Why Coaching Matters More Than Anything Else You Do
Here’s the uncomfortable truth most sales managers learn too late: coaching is the highest-leverage activity you’ll do all week, yet it’s the first thing that gets dropped when calendars fill up.
Think about it. When was the last time a status report improved a rep’s performance? When did attending another cross-functional meeting increase your team’s conversion rate? It didn’t. But a single 30-minute call review session can fundamentally change how an SDR approaches their next hundred conversations.
The numbers back this up. Great coaching improves individual performance by 10-20%, develops skills that compound over time, dramatically increases retention (because people stay where they grow), builds team culture organically, and scales institutional knowledge across your entire team.
Compare that to other manager activities. Reporting has low impact but eats high amounts of time. Most meetings deliver medium impact for high time investment. Admin work is low impact, medium time. But coaching? High impact for medium time investment. The math isn’t even close.
The Coaching Cycle That Actually Works
Effective coaching follows a consistent pattern: observe, diagnose, provide feedback, practice, and reinforce. Let’s break down what each stage looks like in practice.
First, you observe. This means listening to actual calls, reviewing email threads, and watching behavior in real-time. Not just glancing at reports, but deeply immersing yourself in what your reps are actually doing on the ground.
Next comes diagnosis. You’re looking for patterns. Is this rep always getting cut off in the first 10 seconds? Do they consistently fail to dig deeper when prospects give surface-level answers? Are they making the same mistake repeatedly, or is this a one-off? Finding the root cause matters more than treating symptoms.
Then you deliver feedback using specific observations. Not “your calls need work” but “when you asked about budget, you cut them off before they finished answering, which meant you missed their real concern about ROI timelines.” See the difference?
Practice comes next. This is where role play matters. You don’t just tell someone how to handle an objection better, you have them practice the new approach until it feels natural. Then they apply it in real situations.
Finally, you reinforce. When you see improvement, you recognize it immediately and specifically. You continue monitoring to ensure standards stick. You make excellence the new baseline.
Principles That Separate Good Coaches from Great Ones
The best coaches focus on one skill at a time. Telling a rep to work on their opener, their questions, and their close all at once guarantees they’ll improve at none of them. Instead, say “this week, let’s focus just on your opener.” Watch what happens when they channel all their attention into mastering one thing.
Great coaches are specific. “Your calls need work” teaches nothing. “When you asked about budget, you cut them off before they finished answering” gives them something concrete to change. Vague feedback creates vague improvement.
They ask rather than tell. Instead of “you should have asked about timeline,” try “what might you have learned if you’d asked about their timeline?” This approach develops thinking skills, not just scripted responses. You want reps who can adapt, not robots who follow instructions.
Focus on behavior, not the person. “You’re not a good listener” attacks their identity. “I noticed you interrupted several times” describes observable actions they can change. This distinction matters more than you think.
How to Coach Calls Without Destroying Morale
Let’s talk about call coaching because this is where most managers either excel or completely bomb.
Your weekly call review should follow a simple pattern. Either the rep selects a call to review or you choose one. Listen together if you can, or pre-listen if your schedule demands it. Pause at key moments. Ask reflective questions. Practice alternative approaches together. End with clear action items.
When you’re listening, pay attention to specific moments. During the opener, did they ask permission to continue? Was the intro clear and confident? Did they state a clear reason for the call? Did they earn more time, or did the prospect want to escape immediately?
In discovery, watch for open questions versus leading ones. Did they actually listen, or talk over the prospect? When they got an answer, did they dig deeper or move on too quickly? Do they understand the real problem, or just the surface symptoms?
For value delivery, ask yourself whether the value prop was clear. Did it connect to the specific problem this prospect just described? Was the proof relevant to their situation, or generic?
During objection handling, did they acknowledge the concern or immediately go into defense mode? Did they probe to understand what’s really behind the objection? Was their response relevant? Did they attempt to move forward afterward, or just accept defeat?
At the close, was there a clear ask? Was it specific with actual times and dates? How did they handle resistance when it came up?
The Questions That Unlock Better Coaching Conversations
The right questions make average coaching sessions great. Start with reflection: “What did you think went well on that call?” “If you could do one thing differently, what would it be?” “What do you think they were really concerned about?” “How might you have handled that moment differently?”
Teaching questions go deeper: “What might have happened if you’d asked that question?” “How do you think they felt when you responded that way?” “What were you trying to accomplish at that moment?” “What would Sarah (your top performer) do in that situation?”
Notice how these questions force the rep to think, not just absorb your wisdom. You’re developing their coaching instincts so eventually they can coach themselves.
Role Play Without the Awkwardness
Most reps hate role play because it’s awkward and feels fake. The secret is structure and realism.
Set the scene in detail: “You’re calling a VP of Sales who just raised Series B funding. They’re busy, growing fast, and I’ll give you realistic objections based on what we typically hear.”
Play it out for 3-5 minutes. Actually give realistic resistance. Don’t make it too easy or impossibly hard.
Pause when needed: “Let’s stop here. What could you try?” This converts practice into learning.
Debrief for about 5 minutes afterward: “What worked? What didn’t? Let’s try that part again with the adjustment.”
Repeat if needed, incorporating the feedback immediately while it’s fresh.
Run role plays after identifying a skill gap, before important calls, when learning new skills, and regularly for maintenance. Top performers practice more than struggling reps, not less.
