How to Implement a

Coaching Culture in
Your Sales Team
How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 1
 “
Why is a Coaching Culture important? One of the criteria I used to hire my VP of Sales
was to ensure that he had experience in creating a
It is well known that a successful sales coaching program can help
culture of continuous coaching and improvement in
improve results across the team. However, in most cases sales
Sales. Luckily, we also found someone (Joe) who had
teams work through such a long list of priorities, that coaching
background in leveraging conversation intelligence
gets neglected. If you still haven’t institutionalized coaching
for implementing a thorough coaching program.
successfully in your team, here are some interesting facts from
research that are worth reading:

60% of sales reps say they’ll leave an organization if their

Roy Raanani
•

boss is a poor sales coach

• While 75% of businesses believe sales coaching is the most
important thing sales leader do, more than 47% of managers
spend less than 30 minutes coaching each rep per week
• Sales leaders ranked themselves at the 79th percentile for
sales coaching, whereas their direct reports put them at a
meager 38 percentile
According to the Sales Management Association, firms that invest
in sales coaching generate, on average, 16.7% greater annual
revenue growth. The time to institutionalize your own “coaching
culture” is now!
CEO of Chorus.ai
We’ve grown our sales team considerably since
I joined. One of the first things we did was
‘institutionalize’ coaching. I use 1-1 time with reps
as well as team meetings to run coaching sessions.
But using our own platform we’ve also been
successful driving self and peer coaching. It has had
a tremendous impact on quota attainment.

Joe Caprio
VP of Sales, Chorus.ai

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 2

 What is Coaching Culture?
Coaching culture refers to a program that enables your sales team to learn new skills and become top performers and evangelists for your company. The
learning can happen in many different modes and settings; and can also be self or management driven. Coaching culture emphasizes continuous training,
self-improvement, analysis, and regular feedback to create a more engaged and energized sales team. However, most companies go through multiple
program revamps before creating a coaching culture. Working with Chorus to implement conversation Intelligence can help you skip a few steps and get
a head start on creating a robust coaching program.

How will your organization benefit?

The top benefits of creating a coaching culture program include –

• Improved win rates: New / average reps can learn to sell like top performers and know what it takes to win
• Elevated team performance: Better teamwork and higher motivation levels at the individual level
• Reduced employee churn: Managers focus on developing rep skills (long-term benefits) and not just on closing deals (short-term benefits). This helps
reps and managers sharpen their skills
• Faster ramp: Coaching culture begins on day one. Leveraging the entire org and resources for coaching helps reps ramp up faster

Core Components of Coaching Culture

TEAM COACHING MANAGER REP 1-1s PEER-TO-PEER

SELF COACHING ONBOARDING
(Film Reviews) (Manager or Rep Led Agendas) COACHING

Film reviews are a great
way to utilize team
meetings to assess what
reps are doing well or
struggling with as a group
Reps need not wait or 1-1s are a good setting for
depend on managers to managers to deliver skills-
coach them. They can based or deals-based
review their own calls or coaching advice. Reps
study peers’ calls. bring clips from calls to
ask for targeted feedback.
Onboarding sets the Create pairs or small
tone of coaching culture groups where reps give
from day one. Managers and receive constructive
and enablement work feedback from each other.
together to build best
practice playlists that
new hires study from.

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 3

 Team Coaching (Film Reviews)
Read: The do’s and don’ts of a sales film review.

Film Review is a team meeting with sales reps, sales managers,

and enablement to listen to past conversations, identify areas for
improvement, crowdsource new talk tracks, and celebrate wins.

Film reviews are a scalable and effective way to coach your sales
team and build a continuous learning culture.

Chorus.ai Recommends:
Film Reviews (sometimes known as Sales Huddle, Pitch reviews, etc.)
can take many shapes.

• Hold a Film Review every week

• Focus on a particular topic or feature (best practices by stage, sales
methodology, features, competitor mentions, objection handling,
and pricing are popular topic choices).
• Typically, your VP of Sales or Enablement leader will choose the topic
and facilitate the meeting.
• Choose a time slot outside of critical selling hours, 3 pm on Thursdays
is our sweet spot.
• Ask that all reps submit Chorus recordings to a pre-created Film
Review playlist a day or two before the meeting.

