March 1, 2025 | Read online
The Secret to Transforming Your Sales Team: Apply your Selling Skills to Coaching
by Kevin 'KD' Dorsey
Y’all, let’s keep it real. How many times have you sat through a one-on-one with your sales manager and thought, “Man, this guy is just reliving his glory days instead of actually helping me close deals”? I’m betting it’s more than a few. The truth is, a lot of sales leaders get caught up in their past successes and forget to bring those same skills to the table when it comes to coaching their reps.
But here’s the thing - the best sales managers out there? They’re not just telling war stories. They’re using the same diagnostic and problem-solving skills that made them top sellers in the first place. And let me tell you, when you make that mindset shift, it can straight up transform your team’s performance.
I’ve been in this game a long time, both as a successful salesperson and a sales leader. And I’ve seen firsthand what it takes to be effective at both selling and coaching. The key insight here is simple: the best sales managers apply the same skills that made them successful salespeople when they’re coaching their teams. They don’t just rely on their past success as top sellers.
Effective coaching is more than just sharing stories - it’s an active process of problem-solving and persuasion.
Great Salespeople Are Skilled Diagnosticians
If you want to be a killer salesperson, you absolutely need to be skilled at diagnosis and discovery. But here’s the thing - we tend to forget about those skills when it comes to our own sales reps. Top salespeople are masters at diagnosing a prospect’s situation and needs, and tailoring their pitch accordingly.
In fact, Salesforce found that 66% of sales leaders believe AI helps understand customer needs, a critical diagnostic skill. And great sales coaches? They do the same thing. They diagnose the specific strengths and weaknesses of each rep to provide customized coaching. Compare that to managers who use a “one-size-fits-all” approach, and it’s no wonder so many reps feel frustrated and unsupported.
Selling to Your Own Team
We all know we have to be great at pitching and selling. But are we putting that same level of effort into pitching and solving problems for our own teams? The truth is, a lot of the same skills that make us successful sellers can and should be applied to our leadership roles. But for whatever reason, we tend to neglect that when we move into management.
Salespeople are masters at persuasion - getting prospects to see value and take action. A study by the University of Tennessee found that salespeople with high emotional intelligence achieve sales outcomes 351% higher than those who are emotionally overconfident. And effective coaches use those same skills to “sell” their reps on making changes and trying new techniques. Reps are like customers who need to be convinced of the value of changing habits and behaviors.
Coaching as Collaborative Problem-Solving
Never assume you know what’s causing an issue. A low close rate is just the symptom - it’s not the actual diagnosis. That’s like saying the pain in your knee is the problem. Nope, the real issue is what’s causing that pain. That’s what the true diagnosis is all about.
The key here is to ask great questions throughout the entire process. Don’t just jump to conclusions. Dig deeper to uncover the root cause. Top salespeople are creative problem-solvers who navigate objections and roadblocks. And great coaches take the same approach - working collaboratively with reps to overcome challenges. Contrast that with managers who simply give orders without buy-in, and you can see why some teams struggle to improve.
Conclusion
When you apply sales skills to coaching, you unlock more effective team performance. Teams that receive sales coaching experience 16.7% higher revenue growth. So sales leaders, it’s time to re-evaluate your coaching philosophy and methods. The best sales managers never stop being salespeople - they just sell to a different audience.
When we recognize that the core skills of diagnosis, problem-solving, pitching, and persuasion are just as vital when coaching reps as when selling to prospects, we can bridge that gap that often prevents sales managers from being as effective as they could be.
So let’s start applying those same skills that made us successful sellers to our leadership roles and watch our teams crush it.
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