Braintrust, a leader in neuroscience-backed sales training and leadership development, and Yoodli, an AI-powered communication coaching platform, are thrilled to announce a strategic partnership.
This collaboration aims to integrate Yoodli’s advanced AI technology into Braintrust’s elite sales training and coaching services, offering real-time, personalized feedback to accelerate sales teams’ development and boost their overall performance.
Braintrust has a proven track record of success, partnering with over 100 industry-leading companies and delivering programs rooted in neuroscience and behavioral psychology-backed communication & sales techniques.
Yoodli’s AI coach will seamlessly integrate into Braintrust’s existing sales programs by providing real-time analysis and personalized recommendations, the platform will enable Braintrust’s clients to practice and refine their communication skills in a judgment-free environment.
“Sales leaders are telling us that in 2024 they can no longer afford to have their sales reps practicing on their valuable live leads. We’re thrilled to partner with Braintrust, a company that shares our commitment to helping professionals reach their full potential,” said Ajay Jain, Head of Training and Enablement at Yoodli.
“This new AI partnership, combined with our already existing neuroscience-backed sales methodology will revolutionize the way sales professionals and leaders develop their communication skills.”, says Jeff Bloomfield, CEO of Braintrust.
By integrating Yoodli’s AI technology, Braintrust will further enhance its coaching services, providing their sales clients with the tools and insights they need to succeed in today’s competitive landscape.
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Yoodli, a Seattle-based company, helps individuals improve their communication skills using AI. Users can get in-the-moment coaching during online meetings, or they can practice for an upcoming speech, conversation, or interview with AI. Yoodli will then generate feedback on their content, conciseness, and speaking attributes such as executive presence, reliance on filler words, and pacing. Yoodli has been rolled out in over 150 countries by Toastmasters International, leading business schools, and hundreds of thousands of leaders globally. For more information, visit Yoodli’s website.
If you’re looking to take your team to the next level and increase revenue growth, sales coaching is the way to do it. It can revolutionize a team and boost morale.
Our thorough guide will outline what this type of coaching is, why it’s important, how to implement regular sales coaching for your company, and the benefits of implementing it for your team.
What Is Sales Coaching?
Sales coaching includes the knowledge, skills, training, and sales enablement tools provided to reps to improve performance. This type of coaching helps teams meet their revenue goals and build on their existing skills.
Some companies offer in-house sales coaching while others prefer to hire outside resources to train their teams.
What’s a sales coach?
A sales coach is the person who does the sales coaching. This person will work with reps either in-house or externally to get the team up to speed.
A sales coach can also help with GTM alignment for go-to-market teams. They’ll work directly with the team to ensure everyone uses the right methodology and consistent brand language.
Although team coaching is a popular choice for companies, some coaches offer one-on-one training for individual reps, too.
Regardless of the setting, a sales coach will empower reps and give them the tools they need to succeed.
Sales coaching process
The sales coaching process can differ company to company (and from coach to coach), but the overall process usually involves:
An assessment of the team’s (or individual rep’s) current strengths and weaknesses
Laying out clearly defined performance goals
Building personalized coaching plans for each rep or team
Implementing regular coaching sessions
Offering actionable feedback for improvement
Tracking performance metrics to measure coaching effectiveness (and adjusting coaching plans as needed to address any discrepancies)
Why is sales coaching important?
Sales coaching is important because it increases performance through win rates. This kind of coaching keeps sellers’ skills sharp and boosts morale and confidence for teams. Many of the best sales training companies use sessions as a foundation to empower their team members and elevate their individual performance.
Brands should aim to continue optimizing their sales processes and regular coaching only benefits reps and their teams.
How to Use AI for Sales Coaching
Although companies can hire in-house or external coaches, many brands run into the difficulty of coaching at scale for large organizations. Enter, Yoodli.
Yoodli offers at-scale sales coaching for companies of any size.
Yoodli is a virtual sales coach powered by generative AI that takes your team to the next level through training and data-backed, actionable feedback. Any company (no matter its size) can use Yoodli to implement personalized sales coaching for their reps at scale.
For example, reps can put their skills to the test via realistic sales roleplays. Sellers can select a pre-existing scenario — like inbound customer discovery or cold sales calls — and tackle it head-on like any other client. Yoodli will then provide performance-based metrics and insights, as well as valuable sales coaching feedback, to pinpoint exactly where reps need to improve.
Using an at-scale tool like Yoodli lets sales leaders skip the guesswork of where exactly their team needs to improve so they can identify exactly what areas need work.
