authors state them. There was no randomly assigned control group, the sample was small, and the participants were managers rather than salespeople. It shows that training followed by coaching was associated with a much larger gain than training alone. It does not prove that coaching will produce the same gain in your sales team.

Cost is the most common reason companies give for not investing in coaching. Yet a team that is missing its targets usually needs coaching more than a team that is meeting them. The real question is whether the coaching can be shown to work. Klozers changed its own coaching for that reason. Every engagement now starts with KPIs agreed with the client, so the change in the pipeline can be measured against them.

What is the difference between sales training and sales coaching?

Sales training transfers knowledge and skills. Sales coaching makes sure they are applied. Each fails without the other. Training without coaching is forgotten. Coaching without training has no shared content to coach against, so each manager coaches what they personally believe.

	Sales training	Sales coaching
Purpose	New knowledge and skills	Applying them on live deals
Who leads it	A trainer, internal or external	Usually the salesperson’s own manager
Format	A group, in one or more sessions	One to one, repeated over weeks
Material	Concepts, practice and examples	The salesperson’s own accounts
Evidence that it worked	Assessment at the end of the session	Behaviour observed in live accounts over time

The two work best as one programme. In a Klozers workshop, every topic is applied to the team’s own live deals during the session. Each participant writes their own 90 Day Action Plan before they leave. That plan is what the manager coaches against afterwards. For more on what happens when nobody coaches after training, read why sales training fails.

When should you coach, and when should you not?

Not every salesperson can be coached. Coaching needs a person who wants to improve and accepts that they have something to learn. Some salespeople resist. Some believe they already know more than the coach. Others are comfortable with their current results and see no reason to change.

Top performers often resist for a fair reason. They are being asked to change something that already works for them. Klozers interviews a team’s top performers one to one before designing a programme, and builds the programme from what they already do. Coaching then reinforces their approach instead of replacing it.

For a salesperson who does not want to improve, coaching is usually a poor use of a manager’s time. Unless there is a specific reason to continue, the manager has two choices. They can accept the effect that person has on the team’s results, or hold a direct conversation about performance. That conversation is a management task, not a coaching task, and it should be treated as one.

Coaching is most useful in four situations:

After training, when the team needs to apply something new on live deals.
When a salesperson is new to the role, the product or the market.
When one stage of the sales process is weak across the whole team.
When a large deal is at risk and the salesperson needs help to plan the next step.

One and two day sales workshops

Bespoke, measured, and built to last.

Every workshop is built from a blank page around your team’s own live deals. No slides. Every topic carries a KPI you agree up front, then track and prove afterwards.

Pre and post assessment, so you see the change

Worked on your real deals, in the room

Manager Embed Plan and calls at 30, 60 and 90 days

Delivered in person by a practitioner, not a presenter

Trusted by teams at Microsoft, Panasonic, TikTok, Bizerba, Marangoni and Lathams.

Which sales coaching model should you use?

Many sales managers use GROW, which stands for Goal, Reality, Options and Will. It is a general coaching model, not one written for sales, and Klozers coaches use it too. The coach asks the salesperson to state the goal and describe the current situation. The salesperson then lists the options and commits to what they will do.

Sales coaching differs from executive coaching in one important way. In executive coaching, the coach asks questions and the person finds their own answer. In sales, a deal has a value and a date, and both matter to the business. A good sales coach starts with questions. When a deal is at risk and the salesperson cannot see the problem, the coach becomes more directive and says what they would do.

Coaching one deal with GROW

Here is how a short GROW session on one deal might run. The goal: the salesperson wants a decision on the proposal this month. The reality: they have spoken to one contact, who says the budget is approved. Nobody else in the customer’s business has confirmed it.

The options: ask the contact to introduce the person who owns the problem, ask for a meeting with finance, or wait. The will: the salesperson writes that they will ask for the introduction on Thursday’s call and record the answer. At the next session, the manager asks what happened.

If the salesperson cannot see why one contact is a risk, the manager says so directly. Information counts when it came from the buyer, not when one contact passed it on. This is the point where sales coaching becomes more directive than executive coaching.

