How Impactful is Sales Coaching Today? Allego Survey Uncovers Deep Divisions Between Sales Managers’ and Reps’ Perceptions

Time Constraints, Technology Gaps, and Lack of Organizational Support Cited as Key Barriers to Achieving Greater Sales Coaching Effectiveness

Allego, the modern sales learning and readiness platform, announced the results of a new survey that examines sales reps’, managers’ and sales enablement professionals’ perceptions and preferences when it comes to sales coaching. The study findings, which are summarized in the e-book “The State of Sales Coaching 2019,” reveal that while nearly all sales managers (93 percent) think their coaching positively affects deal outcomes, far fewer sales representatives (67 percent) agree. Additionally, the research found a similar disparity between managers who believe the coaching sessions they provided are high-quality (93 percent) and reps who would agree (68 percent).

“Effective coaching — which is critical to sales success — can be complicated by many factors including lack of manager training, geographic separation, time constraints and communication gaps,” said Mark Magnacca, president and co-founder of Allego. “To overcome these challenges, sales organizations must demonstrate not only diligence and stronger communication between sales managers, reps, and sales enablement professionals, but also agreement on coaching effectiveness and best practices. By applying modern learning practices including greater peer-to-peer collaboration and personalized learning delivered continuously through mobile and video technologies, sales managers and reps can make strides to bridge the communication and skills gaps and achieve greater sales success.”

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Hone the Craft or Close the Deal?

The State of Sales Coaching survey examines the specific kinds of coaching managers typically provide in order to understand why sales reps disagree about quality and impact. The research found that while sales managers believe they focus most of their time on collaboratively and holistically improving sales skills, reps believe that coaching is top-down and more transaction and pipeline-related, with a focus on how to close deals instead of honing the craft of selling for long-term success. Over half of reps surveyed (53 percent) felt that more training on best practices to teach them skills or share new techniques would help them improve results, and 49 percent cited a desire for more skills coaching from their manager. Conversely, only 35 percent of reps wanted their managers to use the time to “jump into deals” and help them close.

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Barriers to High-Quality Coaching

The survey also found that lack of time, a disconnect between the availability and use of technology, and a lack of organizational support were among the hurdles standing in the way of high-quality coaching. Other barriers cited to high-quality coaching included the following:

• Over half of those surveyed (55 percent) stated that they don’t have the time to consistently deliver high-quality coaching – by far the most cited reason, with all other answers barely reaching a 10 percent response.
• Only five percent of managers reported having tech tools or applications that support them in effective coaching.
• Only 40 percent of sales training and enablement leaders felt the coaching support and training they provide to managers is adequate.
• When managers were asked what would most help them improve their coaching, 45 percent cited training on how to diagnose performance problems and 42 percent cited ways to motivate reps to use what they are taught.

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Webinar Presentation

Allego’s Jake Miller, Product Marketing Manager and Henry Bruckstein, Founder of Canam Research will present the results of the survey, “The State of Sales Coaching 2019,” during a webinar. The speakers will highlight the different views from sales reps, managers, and sales enablement professionals to uncover common misalignments that hinder effective coaching, proven ways to overcome lack of time and other barriers to coaching that managers face and which types of sales coaching work best.