Because the roleplays are completely customizable, reps can put their skills to the test with a new scenario each time. Not only that, but they can also receive training in specific settings with different customer personalities to get experience in a risk-free setting.
Yoodli uses generative AI to provide at-scale sales coaching for orgs of all sizes.
Check out more of what Yoodli has to offer for sales coaching at https://yoodli.ai/.
Best Practices and Tips for Sales Coaching
If you’re thinking about investing in this type of coaching, you’re in the right place. When implementing sales coaching for your team, here are some best practices, tips, and other considerations to keep in mind.
Set clearly defined goals for the team
One of the most important aspects of sales coaching is clearly defining the team and individual rep goals. These should be “SMART” goals that are measurable. It’s essential to include performance metrics right from the get-go when creating these goals.
Make sure these goals are clear for the team, too. The expectations for sales reps should be spelled out so everyone is on the same page. This type of coaching is much more beneficial when there’s a solid foundation.
Get into a regular coaching schedule
If you plan to reap the benefits of sales coaching, make sure you get into a regular schedule. Consistency is key.
With inconsistent coaching, reps are more likely to forget skills and knowledge, and as a result, are more likely to lose confidence.
It can also help to keep the format fresh. In other words, try to include a mix of one-on-one sessions and larger group trainings.
Give actionable feedback (not personal criticism)
One of the pitfalls of someone who’s new to sales coaching is slipping into the habit of offering personal criticism instead of actionable feedback. For example, instead of personal criticism, make sure your feedback is related to their performance with data-backed metrics to inform the feedback.
You can also use the “sandwich” method by sandwiching your constructive criticism between two positive pieces of feedback. This also helps build rapport and trust with the team.
4 Benefits of Sales Coaching
As you can guess, there are tons of advantages to investing in a bit of coaching for your team. No matter how experienced a sales rep, they can always stand to gain from some dedicated, personalized training.
Here are the top four benefits of sales coaching, from revenue growth to boosted team morale and client satisfaction.
1. Sales coaching can improve ramp time (and boost quota + revenue).
The most obvious advantage of implementing sales coaching for your team is that it can help boost revenue growth. For example, when a sales coach pinpoints the strengths and weaknesses of your team, that team can then begin to work on the areas that need improvement.
This, in turn, leads to increased win rates and of course, boosted revenue.
But what’s more, investing in this kind of coaching can directly decrease ramp. One of the most common problems leaders in sales face is that their reps aren’t ramping up fast enough. For example, it could take a new sales reps months to get up to speed. But what if we could shorten that ramp time from months to just a few weeks? Trainings and coaching can do that.
Similarly, this kind of coaching also addresses another type of pain point: quota attainment. It can help reps reach their quota and empowers them to succeed. Increasing attainment is another significant reason why coaching can increase a company’s overall revenue.
2. It’s a great way to build confidence, boost morale, and increase objection handling skills.
Providing your teams with customized sales coaching can build their confidence and boost team morale, too. Implementing regular coaching sessions helps foster a positive work environment where reps feel at home enough to ask questions and improve their skills for the good of the overall team.
On top of that, reps can share knowledge with each other to establish more consistent best practices, methodology, and brand language during sales pitches, for example.
Sales coaching can increase objection handling skills across teams, too, allowing reps to pick up and put into practice new strategies and approaches for handling those tough questions.
3. It increases customer satisfaction.
Not surprisingly, coaching has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. Client satisfaction is more likely to increase when companies invest in their reps with coaching. When a sales team is confident in themselves and their skills, that confidence spills over into customer interactions.
Sales coaching yields more positive customer interactions which helps reps develop stronger relationships with clients.
4. Sales coaching allows for an investment in your team’s reps.
Leaders can use trainings and coaching as an investment in their team reps in a few different ways. For new hires, for example, having a sales coach provides a quicker process for onboarding. The personalized coaching can get the newest team members up to speed in no time.
Plus, for existing, experienced reps, coaching can increase employee retention rates. That can lead to reduced sales turnover thanks to a more welcoming, positive work environment where investing in employees isn’t a rarity.
Challenges of Sales Coaching
Even though there are tons of benefits, that’s not to say there aren’t challenges associated with sales coaching.
One of the most common challenges folks often run into is resistance from reps. Many people struggle with change, and some sales teams struggle more than others. Overcoming resistance from sellers who aren’t interested in coaching (or who think they don’t need it) can be tricky. Identifying and recognizing a rep’s wins can be a good way to chip away at that resistance.
Another issue that often crops up in coaching is budget constraints. Sometimes, companies don’t have a pre-existing budget for investments like trainings and coaching, so that presents a challenge. However, more affordable, at-scale options like Yoodli can cut costs where it matters.