Feedback Frameworks That Work
The SBI model (Situation-Behavior-Impact) gives you a simple structure. “On your call with ABC Corp this morning (situation), you interrupted when they were explaining their timeline (behavior), which meant you missed key information about their decision process (impact).”
Try feed-forward instead of dwelling on what went wrong. “Next time, try asking ‘what else?’ after they give you their first answer.” This focuses energy on improvement, not regret.
When giving praise, be just as specific as when coaching gaps. Not “good job today!” but “I loved how you handled that budget objection. The way you reframed it as investment rather than cost really resonated with them. Do more of that.”
Let Data Tell You What to Coach
Your gut instinct matters, but data shows you what’s really happening. Look at conversion funnels to diagnose where reps are struggling.
For example, if Rep A makes 100 calls, gets 12 connects, has 10 conversations, and books 2 meetings (17% meeting rate), while Rep B makes 100 calls, gets 12 connects, has 8 conversations, and books 3 meetings (25% meeting rate), the data tells a clear story. Rep B is better at converting conversations to meetings. Rep A needs conversation-to-meeting coaching specifically.
Compare individual performance to benchmarks. If a rep has a 10% connect rate (good), 4% email reply rate (below the 8% benchmark), and 2% meeting rate (good), you know exactly where to focus: email messaging.
Different metric gaps suggest different skill issues. Low connects usually mean timing or data quality problems. Low conversation rates point to opener and confidence issues. Low meeting rates indicate discovery or value prop gaps. Low show rates suggest confirmation and urgency building needs work. Low SQL rates mean qualification needs improvement.
How to Structure 1:1s That Drive Growth
Your weekly 30-minute one-on-one should follow a rhythm. Spend 5 minutes on check-in: “How are you doing, really? How’s your energy and motivation?” This isn’t small talk; burnout shows up here first.
Use 10 minutes to review: “Numbers versus goal. What worked this week? What challenges came up?” Let them tell you what they’re seeing.
Dedicate 10 minutes to development: “Let’s focus on that discovery skill we talked about. Want to role play a scenario?” This is where real growth happens.
End with 5 minutes of planning: “What’s your focus for next week? What support do you need? Let’s confirm action items.”
The questions you ask matter. Open with “How’s it going, really?” and “What’s got your attention this week?” Review with “What wins can we celebrate?” and “Where did you struggle?” Develop with “What skill do you want to improve?” and “How can I support you better?” Plan with “What’s your focus for next week?” and “What obstacles might get in the way?”
Coaching Different Performance Levels
Top performers need autonomy, stretch goals, and leadership development opportunities. Ask them to coach others. Focus on career development. The biggest mistake managers make? Neglecting their best reps because they “don’t need help.” Everyone needs coaching, just different kinds.
Middle performers need you to identify the one lever that will move them to the top tier. Give them regular, consistent coaching. Show them a clear path upward. Celebrate incremental wins to build confidence. The mistake here is one-size-fits-all coaching. Personalize it.
Underperformers require a different approach. First, diagnose whether this is skill, will, or fit. You can coach skill. Will requires motivation conversations. Fit might mean they’re in the wrong role. Give intensive, focused coaching on one specific gap. Set clear expectations with timelines. Do daily check-ins. Document everything. If there’s no improvement in 30-60 days, have the hard conversation. The biggest mistake? Avoiding hard conversations until the situation is unsalvageable.
Building a Culture Where Coaching Thrives
Coaching works best when it’s normal, not an event that happens when someone’s in trouble. Make it standard by scheduling protected coaching time, making call reviews expected (not punishment), celebrating practice, giving continuous feedback, and encouraging learning from mistakes.
Enable peer coaching through buddy systems for new reps, call sharing and feedback sessions, best practice presentations, and role play partnerships. The best teams coach each other.
Recognize improvement, not just results. Give “most improved” awards. Share call-of-the-week recognition. Celebrate coaching wins publicly. When reps see skill development get rewarded, they invest in getting better.
The Mistakes That Kill Coaching Programs
Not dedicating enough time is mistake number one. Coaching gets deprioritized when calendars fill up. The fix? Block and protect coaching time like you would any other critical meeting. It’s not optional.
Overwhelming reps with too many focus areas at once guarantees mediocre results across the board. Stick to one skill at a time.
Lecturing instead of developing kills engagement. If you’re doing all the talking and none of the asking, you’re training, not coaching. Ask questions that guide reps to answers.
Generic feedback like “you need to improve your calls” teaches nothing. Be specific about observable behaviors and their impact.
Inconsistency undermines everything. Coaching only when convenient trains reps not to take it seriously. Maintain a regular cadence no matter what.
Key Takeaways
Coaching isn’t just another manager responsibility. It’s the primary way you multiply your impact across your entire team. The time you invest in coaching compounds over time in ways that no other activity can match.
Remember these fundamentals: coaching drives more improvement than training ever will. Focus relentlessly on one skill at a time rather than trying to fix everything at once. Use call recordings and performance data to diagnose what’s really happening, not what you think is happening. Ask questions rather than giving answers to develop thinking skills, not just compliance. Regular, consistent practice compounds skill growth exponentially.
The best managers are the best coaches. Not the best strategists, not the best salespeople, the best coaches. Because great coaching creates great teams, and great teams win consistently.
Ready to Build World-Class Coaching Capability?
We’ve trained hundreds of managers to coach high-performing SDR teams. If you want better development outcomes and a team that grows month over month, book a call with our team. We’ll show you exactly how to build coaching systems that scale.