The model matters less than what the coaching is measured against. Two managers can use GROW well and still coach a salesperson towards two different results. Each has a different idea of what good looks like. The section on certification below explains how to remove that difference.

What can a manager coach?

Activity. What the salesperson does each week, and whether it is the right work.
Accountability. Whether they did what they committed to in the last session.
Finding new customers. Which accounts they choose, and the reason they contact each one.
Pipeline and qualification. Whether each deal meets the team’s definition of qualified.
Deal coaching. Planning the next step on one important opportunity.
Field coaching. Observing a live call or meeting, then reviewing it together.
Call planning. Agreeing the purpose of a call and the outcome the salesperson wants from it.
Call review. Comparing what happened with the plan, soon after the call.
Customer stories. Explaining another customer’s result in terms the buyer can relate to their own business.

What should a sales coaching session look like?

A coaching session is short, regular and specific. It works on one live deal or one behaviour, not on the salesperson’s whole job. The salesperson should do most of the talking.

Coach one to one

Team meetings are useful for shared information. Coaching works best one to one, because the salesperson can talk about their weaknesses without an audience. A fixed time each week or each fortnight is better than coaching only when a problem appears.

Work on a live deal

Role play has a place in training. In coaching, the salesperson’s own open opportunities are better material, because any improvement affects a real result. Ask the salesperson to bring one deal and the question they need answered.

Agree one action, written by the salesperson

End each session with one action, a date and a measure. The salesperson writes it, not the manager. A plan someone wrote themselves is a plan they will defend. At the next session, the manager holds them accountable to their own words. That is a different conversation from accountability to a course, and it removes the argument about whether the standard is fair.

Give specific praise and specific criticism

Feedback is useful only when it describes what the salesperson did. “Good call” teaches nothing. “You asked what the delay is costing them, and they gave you a number” tells the salesperson what to repeat. Criticism works the same way. Describe the moment in the call and what to do differently next time.

Coach after product training

New products and services create a specific coaching need. Salespeople learn the product, then return to describing its features. After product training, coach how the salesperson connects the product to a problem the customer has stated, in the customer’s own words.

Use your CRM to choose what to coach

Pipeline data shows where a deal stands. It does not show how the salesperson ran the last conversation. Use the CRM to choose which deal to coach, then coach the conversation. For more practical guidance on running sessions, read about structured coaching after training.

How does certification change sales coaching?

Most sales coaching has no agreed end point. The manager coaches, the salesperson improves or does not, and nobody can say with evidence what changed. Klozers runs coaching and certification as one process, the Sales Certification Programme. The coaching sessions at day 30, 60 and 90 are also where the evidence for certification is assessed.

One definition of good

Ask six managers to review the same deal and you may hear six different questions. One asks how many calls were made. Another asks whether the salesperson has met the person who signs. A third asks when the deal will close. Others ask about the proposal, whether the buyer likes the salesperson, and whether the deal is in the forecast. Each question reflects what that manager believes matters.

The salesperson then learns to satisfy each manager, instead of learning to sell better. Certification removes that problem. Managers stop coaching to personal preference and start coaching to an agreed standard.

The standard is not generic. Every Klozers programme is built around four execution topics your leadership selects, because your market, your deal sizes and your buyers are your own. The certification is written in the same way. It has two requirements for each of the four topics, plus two requirements common to every Klozers certification. That gives ten requirements, and every manager coaches against the same ten.

Requirements a manager can assess

A requirement is useful for coaching only if a manager can see it. Each Klozers requirement must be observable, tied to a checkpoint, evidenced on a live account and assessable by a manager without interpretation.

Compare two ways of writing the same requirement. “Built senior relationships” cannot be assessed. A relationship is an opinion, there is nothing in the account to point to, and two managers could reach two different answers. “Engaged the Economic Owner and recorded the outcome they are measured on” can be assessed. The Economic Owner is the person who owns the problem and the outcome, not the Economic Buyer who releases the money. Either the salesperson engaged that person and recorded the outcome in the account, or they did not.

A requirement written this way also improves the coaching conversation. The manager does not need to argue about whether the salesperson is good at senior relationships. They look at the account together and agree what is missing.

