NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Allego, the modern sales learning and readiness platform, today 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).
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“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.”
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.
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.
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 on Tuesday,
February 26, 2019 from 2:00pm - 3:00pm EST. 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. For additional details, please visit: https://webcasts.td.org/webinar/3140
Survey Methodology
Allego worked with Canam Research to
survey sales managers, sales reps, and sales enablement leaders about
their experiences with sales coaching at their current organizations.
Survey responses came from 67 frontline sales managers, 164 sales reps,
and 57 sales training and enablement leaders across technology, life
sciences, and financial services sectors. The survey was administered
using an online response tool to capture and summarize respondents
information.
About Allego
Allego’s modern sales learning and readiness
platform ensures that reps have the skills and timely knowledge to make
the most of each selling situation. Instead of traditional onboarding
and sales training marathons--which are rapidly outdated and quickly
forgotten--sales enablement and training teams use Allego to deliver the
fresh, bite-sized learning that reps need to close deals in today’s
dynamic business environment. Content is personalized for individual
sellers as well as their selling situations, and mastered through
reinforcement, on-the-job coaching, and peer collaboration. Nearly
150,000 professionals use Allego to onboard faster, deliver consistent
messaging, rapidly adopt best practices, coach and practice more
frequently, and collaborate more effectively.
