B2B Sales coaching services - Top Question FRom Google
What do I look for in B2B Sales Coaching Services?
When choosing a B2B sales coaching service, prioritize proven expertise, a tailored approach and, a focus on practical application. Look for a coach with experience in your specific industry and sales cycle, who offers a customized coaching plan and uses a mix of learning formats to keep reps engaged and improve performance.
Introduction to Best B2B Sales Coaching Services to Boost Your Team’s Performance
Sales professionals are struggling to sell, especially across digital channels. As many as four in ten sales professionals believe they lack the necessary coaching and training to sell virtually. This figure takes on an even greater significance, considering Gartner expects 80% of B2B sales to happen virtually by 2025.
As a B2B organization, upskilling your sales workforce to meet the changing demands of the B2B sales space is of paramount importance, and sales coaching is a vital tool for achieving this. But what exactly is sales coaching? What are the best B2B sales coaching professional services? How can you choose one for your sales team? We answer these questions and more in this B2B sales coaching guide.
What is B2B Sales Coaching?
B2B sales coaching is a highly personalized guidance that seeks to improve an agent’s overall B2B selling skills. It is a combination of individualized sales training, regular feedback, and iterative refinement.
For example, the coaching required for sales agents who spend too much time on smaller deals is different from that required for agents who struggle with client retention.
B2B sales coaching is iterative in nature and occurs at regular intervals, such as daily and weekly, rather than every few weeks or monthly.
The idea behind sales coaching is to have a well-equipped and total sales force ready for the challenges of modern-day B2B sales, especially those involving virtual selling.
It’s beyond coaching employees to make a sale, but equipping them for the long term and making them adaptable to any situation.
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Essential Features of Effective B2B Sales Coaching Services
Every successful B2B sales coaching has the following essential features:
Built on sound sales audit
Effective B2B sales coaching is predicated on a comprehensive assessment of the overall and individual sales performance. This allows you to pinpoint the exact area that requires attention and its order of priority.
These sales audits must dig deeper than popular metrics, such as gross revenue, aggregate sales funnel metrics, and revenue per sales rep, to gain more nuanced insights.
Furthermore, the audits must consider the present B2B business and competitive space, emerging technologies, and new frameworks and proven methodologies.
Consider other metrics, such as closing rates per representative, sales cycle time per sales representative, customer face time, or the number of appointments made, to assess individual sales agents, depending on the depth of reliable data available.
Have clear sales development frameworks
After identifying areas for sales performance improvement based on the insights gained, the next step is to develop a strategic coaching framework that addresses these needs.
A clear sales development framework has the following components:
- SMART (Specifics, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals aligned with business outcomes
- Structured learning progress, e.g., how often sales reps meet with their sales coaches and the best sales training courses for each identified area of improvement
- Data-driven insights to track the progress of sales reps and measure the impact of coaching on business outcomes
- Ongoing reinforcement
- The right tools to adopt
- Process for giving and receiving feedback
Is Iterative and Continues to Evolve
Sales coaching cannot afford to be static. This means that you must periodically conduct sales audits to update or totally revamp your sales strategy, development framework, and sales training programs.
4 best B2B Sales Coaching Services
There are thousands of B2B sales organizations offering different kinds of B2B coaching programs, but here are our top 4 picks:
1. Klozers
Klozers is a leading provider of sales coaching solutions for B2B companies. Klozers delivers practical, hands-on strategies.
While our coaching programs have an overarching theme, the training itself is highly customized and tailored to each client’s unique needs.
Key features
At Klozers, our emphasis is on empowering sales reps to do and reflect. We minimize class time while maximizing work and coaching time, teaching sales reps the HOW with real-world experiences.
We believe that 90% of learning comes from doing and reflecting through active mentorship, feedback loops, sales projects and tasks, assignments, and real-world experiences.
We also use a powerful goal-setting tool, called OKRs, to define the objectives of the coaching. This ties the impact of the coaching to business outcomes and sustainable growth.
Delivery methods
- Live online delivery
- In-person delivery
Coaching programs offered
The coaching programs offered by Klozers include:
- Executive Sales Coaching to help sales leaders with strategy, planning, and execution.
- Inbound lead generation to teach sales leaders how to create a system that consistently generates new, qualified sales leads.
- Outbound lead generation to help sales teams build a pipeline that’s always filled.
2. RAIN Group
RAIN Group is one of the top sales coaching programs for businesses. Its sales coaching offerings are primarily geared at equipping sales leaders with new skills required to become excellent sales coaches themselves.