Coaching sessions at day 30, 60 and 90

After a Klozers programme, each manager receives a Manager Embed Plan. It sets out how to reinforce the behaviour, with follow-up calls at 30, 60 and 90 days. On a certification programme, those calls are also the checkpoints. At each one, the manager reviews the evidence in the salesperson’s live accounts and assesses each requirement.

Klozers designs the standard and issues the certification, but never marks a requirement as evidenced. Your manager assesses. We issue. The person with direct visibility signs, so no one assesses their own performance.

The checkpoints also help the manager. If a salesperson has stopped using what they learned, it shows at day 30 rather than in the quarterly forecast. The standard carries the difficult conversation instead of the manager. The manager also holds dated evidence for reviews and promotion decisions.

A certificate that expires

There are two certification statuses. Candidate is awarded at day 2. It confirms that the participant completed the programme and built an account plan to full depth. It lapses at day 90.

Certified is awarded at day 90, on ten requirements evidenced on live accounts and signed by the participant’s own manager. It is valid for twelve months and is renewed on evidence, not on another programme. Behaviour deteriorates under pressure, which is the reason coaching exists. A certificate that never expired would contradict that argument.

Each certificate carries a QR code linking to its own verification page, which shows the holder, status, scope and validity.

Certified Coach: a certification for the manager

In Certified Coach, “coach” means the manager who coaches. It is different from the Coach in a buying group, who is the person in a customer’s business who gives a salesperson access.

Klozers issues three certifications. Certified Practitioner is for the salesperson. Certified Organisation is awarded when certified coverage across a sales team passes and holds a defined threshold. Certified Coach is for the manager.

A manager earns Certified Coach by running a full cohort properly. That means checkpoints held, evidence assessed, honest assessment and a sample audit passed. It makes the manager’s coaching visible, not only their team’s results. For an HR or L&D leader, it answers a question that is usually hard to answer: which of our managers coach well?

How do you coach a remote sales team?

Remote selling changed what salespeople do each day, and the coaching has to change with it. The principles stay the same: one to one, on live deals, against an agreed standard. Four things differ.

Cameras on for the whole session. A manager cannot coach what they cannot see, and coaching relies on seeing how the salesperson responds.
Shorter, more frequent sessions. One topic a week has the least effect on a salesperson’s normal selling time, and it gives them time to practise between sessions.
Field coaching on video calls. With the buyer’s agreement, the manager joins a video call and reviews it with the salesperson afterwards.
A shared sales language. When people rarely meet, a written standard keeps everyone working to the same definition of good. Without one, each person develops their own.

Klozers delivers training live online as well as in person. Online, the standard one-day workshop of four 90-minute modules is split into separate sessions, delivered one or two a week. The coaching between sessions follows the same pattern.

Who coaches the sales managers?

Sales managers are the people most often left out of coaching programmes, yet they are usually the team’s coach. Most were promoted because they sold well. Few have been trained to manage a sales team, and fewer have been trained to coach.

A manager who has not been coached will coach the way they sell. That works for salespeople who sell the same way, and fails for everyone else. Before managers coach a team against a new standard, they need to understand the standard themselves and practise assessing it on real accounts.

On a Klozers programme, each manager has their own Manager Embed Plan. The Certified Coach assessment checks whether they held the checkpoints and assessed honestly. Some teams need coaching without a workshop. Sales Performance Coaching can be bought on its own and runs for a minimum of three months. The format depends on what your team needs. KPIs are agreed with you before coaching starts, and each salesperson’s manager is involved.

If your managers need a full programme built around your own team, see bespoke sales training.

What should HR and L&D leaders ask before buying sales coaching?

Sales coaching is often bought by HR or L&D on behalf of a sales team. Five questions separate coaching that can be evidenced from coaching that cannot.

What standard will the coaching be measured against, and who agrees it?
Will the coaching work on the team’s own live deals, or on case studies?
Who assesses whether the behaviour changed: the coach, or the salesperson’s own manager?
Which KPIs will be agreed before coaching starts, and how will they be tracked?
Are the managers coached as well, and is their own coaching assessed?

The third question matters most. A provider who assesses its own coaching is asking you to accept its own view of its own work. The salesperson’s manager sees the accounts every week and should be the person who assesses.

How do you measure sales coaching?

