Training and Coaching

How to leverage sales coaching tools for improved enablement

By Seismic — On 1 March 2024

Plain and simple, the best sales coaching empowers teams to win.

Summary

In an ever-evolving environment, investments like sales coaching are becoming more important for organizations. After all, you want your sales team to operate like a well-oiled machine, which only works if every seller has the skills needed to engage with buyers and close deals. Sales coaching builds on the knowledge that sellers have to refine skills, reinforce best practices, and close skill gaps. In this article, we’ll take a look at how organizations can leverage sales coaching tools to provide coaching that’s continuous, personalized, and scalable.

Frontline, revenue-facing teams work in a more competitive, fast-paced, and complex environment than ever. However, it still seems like most organizations struggle to invest in coaching that actually moves the performance needle. In fact, Seismic’s Value of Enablement Report found that 45% of companies don’t offer coaching on an ongoing basis.

Why does this all matter? Because over 75% of employees actually want coaching in the workplace. Additionally, more than 80% of respondents surveyed for The Value of Enablement Report noted that more coaching would help them meet their goals and close more deals.

Despite the benefits of coaching, the majority of sales leaders spend less than 5% of their time coaching sellers. When asked why this is the case, many leaders noted that they don’t have the tools to make the process efficient and scalable — but that can all change with the power of sales coaching tools.

Frontline, revenue-facing teams work in a more competitive, fast-paced, and complex environment than ever. However, it still seems like most organizations struggle to invest in coaching that actually moves the performance needle. In fact, most managers spend less than 5% of their time coaching their team.

Why does this all matter? Because over 75% of employees desperately want coaching in the workplace. When revenue leaders deliver personalized coaching to each and every one of their reps, their team sees amazing results. We believe it’s time for leaders to challenge the status quo and take coaching to the next level.

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Did you know?

80%of sellers believe more coaching would help them meet their goals and close more deals.

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What are sales coaching tools?

A sales coaching tool helps leaders deliver ongoing coaching and personalized feedback to frontline reps. This type of sales enablement platform streamlines the coaching process and makes it easy for sales coaches to assess skills, create tailored coaching plans, deliver feedback, and provide additional training and resources. With a sales coaching platform, sales leaders have everything they need to help sellers grow their skills, work more efficiently, and become better at their jobs.

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Important sales coaching tool features

GTM leaders often struggle to deliver sales coaching because of complex processes, as well as the number of people involved. Communication, clarity, individualized planning, and staying up-to-date are nearly impossible if you rely on a manual coaching process. Now with a sales coaching solution, organizations can automate the process and provide coaching in real-time. To better understand how exactly a sales coaching system works, let’s dive into some key features to look for.

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Skill assessments

Before coaching can take place, sales leaders need to assess their reps’ skill sets. The best sales coaching tools give managers and sellers the ability to assess and rate skills to uncover opportunities for additional development.

Practice abilities

Once reps receive coaching, they need to practice applying that feedback to ensure their skills and knowledge are improving. Coaching solutions support practice and role-play so everything is stored in a central location for easier review and faster feedback.

Call and meeting recording

Sales coaching tools also allow teams to embed videos or record calls with buyers directly within the platform. Leaders can quickly access and review these interactions ahead of coaching sessions instead of jumping from tool to tool.

Live and on-demand coaching

Sellers should be able to receive consistent coaching from virtually anywhere. Sales coaching platforms enable leaders to provide coaching to sellers in a hybrid, remote, or in-person setting.

AI analysis and feedback

Sales coaching tools that feature AI can identify patterns and trends from call recordings. Then, it can provide real-time feedback that helps sellers refine their approaches and skills.

Insights and analytics

Coaching platforms also automatically track skill levels and progression over time. Sales leaders can access this data to see how sellers are developing in their role as a result of coaching.

Integrations

Switching between sales tools is time-consuming and complex. Sales coaching systems that integrate with your tech stack, including sales content management systems and training tools, give sellers access to all the relevant materials and information they need to maximize their coaching and level up their skills.

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The Aragon Research Globe™ for Enterprise Coaching, 2024

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Why teams should use a sales coaching tool

There are plenty of benefits to using a sales coaching platform to help create and deliver sales coaching to your team including:

Increased productivity

A productive sales rep will increase individual sales totals and challenge company quotas. Without improving productivity and efficiency, your company risks losing valuable time and resources to sales reps who aim to please but may not be able to conform to company policy. Traditional individual evaluations waste time and resources when compared to Lessonly Skills.

We provide valuable insight into the current work ethic of your sales reps and their progress toward better results. Coaching for productivity ensures your sales reps fully understand their position and performance expectations. Arming them with skills and knowledge enables them to execute their tasks and hit sales goals.

Guaranteed engagement

We designed our sales coaching platform to provide individual progress reports, evaluations, and ways for your sales reps to provide ongoing feedback.

Seminars and training conferences can be costly, boring, and ultimately ineffective. That’s because learning won’t stick unless it includes a hands-on application to make it relevant. Rather than corralling your sales team in a conference room for someone to talk to them for hours, you can let our coaching software optimize your training sessions AND spare your wallet.

Ensured retention

Why pay for a trainer or instructor to coach your sales reps when they won’t retain the information? Traditional training methods see lots of information thrown around without achieving employee comprehension.

Even for small companies, individually tailored coaching is a fantastic idea. Still, it’s hard to coach and evaluate those on your sales team individually. That’s why our sales coaching software uses personalized assessments and breaks down the results while suggesting the next steps for each rep.

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How sales coaching fits into enablement

A robust sales coaching tool plays an important role in an organization’s larger enablement efforts. Remember, effective enablement unites revenue teams around the common goal of providing sellers with everything they need to be successful — this includes the right technology and resources. Without sales coaching tools, it would be difficult to effectively provide sellers with the critical feedback and tailored coaching plans they need to grow and succeed in their roles.

By providing targeted skill assessments and invaluable insights, coaching tools also enable leaders to make data-driven and strategic coaching plans that can ultimately lead to greater seller success. Additionally, the seamless integration of sales coaching tools also ensures reps and coaches alike have a cohesive enablement workflow. By connecting sales coaching systems with other tools in the enablement tech stack, sales teams can create a more comprehensive view of the buyer journey and what sellers need to do — and know — in each stage. As a result, this integration empowers sellers with the contextual knowledge needed to drive meaningful and engaging interactions with buyers.

Deliver personalized coaching at scale

The Seismic Enablement Cloud™ features sales learning and coaching tools that help organizations create scalable coaching programs that are tailored to each seller’s growth areas. Ready to see how your team can close 76% more closed deals with personalized coaching at scale? Get a demo here.

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