Key features
The major feature of RAIN Group’s offerings is the use of portable learning modules that can be adapted to any business context. Some of these modules include Becoming a Top-Performing Sales Coach and Managing and Coaching for Accountability.
Delivery methods
- On-site instructor-led training
- Virtual instructor-led training
- Hybrid training
- Self-study
Coaching programs offered
- Individual Coaching
- Group Coaching
- Deal Coaching
- Account Manager Coaching
- Coach the Coach
- Coaching for Action and Accountability
3. Winning by Design
Winning By Design is a B2B revenue consulting firm with B2B sales coaching tailored for recurring revenue businesses.
In addition to training and coaching sales reps, it also specializes in helping revenue teams diagnose revenue problems, design revenue engines, and activate sales workflows.
Key features
Winning by Design offers its B2B sales coaching via its Skills Coaching program. Users can choose between 20 skills to specialize in and receive active coaching. Another feature of the program is that sales reps get to work with real-life scenarios and complex deals.
Delivery methods
- Live and online blended learning
Coaching programs
- Objection handling
- How to Demo
- Account research
- Storytelling
- Uncovering critical events
4. Funnel Clarity
Funnel Clarity provides B2B sales coaching services for startups. This sales organization offers coaching for both individuals and teams and prides itself on disruptive sales tactics.
Key features
A major highlight of the coaching program at Funnel Clarity is the three-step process.
This process involves first evaluating your current sales process, then designing a coaching strategy to support activities that can enhance sales performance, and finally, training sales managers to become coaches, enabling them to provide on-demand support and sales coaching for B2B teams.
Delivery methods
- Live and online blended learning
Coaching programs
- Coach-the-Coach to provide comprehensive lessons to turn sales leaders into effective sales coaches.
- Outsource Your Coaching provides one-on-one coaching for sales representatives, allowing sales leaders to focus on their other core responsibilities.
- Consultative selling
ACTIONABLE TIP
Book a Structured Discovery Call
Before Signing any Contract or paying for any B2B Sales Coaching services book a discovery call.
A good B2B sales coach will treat the discovery call like they would a client’s sales meeting: asking sharp, relevant questions to uncover your team’s challenges, goals, and current sales metrics. Pay attention to whether they dig deeper than surface-level problems, tailor their suggestions in real time, and clearly outline next steps. If the discovery call feels generic, the coaching probably will too.
B2B Sales Coaching Methods
When it comes to sales coaching, various methods are available, each suited to different contexts and needs. Here’s a breakdown of the likely methods you’ll come across:
1. One-on-one coaching
This is the most individualized form of B2B sales coaching for sales representatives to up their sales performance. It involves a series of dedicated sessions between a sales manager or an external B2B sales coach and an individual sales agent.
These sessions are typically scheduled weekly or bi-weekly and tailored towards the following:
- The sales agent’s audited sales performance
- Skills gap
- Specific challenges or current needs (like transitioning to a new framework or practical tools)
- Career aspirations
2. Team coaching or group sessions
These coaching sessions are tailored for your entire sales team or a group of sales representatives, such as GTM teams, account executives, or managers.
The focus of corporate sales training for teams is typically on:
- Common challenges
- Shared learning
- Collaborative problem-solving
- Build relationships and team cohesion
- Role-playing exercises
- Improving team performance
Group sessions do not negate the need for individual 1-on-1 sessions; rather, they are complementary. These sessions are also ideal for establishing consistency and standardizing processes.
3. Deal-specific coaching
This is a highly targeted form of 1-on-coaching built around live, active sales opportunities. Deal-specific coaching provides sales reps with real-time guidance to help them close deals with specific customers.
For instance, a coach has been working with a sales representative to enhance their performance on larger deal sizes. When a potentially larger deal enters the pipeline, the coach collaborates with the representative to secure the sale and shorten the sales cycle.
The focus areas of this method include:
- Pre-call planning
- Post-call debrief
- Objection strategy
- Negotiation tactics
4. Ad-hoc sales coaching
Effective B2B sales coaching must also leave room for spontaneous coaching opportunities. These are less structured coaching sessions that address immediate needs that arise from daily operational challenges.
Benefits of B2B sales coaching
The major benefits of B2B sales coaching include:
Improved sales performance (individually and collectively)
Effective coaching transforms collective and individual weaknesses into strengths, closing loopholes that were previously torpedoing opportunities.
Consequently, your reps can close more deals, increase average deal size, shorten the sales cycle, and drive growth.
Promotes accountability and creates a two-way feedback structure
One of the things we discussed earlier was creating SMART goals for your sales development framework. By doing so, reps have clear expectations and measurable goals.