Measure behaviour first and results second. Results take longer to show, and they depend on the market and the length of your sales cycle. Behaviour shows within weeks.

Agree one KPI for each topic before the coaching starts, and make sure each KPI is something the salesperson can influence. Satisfaction scores are not evidence. Depending on what the coaching covers, the KPIs might include:

Activity on the accounts the team agreed to work on.
Conversion from one pipeline stage to the next.
Average deal value, where the coaching covers value and price.
New customers won, where the coaching covers finding new business.
Forecast accuracy, where the coaching covers qualification.
Time for a new hire to reach the expected level.

Coaching cannot guarantee any of these results. What it can do is make sure the salesperson uses what they learned, so you can see whether the training made a difference. Morale and confidence also tend to improve when salespeople know what is expected of them. They are harder to measure, so do not use them as the main evidence.

Do this on Monday

Write one requirement your managers can assess.

You need one behaviour your team is working on and twenty minutes with two managers.

Choose one behaviour you want to see more often in live deals.
Write it as one sentence that describes what a salesperson does and records in an account.
Give both managers the same three live accounts and ask each to assess the requirement separately.
If they reach different answers, rewrite the sentence until they agree. That sentence is the start of your coaching standard.

Common questions about sales coaching

What is the difference between sales coaching and sales mentoring?

Mentoring is guidance from a more experienced person about a career or a role, often from someone outside the reporting line. Sales coaching works on specific behaviours in live deals. It is usually done by the salesperson’s own manager, against an agreed standard.

How often should a sales manager coach each salesperson?

There is no single right number. A fixed session each week or each fortnight suits most teams, with extra time on large deals. On a Klozers certification programme, the checkpoints at day 30, 60 and 90 are fixed, and the manager coaches between them.

Should sales coaching be done by managers or by external coaches?

Both have a place. An external coach brings experience the team may not have. The manager sees the salesperson’s accounts every week, so the manager should assess them. That is why the manager signs each certification requirement, and Klozers does not.

Can sales coaching be done online?

Yes. Keep cameras on for the whole session and keep sessions short and frequent. Coach against a written standard, so remote salespeople and managers work to the same definition of good.

What does sales coaching certification prove?

A Klozers certification proves that a salesperson met ten agreed requirements on live accounts, assessed by their own manager at day 30, 60 and 90. Certified Coach proves that the manager held the checkpoints and assessed the evidence honestly.

CEO Coaching – Moving from Surviving to Thriving

by Iain Swanston

10 Best Practices of Effective Sales Coaching

by Iain Swanston

Sales coaching and embedding

Effective Sales Coaching: How to Reinforce Better Sales Behaviours

Effective coaching is not another pipeline meeting. It helps salespeople develop against clear standards, using evidence from their actual work.

By Klozers, Sales leadership and development

Updated 17 October 2026

In short

Effective sales coaching is a structured development conversation that helps a salesperson improve an observable behaviour against an agreed sales standard. The manager first establishes what happened, then supports practice, application and follow-up. Inspection establishes whether the standard is met; coaching helps the salesperson develop the capability to meet it.

Standards establish the expectation. Coaching develops the behaviour. Training provides knowledge and practice.

What makes sales coaching effective?

A sales manager can spend an hour reviewing a forecast without coaching anyone. A forecast conversation may identify a delayed deal, but it does not necessarily reveal the selling behaviour behind that delay. Effective coaching looks at something the salesperson did, or could have done, and identifies a specific improvement.

That distinction matters to HR and L&D leaders who need to understand what happens after training, and to Sales Directors responsible for how consistently the team executes. The Economic Buyer may approve a development investment; the Economic Owner is responsible for the operational outcome. Those responsibilities should not be confused.

Start with standards, not opinions

The starting point is an agreed definition of acceptable selling behaviour. Without it, different managers may reward different actions or coach according to personal preference. A standard should describe something observable and capable of consistent inspection, rather than an aspiration such as “build stronger relationships”.

Klozers distinguishes three functions: sales training builds knowledge; sales coaching supports development; sales standards define what is acceptable. This distinction is documented in its Sales Standards manager workbook. Standards apply across tenure and performance levels; coaching responds to the development need revealed by observation.