The Bottom Line
Sales coaching is a valuable tool companies should plan to invest in, one way or another. No sales rep is perfect and everyone, regardless of experience, can brush up on and improve their skills.
A coaching tool like Yoodli can make a difference in teams, from boosted confidence to increased revenue growth.
What is sales coaching? What makes a good coach? How can AI help you coach sales reps?
Coaching is a growing industry—because it works. And, with sales methods evolving in significant ways, coaching matters more and more.
In our guide, we’ll look at these matters:
What is sales coaching?
The benefits of sales coaching
Who should receive coaching?
What makes a good coach?
Sales coaching styles
Sales coaching methods
Sales coaching process and plan
Sales coaching resources and tools
What Is Sales Coaching?
Sales coaching is the ongoing process of a sales rep’s professional development in partnership with a coach. A coach works one-on-one with a sales rep, providing individualized evaluation, guidance, education, support, and accountability.
Coaching sessions typically occur weekly for an hour or two. Together, the coach and the rep create and implement a plan for the rep’s professional development.
How Is It Different From Sales Management?
The goal is different. The goal of sales management is the oversight of a sales program, ensuring the team has the resources (human and otherwise) to effectively implement the program. On the other hand, the goal of sales coaching is to help a sales rep grow professionally.
The method is different. A sales manager supervises the sales rep in their duties. A sales coach guides rather than directs—and listens more than talks.
That being said, a sales manager can (and generally should) function as a sales coach as one part of their role.
How Is It Different From Sales Training?
While coaching involves some training, it’s far more than that. Training is an event, while coaching is an ongoing process. Often, training is in a group setting, while coaching is one-on-one. Training is predominantly one-sided communication, while coaching is a conversation.
Another important distinction between training and coaching is follow-up. Again, because training is typically an event, there’s little or no follow-up. The ongoing process of coaching involves continual follow-up in the form of check-ins, progress reports, and course adjustments when needed.
How Is It the Same as Other Coaching?
Sales coaching is like other coaching in that it involves one-on-one professional development. The coach asks open-ended questions and listens extensively. The coach leads the client through a process of self discovery and growth.
How Is It Different From Other Coaching?
Sales coaching specifically addresses the challenges and opportunities associated with sales. For example, a coach shadows the rep on cold calls, reviews revenue data, and shares selling best practices. Not just any coach can be a sales coach; it requires sales industry knowledge and experience.
The Benefits of Sales Coaching
Sales coaching is an ongoing process that results in ongoing progress. The company, the sales rep, and the customer all enjoy the benefits of sales coaching. The customer receives a better sales experience. The sales rep improves performance and grows professionally. The company enjoys these benefits of sales coaching:
more profits that result from improved sales performance
stronger employee relationships that result from sales reps who’ve grown in interpersonal skills
higher retention rates that result from sales reps who find satisfaction in their opportunities for professional development
Who Should Receive Sales Coaching?
You might presume that the weakest performers should receive coaching because they need the most help. Perhaps you think that the strongest performers deserve the boost and will benefit the most from it. But, the best investment is to target the middle performers.
Middle performers are likely to be receptive to coaching, and they’ve shown they have potential. The benefits of sales coaching would be lost on most low performers, and it makes more sense for them to be in roles or organizations where they’re a better fit. While strong performers certainly would benefit from coaching, the best investment is with the middle of the pack.
What Makes a Good Sales Coach?
Not just any coach can be a sales coach; it requires sales industry knowledge and experience. So, a good sales coach is qualified in general coaching as well as sales specifics.
A good coach understands that their relationship with the sales rep is a partnership. They foster self discovery in the client. They ask open-ended questions and listen well. A good coach is firm but affirming. They make wise assessments and devise fitting solutions and plans. A good coach provides both support and accountability. They also know the sales landscape and see the big picture, displaying the ability to head off derailments before they happen.
If you’re a sales manager who wants to add coaching skills to your repertoire, you can develop this skill set. It will set you apart from other managers, and your team and company will benefit from your next-level expertise.
If you want to establish yourself as a professional sales coach, consider joining the International Coaching Federation. You’re likely to see the letters “ICF” listed in the credentials of professional coaches. It’s the gold standard of coaching certification. Learn more about the ICF.
Sales Coaching Styles
A coach works with a sales rep to create and implement a customized plan (more on that later). The plan isn’t the only thing that’s tailored; a good coach also customizes their coaching style depending on the rep and the situation. That’s why it’s important for a coach to know who and what they’re dealing with at any given time.
