Stop Managing, Start Coaching

Key takeaways:
• Jan/san distributor sales managers should distinguish deal reviews and pipeline inspections from true coaching, which develops specific selling behaviors that improve future performance.
• Consistent, intentional coaching can help jan/san sales teams close skill gaps, prevent rep stagnation, reduce turnover, and support stronger revenue growth.
• Distributor leaders should assess whether managers can coach—not merely sell or manage—because effective coaching requires asking developmental questions, setting measurable goals, and following up regularly.

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Most sales managers believe they are coaching their team. Ask them, and they'll say it happens every week. Watch them in action and you'll see deal reviews, pipeline updates, and performance check-ins. This is important, but it is not sales coaching, and the difference is costly. 

Objective Management Group research shows that fewer than 20 percent of sales managers coach effectively. Not occasionally—effectively. The other 80 percent are managing: inspecting, reporting, and reacting, and calling it coaching. 

Managing is an evaluation of the past, while sales coaching changes behavior going forward. For example, a manager reviews last quarter, but a coach builds the skills that improve next quarter. 

When sales managers don't coach, reps plateau, skills gaps never close, and turnover rises—not from a bad fit, but from stagnation. 

Managing vs. Coaching 

Effective sales coaching is specific and intentional. It targets a particular behavior, connects that behavior to a measurable outcome, and follows up consistently. It is uncomfortable for both rep and manager, as real development usually is. 

What most managers do is react to what's in front of them. A deal is stalling, so they step in. A number is soft, so they push for more activity. A late objection surfaces, and they tell the rep what to say next. 

Management keeps the machine running. It does not make the machine better. 

Most sales managers avoid real coaching because they were never taught how to coach effectively. They were promoted for being strong sellers, not strong developers of people. The skills that made them successful as reps—urgency, closing instinct, deal sense—are not the same skills that make someone an effective sales coach. 

Coaching requires patience. It means asking questions instead of giving answers and watching a rep work through a tough conversation, resisting the urge to take over. That is hard for people who are naturally wired to win. 

Harvard Business Review research found that managers who coach effectively see 19 percent greater revenue growth than those who don't. That is not a rounding error; it is the kind of competitive advantage most companies never stop looking for inside their own sales organization. 

Leadership Takeaway 

Sales coaching is the highest leverage activity a sales manager can perform. It multiplies talent, closes skills gaps, and compounds over time—but only if it actually happens. 

Most CEOs I work with can tell me exactly what their top competitor is doing. Few can tell me whether their managers are actually coaching or just holding meetings. That gap shows in the numbers. 

As renowned College Basketball Coach John Wooden said, "A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life." 

In sales, that principle holds. Great sales coaching changes results. Assess your managers' sales coaching effectiveness. Don't assume the deal reviews are coaching. 

Jim Peduto, Esq., CBSE, is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Knowledgeworx, LLC. Owners and CEOs rely on Jim's strategic thinking and transformational growth expertise to win market share and achieve performance gains.