Organisations should first examine their own successful selling practices and commercial priorities. They can then agree a limited number of relevant standards. The point is not to import a generic methodology or to make every conversation identical. It is to make important expectations clear and assessable.

Coaching is not the same as standards inspection

Inspection asks whether a behaviour met the standard. Coaching explores how the salesperson can improve. The two activities are related, but combining them without distinction creates confusion. A manager may need to address a repeated standards breach rather than treat it as an optional development topic.

For example, a manager might establish whether a salesperson has a credible, buyer-validated value hypothesis. That is an inspection question. If the evidence is absent because the salesperson struggles to ask commercial questions, coaching can focus on practising those questions. If the person knows how to do it but repeatedly chooses not to, the response may require accountability rather than further instruction.

The Klozers Sales Standards workbook uses a dedicated manager inspection routine and explicitly says that it is not a pipeline review or a coaching session. Its detailed rules were designed for a specific engagement and should not be treated as a universal coaching script.

Ten principles of effective sales coaching

1. Agree what good looks like

Use a defined behaviour or standard. “Improve discovery” is too broad to inspect; an agreed requirement to establish the buyer’s commercial impact gives the manager something observable.

2. Work from evidence

Use a recorded conversation, a documented customer interaction, a deal artefact or direct observation. Avoid judging capability solely from confidence, activity levels or a manager’s impression.

3. Separate skill from accountability

Establish whether the salesperson needs knowledge, practice or a clear management expectation. More coaching will not resolve every repeated failure to apply an understood standard.

4. Ask before advising

Invite the salesperson to explain the decision they made and the evidence behind it. Questions reveal whether they understand the situation before the manager suggests alternatives.

5. Focus on one useful improvement

Trying to correct every part of a customer conversation can make the next action unclear. Select the behaviour most relevant to the agreed standard and the salesperson’s current work.

6. Practise the behaviour

Explanation is not the same as application. Rehearse a difficult question, a value discussion or another relevant part of the salesperson’s work, then discuss what changed.

7. Agree a real application

Connect the practice to a suitable live opportunity or upcoming customer interaction. The salesperson should know where the improvement will be applied.

8. Follow up consistently

Review whether the behaviour was demonstrated after the conversation. A fortnightly coaching meeting may suit one team, but the cadence should reflect the work and the management capacity available.

9. Record the development action

Keep an appropriate record of the behaviour, agreed action and review point. This is a coaching record, not a substitute for the organisation’s separate standards inspection.

10. Develop the managers too

Managers need consistent expectations, observation skills and the confidence to challenge behaviour constructively. Without this, the quality of coaching varies by manager.

How to structure a productive coaching conversation

Begin with the agreed behaviour and a specific example. Ask the salesperson to describe what they intended, what happened and what evidence supports their view. Explore an alternative approach, practise it where useful and agree when it will be applied. At the next appropriate opportunity, review the evidence together.

This is an editorial description of a coaching conversation, not a named Klozers proprietary process. The exact questions and format should reflect the sales activity, the person’s experience and the standards in force.

How to measure whether coaching is working

Start with evidence that the targeted behaviour is being applied. Managers can examine the quality of relevant customer conversations, whether agreed actions occurred and whether standards are met consistently. Commercial measures, such as opportunity progression or conversion, provide additional context but can be affected by factors outside coaching.

INFERRED: An improvement following coaching may be consistent with coaching having helped, but it does not independently prove causation. Avoid promising a particular revenue or retention outcome without appropriate evidence.

How sales certification reinforces coaching and accountability

Coaching conversations can lose their effect when no one checks what happens afterwards. The Klozers Sales Certification Programme provides a defined accountability mechanism connected to live selling activity. It is not an attendance certificate issued simply because someone completed training.

According to the programme specification, the salesperson’s certification is based on ten observable execution requirements: leadership selects four relevant topics, with two requirements for each, plus two common requirements. Evidence comes from live accounts and is assessed by the participant’s own manager at Day 30, Day 60 and Day 90. Klozers issues the certification rather than assessing its own delivery.

The programme also distinguishes a temporary Candidate status from Certified status earned after the evidence period. Certified status is valid for 12 months, with renewal based on evidence. A separate Certified Coach designation recognises managers who conduct the required checkpoints and assessments and pass a sample audit.