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 4

 • Hold the team accountable through collaborative platforms like Slack or Google Hangouts.
• When the team is finally together, the role of the facilitator is to understand and convey the value of the week’s topic, moderate
the discussion, and help the team prepare for the next session.
• Use the Chorus playlist to drive the cadence of the meeting and commenting to keep track of the teams’ feedback for future hires.
• Go around the room and ask each rep to share something they liked, something they missed, or something they could improve on
• It’s also helpful to set some ground rules: do not schedule over Film Review, keep it email and Slack-free, offer kind, constructive
feedback, etc.
• Stick with your topic or focus area for 2-3 weeks, or until the you’ve achieved mastery. You can always revisit it next quarter!

Incentive Structure
Usually the energy and learnings from Film Review are enough to drive engagement. Chorus.ai Industry
But incentives are always appreciated, and a pathway to ensuring quick wins. Try Benchmark
having a manager or team lead drop the top call from each Film Review into a “best
of” playlist. At the end of the month, the team gets to vote on the “best of the best”,
Film Reviews work best when
where that rep is rewarded with a company selected prize (try something simple like
“lunch with leadership” or a gift card to a local coffee shop). This structure also builds
they’re about 1 hour long and
a best practices library for future hires to learn form. happen at least twice a month.

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 5

 Hands-on Film Review Exercise
Organize a team meeting for a Film Review. Select a topic and get one person in the room to fill up the following details.

THEME OF FILM REVIEW:

(Hint: use something like first calls, discovery, objection handling, pricing, competitive to get started)

THINGS TO DO THINGS TO AVOID DOING

1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.

5. 5.

6. 6.

7. 7.

8. 8.

9. 9.

10. 10.

LIST THE TOP 3 REPEAT BEHAVIORS THAT WILL BE ASSESSED FOR THE NEXT FILM REVIEW:

1. 2. 3.

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 6

 Self Coaching
Read: Why Self-Coaching May Be The Next Big Thing For Sales Departments

Self-coaching occurs when reps take ownership of improving their own performance by critically listening to their own calls, requesting
feedback on areas where they struggle, and listening to good call examples from high performers on the team.

Self-coaching allows your team to coach without putting additional time strain on your managers. Moreover, reps that self-coach
hit quota and are promoted at a much higher rate than those that don’t.

Chorus.ai Recommends:
Self-coaching ensures that reps do not think they have to wait to be coached. They can take their own steps towards self-improvement as well.

• Reps review their own calls by listening to key moments in meetings from stalled / closed lost deals and make notes on what they
could have done better. Notes can be tagged to exact moments of the call with self @mentions.
• Ask for feedback from their manager by @mentioning their manager in the call in Chorus in areas where they would like feedback.
• They also filter calls in Chorus by a specific topic they are struggling with (i.e. competitive conversations), and listen to calls by high-
performers on the team.
• They also use Talk Track Analytics to benchmark themselves against their team and top performing reps to understand which talk
tracks they need to leverage more often

Incentive Structure Chorus.ai Industry

The manager reviews their team’s activity, and the most active weekly user
Benchmark
is rewarded every week for a month to help their team build a habit of
self-coaching. After that, provide a monthly incentive to ensure the team is Reps review at least 2 calls
maintaining their habit. per week and @mention their
manager at least once per week.

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 7

 Take This Test to Discover Your Self-Coaching Style
Mark the relevant number next to each statement.
1 – STRONGLY DISAGREE 2 – DISAGREE 3 – NEUTRAL 4 – AGREE 5 – STRONGLY AGREE

I listen to 2+ call moments every day 1 2 3 4 5

In the past week I’ve @ commented my manager on one of my calls at least once 1 2 3 4 5

In the past week I’ve @ commented someone from another function at least once 1 2 3 4 5

I regularly listen to my past calls to discover what I can do better 1 2 3 4 5

I regularly listen to some of the best calls of a top rep 1 2 3 4 5

I access a learning playlist at least once a week 1 2 3 4 5

I have filtered Chorus conversations on at least one topic I struggle with e.g. a competitor name 1 2 3 4 5

I know 3 things I am going to do better this month 1 2 3 4 5

30+ : MAVERICK – You are on the top of your game when it comes to taking control of coaching yourself

20-30: NEO – You are a trailblazer in the making, the “one” that still hasn’t reached full potential but getting there fast

<20 : ROCKY – With the right training and the heart of a champion you can still make it to the top

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 8

 Manager-Rep One-on-One
Read: The One Thing Every Sales Manager Needs Coaching On

Manager-Rep 1-1 meetings are a great setting for coaching the rep. Most managers do not leverage enough of 1-1 time for
skills coaching and remain focused on critical deals and pipeline figures. We find best sales coaches use some of their 1-1 time to
also focus on skill development and call coaching. The agenda for coaching can be set in two ways – Manager-led and Rep-led.