Let’s say that Rosemary is Laura’s coach. Rosemary knows that Laura is eager to try new things, and she tends to take on too much at once. She knows that she needs to harness Laura’s enthusiasm and keep her from going in too many directions. Rosemary sees Laura’s enthusiasm as an asset, when properly directed, and helps her channel it toward one new endeavor at a time.
Then, Laura hits a roadbump with that one new endeavor. Rosemary detects that Laura’s motivation also has taken a hit. She shifts gears from harnessing Laura’s enthusiasm to boosting it up again.
Sales Coaching Methods
Some sales coaching methods are specific to sales, while others apply to coaching in general. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples.
Real-Life Observations
It’s wise for the coach to observe the sales rep in the environment that the rep operates in. For example, Laura typically does sales by phone and in-person. If possible, Rosemary should shadow Laura with some of her appointments to see her in operation. That way, Rosemary will be able to offer feedback that’s on target.
Sales Playbook
A coach could choose to work with the rep to create a sales playbook that grows over time and is customized for rep. This consists of best practices, documented systems such as “how to follow-up on a cold call,” sales resources, and other materials that help the rep do their job.
Strategic vs. Tactical
Patrick Lencioni recommends separate strategic and tactical meetings for teams in his book Death by Meeting. In one meeting, climb to 30,000 feet and focus on the strategic, big-picture matters. In another meeting, zoom in and deal with the tactical, short-range issues. Lencioni advises that you not try to tackle strategic and tactical matters in the same meeting because they’re likely to get muddled together and one or other other will get short-changed.
This method of separating strategic matters from tactical matters also applies to coaching. Laura has long-range matters such as annual quotas and skills development, and she has short-range issues such as tomorrow’s sales calls and next week’s presentation. She and Rosemary deal with these in strategic coaching sessions and tactical coaching sessions, respectively.
Sales Coaching Process & Plan
A coach works with a rep to create and implement a customized sales coaching plan. The first step is for the two of them to establish the nature of—and the expectations for—their relationship. They must be on the same page about the coach’s role and the purpose of the coaching. From the start, they understand that the relationship is a partnership and a conversation between two people.
Next, the two establish a coaching schedule. How often will they meet, and for how long? When will they have check-ins? What about quarterly evaluations? It’s a good idea to have brief daily check-ins, weekly sessions of at least an hour, and reassessments spread periodically throughout the coaching relationship.
Also at the beginning of the coaching relationship, the coach guides the sales rep through self assessments that provide baseline information. They ask open-ended questions that are designed for self discovery. The coach doesn’t declare what’s true; rather they help the client realize what’s true.
(It should be more and more clear how sales coaching is not the same as sales management or training!)
Next, the coach and the rep work together to set short-range and long-range goals. They determine what they’ll measure and concretely “define the win” so that it’s clear when goals have been reached.
As the coach and the rep implement their coaching plan, the coach provides training and resources as needed. They give structured feedback with concrete, detailed examples and the expectations for follow-up.
All along the way, the coach provides guidance, support, motivation, and accountability. It’s good to place an emphasis on positive reinforcement, providing rewards and celebrating victories on the journey.
“Soft” Skills in an Evolving Industry
It’s important to note the changing industry landscape, where sales reps are becoming advisors more than just “sellers.” That means that a successful rep needs even more skills than before. Some refer to these as “soft” skills. We’re talking about abilities such as emotional intelligence, influence, and interpersonal communication.
With this in mind, a good coach helps their clients develop these qualities along with traditional sales skills.
Sales Coaching Resources and Tools
Tons of excellent coaching resources and tools exist out there. Let’s take a look at just a few to get you started.
HubSpot Sales Coaching for Managers
HubSpot Sales Coaching for Managers is a free lesson from HubSpot Academy. It comprises three videos, and you can complete it in less than an hour. By the end, you should know why coaching is important, how to be a better coach, and how to cultivate a coaching culture within your sales team. You’ll also learn how to design a sales coaching program and how to handle people on your team who don’t perform at the standards you set.
Chorus & Gong
Chorus and Gong are two different applications. Each one analyzes customer interactions to provide actionable data. You can quickly figure out who needs coaching, what areas they need to improve in, and what progress they’re making over time.
With Yoodli, you can practice sales scripts, elevator pitches, responding to questions, and more. Yoodli is an AI speech coach, and human coaches love to use it to supplement their practice.
Whether you’re a rep or a manager, sales coaching can benefit you, your team, and your company. Give your career a boost, and improve your team’s bottom line while you’re at it!