Coaches can then keep them accountable, ensuring that deals do not slip through the pipeline.
Coaching also fosters a culture of feedback, where reps can freely share their current challenges in a timely manner and provide feedback on sales processes and coaching effectiveness.
Attracts top talent and improves retention
High-end B2B sales professionals will always prioritize businesses that align with their ambitions and growth mindset. Having a successful and effective coaching system is one way to attract top B2B talent.
Beyond getting them through the door, you must also work hard to retain them. Thankfully, sales reps who receive coaching are highly engaged, and per McKinsey, engaged workers with a sense of purpose become top performers and are more likely to be loyal.
Investments in personal growth boost job satisfaction and also mean that word of mouth will spread, indicating that your organization is an excellent place for salespeople.
Highly-relevant learning
Effective B2B sales coaching utilizes an audit to identify areas of focus, ensuring that the learning is directly relevant to each representative’s daily activities and unique challenges.
B2B sales also places a lot of emphasis on the “how,” delivering practical, applicable knowledge that can improve how reps and managers approve all sales interactions.
Timeliness in addressing issues
Making sales coaching an ongoing ritual will help your team identify emerging skills gaps more quickly and deals that are at risk of slippage through regular check-ins and call reviews that coaching champions.
How to Choose the Right B2B Sales Coaching Services
The steps outlined below can help you select the ideal B2B sales coaching services tailored to your specific needs.
- Analyze current performance and recognize skills gaps
- Survey your sales team to understand their current struggles
- Define clear coaching objectives aligned with your sales and revenue goals
- Identify reputable providers like Klozers and review their case studies, specializations, and coaching expertise and experience
- Make a shortlist of 3 providers that best align with your learning objectives
- Evaluate their coaching methodologies and frameworks. This step may require scheduling a consultation with the shortlisted providers.
- Secure internal buy-in
- Run a pilot program
- Implement at full scale if the pilot program was successful
Takeaway: B2B sales coaching is a strategic imperative to remain competitive
B2B sales coaching can be the difference between having a static sales force struggling under the weight of shifting buyer dynamics and an adaptable, high-performing sales team.
Coaching is where training and all the theories are honed into new skills and changed behavior.
Ultimately, B2B sales coaching ensures that your sales team remains agile and equipped with the relevant skills to close more deals and effectively address challenges as they emerge.
If you’re on the hunt for world-class B2B sales coaching companies, look no further than Klozers. Explore Klozers’ range of modern sales coaching programs today.
FAQ’s
Here are answers to additional questions you may have regarding B2B sales coaching and sales in general:
How is sales coaching different from sales training?
The best way to explain the difference is that sales training is more content-based, while coaching is a more hands-on, practical demonstration of the various skills required to sell more effectively. Coaching may involve some form of training.
What are the responsibilities of a sales coach?
A sales coach teaches, provides ongoing feedback, shadows, motivates, and offers guidance on navigating challenging and complex deals.
How does B2B sales coaching differ from B2C sales coaching?
B2B and B2C are inherently different and thus require tailored coaching approaches. The major difference is in the focus areas. B2C sales coaching focuses more on speed and triggering emotions, while B2B emphasizes patience (not slowness) and appealing to logic and ROI.
What is an example of B2B sales coaching?
An example of business-to-business sales coaching is helping an account executive struggling to get prospects to share their core business pains and needs during discovery calls. B2B sales coaching will help iron out this wrinkle through multiple approaches, such as reviewing recent calls together, encouraging self-reflection through targeted questions, introducing relevant frameworks like SPIN selling, and more.
How can you enhance your sales performance?
Ongoing training and coaching that address glaring collective and individual needs and weaknesses can enhance sales performance.
What does the 10-3-1 sales rule refer to?
The 10-3-1 rule says that for every 10 qualified prospects in your pipeline, at least three must turn into booked appointments, and one must be a closed sale.
What does a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) in sales involve?
A PIP is essentially a roadmap that sales managers or leaders create for a sales representative whose performance metrics and numbers aren’t quite meeting the mark. It typically consists of the skills gaps, the specific areas of poor performance, and future expectations.
What key performance indicators are used to measure sales success?
Some key performance indicators to measure sales success include client acquisition rate (CAR), deals won, sales volume, meeting acceptance rate, deal win-loss ratio, and average deal size.
Is investing in a sales coach a worthwhile decision?
Sales coaching can improve a sales representative’s performance by 19%. In addition to its direct impact on sales performance, sales coaching also offers other indirect benefits, such as talent attraction and retention, as well as proactive management of emerging challenges.