This is where certification supports effective coaching: standards are explicit, managers have a reason to inspect application, and salespeople must demonstrate the agreed behaviour in their work. Certification supplies accountability; it does not replace the manager’s coaching or guarantee a particular commercial result.

See B2B sales training with certification for the related programme topic. Publication check: the certification-specific commercial URL should be verified before publishing this link.

Reinforce coaching after the training event

Training provides opportunities to build knowledge and practise skills. When salespeople return to customer work, managers need to observe whether those skills are applied. Standards make expectations explicit, coaching supports development, and certification can create an evidence-based review period.

For a wider view of how this fits a sales development programme, see sales coaching, coaching sales behaviours and bespoke sales training. The right design starts with the team’s existing strengths, agreed commercial priorities and the behaviours that need to change.

The certification programme specifies manager assessment at Days 30, 60 and 90 using evidence from live accounts. The graphic shows checkpoints, not measured results.

Key takeaways

Agree observable standards before coaching against them.
Distinguish inspection, development and accountability.
Practise one useful improvement and review application in live work.
Use certification to evidence behaviour over time, not simply attendance.

Discuss your sales team

Make coaching part of the way your team sells

Discuss how agreed standards, manager development and evidence-based certification could support your sales training programme.

How to use the GROW Sales Coaching Model

by Iain Swanston

Bespoke Sales Training

Sales Simulation

Not sure which fits?

Best B2B Sales Coaching Services

Key takeaways

What are the best B2B sales coaching services?

What types of B2B sales coaching service are there?

One-to-one sessions with an outside coach

Group coaching sessions

Training managers to coach

Call recording and scoring software

Coaching attached to a training programme

Why does coaching stop working when the coach leaves?

What should a coaching service leave your managers able to do?

A plan the salesperson wrote

One written action on every live deal

A measure agreed before the coaching starts

An end date, and a handover to the managers

How do you choose a B2B sales coaching service?

When is an external sales coach the right choice?

How does Klozers coach salespeople?

Common questions about B2B sales coaching services

Sales Coach - Top Question from Google

What is a Sales Coach?

In this article we will cover...

There’s a new way to deliver sales growth…

1. What are the benefits of sales coaching?

2. The business case for sales coaching

3. Individual sales coaching vs Group sales coaching

4. How do I create a sales coaching programme

5. How do you coach a sales person?

6. What are the best sales coaching techniques?

7. Examples of sales coaching questions

8. What skills does a sales coach require?

9. Does a sales manager need a sales coach?

10. What role should sales leadership play in sales coaching?

11. What's the difference between sales coaching and sales training?

12. Do I need a background in sales to be a sales coach?

Coaching Sales Behaviours – Top question from Google

How do you coach a sales person?

How do you coach an underperforming sales person?

What is the key to coaching a successful sales team?

Sales coaching techniques

Sales coaching models

Sales Performance Coaching

How do you coach a Sales Manager? – Top question from Google

How do you coach a Sales Manager? – the short answer

Coaching Sales Leaders – here’s a more detailed look at what you can do to support your sales leaders.

1. What are the business benefits of sales coaching?

2. How do you coach effectively in sales?

3. What is the key to coaching a successful sales team?

4. What does good sales coaching look like?

5. What challenges do you face when coaching salespeople?

6. The Impact of Coaching on Sales Performance

7. Talk to us

Sales Coaching

Key takeaways

What is sales coaching?

Why invest in sales coaching?

What is the difference between sales training and sales coaching?

When should you coach, and when should you not?

Which sales coaching model should you use?

Coaching one deal with GROW

What can a manager coach?

What should a sales coaching session look like?

Coach one to one

Work on a live deal

Agree one action, written by the salesperson

Give specific praise and specific criticism

Coach after product training

Use your CRM to choose what to coach

How does certification change sales coaching?

One definition of good

Requirements a manager can assess

Coaching sessions at day 30, 60 and 90

A certificate that expires

Certified Coach: a certification for the manager

How do you coach a remote sales team?

Who coaches the sales managers?

What should HR and L&D leaders ask before buying sales coaching?