How To: Build a Culture for B2B Sales Coaching

To truly improve both individual and team performance, coaches must dedicate time to meet one-on-one with every rep. And these aren’t rushed, last-minute meetings where you come in unprepared and have 10 other tasks or issues on your mind. Being focused and equipped with specific, performance-related information about each rep will keep conversations on track and productive.

Meeting regularly — weekly is recommended — allows you to track progress more accurately and boost the skills and competencies that will make reps successful.

At the most basic level, each session should include:

• Discussing progress
• Listening to challenges or struggles
• Giving personal guidance
• Asking for feedback on your leadership style

Putting it in Practice

It bears repeating: Coaching sessions are most impactful when both the manager and BDR come prepared. Sharing real-world scenarios and examples facilitates the session and helps to pinpoint where reps did things right and where they could improve.

Before a session with one of your reps, listen to a handful of their recorded calls to get a sense of the conversations they’re having with prospects and find specifics to discuss. Encourage the rep to surface examples as well. These should include instances where calls went well, poorly, or completely sideways.

Additionally, look at quantitative and quantitative indicators like:

• Email word count, opens, replies, click-through rates
• Language used within emails
• Number of calls answered
• Objection handling
• Meeting-to-conversion rate

It also helps to benchmark what a great BDR looks like at your organization. Block time in your calendar to look at calls from across the team and create rubrics of what good, bad, and OK calls look like. Then, score five calls and five emails per person on your team to gauge where everyone measures up — and identify gaps to address in coaching sessions.

Over time, you’ll learn each BDR’s learning style to further tailor your strategy moving forward. Some may push back more than others; some may require more hand holding. With commitment and a little patience, you’ll find your groove. The coaching process will feel like second nature.