Are your sales managers coaching, or just managing the numbers?
Pipeline reviews, forecasts, and activity reports matter. Leaders need to know which opportunities are moving and whether the team is on pace.
But consider what happens when a rep says, “The buyer went quiet.”
Does the manager ask for a new follow-up date? Or do they explore the conversation that led to the silence?
What problem did the buyer describe? What did the rep ask? Was there agreement on a next step?
Those questions give the manager something specific to coach. They can help the rep spot a missed question, practice a different approach, and use it on the next call.
A manager who asks only for an update may miss the behavior that created the risk. The next call becomes another attempt to rescue the deal instead of a chance to improve how the rep discovers buyer commitment.
After your last pipeline review, what was one skill your salesperson left ready to practice?