Manager-Led Coaching Agenda Rep-Led Coaching Agenda

Managers select a topic to coach on in 1-1s every week. They
ask a rep to add a clip from a call to their 1-1 playlist to review
together. Managers and reps leave comments on the call and
listen to it together. Managers can choose to pick a different topic
from week to week or stick with a topic until the rep masters it.
Most reps have a laundry list of items they want to bring up during
1-1s with their manager e.g. deals that are stalled, objections they
are having trouble with, a particular talk track they can’t seem
to nail down. Empower reps to queue up coaching moments
to share during 1-1s with their managers.

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 9

 Chorus.ai Recommends:

FOR MANAGERS
• Use the comment feature to add your thoughts, timestamped to the exact
moment in the conversation.
• Common topics include: competitive positioning, objection handling,
pricing, new features.
• Alternatively bring the call to the 1-1 with your rep, ready to go with some
feedback on particular moments.
• You can quickly search the transcript for keywords to jump to the most
memorable sections and to save you from reviewing the call end-to-end.

FOR REPS
• Bring at least one clip on a topic you are struggling on / want feedback on
• Ask your manager for an area you can improve upon. Then select at least
one clip related to that area where you think you did well or need help on.

Incentive Structure
Chorus.ai Industry
Create an opportunity for both the rep and the manager to recognize each
Benchmark
other’s efforts. Reps can nominate their managers for a quarterly “Amazing
Coach” award based on specific anecdotal examples of a skill they helped
Top performing sales organizations
them improve by using 1-1 coaching. Managers can nominate one team set aside at least 15 minutes of 1hr
member each quarter for “Most Proactive Learner” based on the rep that 1-1 to coach the rep. Most managers
comes to 1-1s with the clearest coaching asks and self-preparation. review between 3-4 calls a week.

How to
How to Implement
Implement aa Coaching
Coaching Culture
Culture in
in your
your Sales
Sales Team
Team 10
 The Anatomy of a Perfect 1-to-1
Run a 1-1 with your reps. After each 1-1 ask the rep to fill out the survey on the left. Managers will fill out the survey on the right. Tally the
score at the end and if the difference is more than 2, find out where the reps’ opinion differed from yours. This is a great way to test if the
rep got as much value out of the 1-1 as you thought you provided.

REP SURVEY MANAGER SURVEY

Write 1 next to every statement that is true and 0 for everything that’s false. Write 1 next to every statement that is true and 0 for everything that’s false.

Was the manager prepared with at least 1 call to review? Did you bring at least 1 call to the 1-1 to review with the rep?

Did the manager coach you on a specific topic other than Did you coach on a specific topic outside of open deals?
open deals?

Did you listen to at least 1 call / moment together? Did you listen to at least 1 call / moment with the rep?

Did you search for a theme in your recent calls e.g. Did you search for a theme in the rep’s recent calls e.g.
pricing mentions? pricing mentions?

Were you able to bring a topic to the conversation that Did the rep bring a topic to the conversation that they
you want to be coached on? wanted to be coached on?

TOTAL POINTS TOTAL POINTS

POINT DIFFERENCE =

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 11

 Onboarding
Read: How InsightSquared shortened ramp time by 30%

Institutionalize coaching on day 1 by equipping your class of new hires

with custom playlists of best-in-class calls in Chorus. Allow them to
learn from your top performers and past mistakes on their own with a
combination of hand selected playlists and advanced search to identify
examples from top reps. It’s important to your business that new hires
are enabled to hit quota as soon as possible. Having those reps sit on
live calls with top performing reps is at best not scalable, and at worst,
counterproductive. The calls can be no-shows, the conversation might
take an unexpected and unproductive direction, it’s a burden to your
top performers, and potentially awkward for prospects. Managers need
a way to get the right and best calls in front of their new hires on day
1, without waiting for schedules to line up.

Chorus.ai Recommends:
Onboarding can be used as a method to introduce new reps to the coaching
culture you have already established with the rest of the team.

• Create Chorus playlists that match your team’s core competencies

• Think of best practices by deal stages
• Sales methodology, features, competitor mentions, objection handling,
and pricing are other popular topic choices when creating playlists

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 12

 • Use Chorus to surface “best of” calls for each of these categories or encourage reps to add clips to these playlists on the fly.
• Link these playlists in your onboarding documentation, LMS, or simply direct new hires to log into Chorus on their first day.
• Ensure these playlists are up to date and relevant by asking new-hires to comment on the most helpful recordings and suggest
new additions.

Incentive Structure
Chorus.ai Industry
The manager reviews their team’s activity, and the most active weekly new
Benchmark
hire is rewarded every week for a month to help their team build a habit of
listening to calls. After that, provide a monthly incentive to ensure the team
Aim for at least 5 playlists to support
is maintaining their habit of continuous learning. onboarding. Our favorites are discovery,
competitor mentions, pricing, objection
handling, and agenda setting.

How to
How to Implement
Implement aa Coaching
Coaching Culture
Culture in
in your
your Sales
Sales Team
Team 13
 Your Onboarding Using Chorus Checklist
Are you ready to on-board new reps using call recording? Find out.

Check off everything you’ve already done –

Is there a playlist of prospect monologues that explain the buyer persona?

Have you told the new reps which top rep’s calls to listen to?

Is there a playlist of best discovery calls to listen to?

Is there a playlist of objection handling scenarios?

Have your current team members contributed at least one of their calls for onboarding?

Have all new hires sought your feedback on their first calls?

Have your existing team members commented on new reps’ first calls?

Have your new reps subscribed themselves to Chorus’ Smart Playlists?

Are there links to Chorus playlists or calls in at least one of your on-boarding docs?

Did you play at least one Chorus call / moment during a live training session?

If you score less than 7 checks, there’s work to be done on your on-boarding program!

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 14

 Peer-to-Peer Coaching
Read: 4 Reasons Why Your Sales Organization Needs Peer-to-Peer Coaching

Peer coaching enables your reps to learn from each other and think
critically about the conversations they are having. It allows you institute
a coaching culture without requiring significant additional resources
from your manager and enablement headcount. Moreover, studies have
shown that reps prefer to receive feedback from their peers. Having reps
review each other’s calls will also help your team think more critically on
how to improve their own conversations.

Chorus.ai Recommends:
• Each manager puts their reps in groups of 2 or 3 (depending on team size)
• These groups should be rotated on a monthly basis
• Create a Chorus playlist for each group to add their calls to

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 15

 Topic-Based Coaching

• Best practice - the manager gives the groups guidance on a specific topic to focus on (e.g. Discovery)
• Before the meeting, each member of the group adds one call clip to the playlist with a comment giving context to the clip
• Each group sets aside one 30-minute meeting per week to provide each other feedback
• Best practice - schedule these sessions in the early afternoon outside of peak call hours. Each rep plays their clip for the
others in their group and they discuss feedback live.
• Best practice - Manager selects one of the clips to highlight to the rest of the group briefly in a weekly team meeting.

Ad Hoc Coaching
• Instead of scheduling a weekly meeting, each rep will add their call clip to the playlist and @mention the other members of
their group in it.
• The other members of the team will leave their feedback as comments directly on the call on a weekly basis.
• Best practice - set a weekly deadline for feedback to be in by. Thursday EOD is often a good choice for this.

Chorus.ai Industry
Incentive Structure
Benchmark
Once in a month, have reps nominate the best peer coach. If there is a tie,
use the Chorus usage report to see who has reviewed the most meetings as
Our most successful, fastest growing
a tie-breaker. If you still find them tied, reward them both!
SaaS customers institute 4 peer calls
reviewed per rep per month.

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 16

 Are You a Good Peer Coach & Learner?
List some things you’ve contributed to a peer and also what you’ve learnt from a peer.

WHAT DID YOU HELP PEERS WITH? WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM PEERS?

1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.

5. 5.

NUMBER OF PEER CALLS REVIEWED: (A) NUMBER OF PEER REVIEWS SOUGHT ON YOUR CALLS
USING @ MENTIONS: (C)

NUMBER OF COMMENTS ADDED: (B)

Your peer coaching score of the week = # of rows filled in both columns + 2 * (A + B + C)

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 17

 RECOMMENDED READING

How to Implement a Coaching Culture in your Sales Team 18