“Great salespeople are not born, they are made.” —Ed Calnan

If you’re reading this article, there’s a high chance that your reps are struggling to find their footing in the world of B2B sales or they have simply hit a brick wall.

B2B buyers are well-educated and informed about the products/services they need. For sales reps to actually add value to the buyer’s decision-making process, they need to stay continuously updated on buyer expectations, product offerings and address objections effectively.

This is precisely why coaching is important in B2B sales. With managers continuously refining their reps’ skills and enabling them to be more helpful to customers.

Throughout this article, we help you understand what effective B2B sales coaching is, the common struggles your reps face, the challenges managers face in implementing sales coaching, and how to deal with them. 

What is B2B sales coaching and how similar are they to B2C coaching?

B2B sales coaching involves experienced sales mentors guiding sales teams to enhance skills in strategic selling, relationship building, and effective communication. In fact, studies reveal that for every $1 you spend on training, you can get up to $4.53 in return. The key players here include sales managers, trainers, and your peers, with a specific focus on the parts of sales that impact closing rates, driving revenue, and developing long-term client relationships.

How is it different from B2C sales coaching?

Here’s a primer on how B2B sales is different from B2C sales, and why both require different coaching approaches.

However, while B2B and B2C sales environments are different, here’s how certain techniques from B2C sales coaching can be effectively transferred to B2B coaching.

• Role-playing exercises are valuable in both B2B and B2C sales coaching. These allow reps to practice their pitches with peers or managers before appearing for sales calls.
• Developing scripts and battle cards for addressing objections is common in both B2B and B2C sales.
• Coaching techniques like urging the rep to ask open-ended questions, using positive language, and following up regularly are also essential in both sales environments
• While the depth and complexity of product knowledge may vary, both B2B and B2C sales reps also benefit from product walkthroughs

Where do reps struggle during a typical B2B sales process? 

You may have a team of pros, but even your star reps would need help closing their skills gaps. Some these areas include:

1. Initial contact resistance

Reps often face resistance even with their most optimal ICPs during the initial contact stage. This can be due to a lack of prospect research and consequently lack of personalization during outreach. Such ineffective communication can lead to wrong messaging, unalignment with marketing messages and value propositions.

2. Lead qualification 

One of the hardest parts of sales is figuring out which leads are really interested and likely to buy.

Accurately qualifying leads is a common challenge for many reps. Reasons for this may include inconsistent lead qualification criteria, manual lead scoring processes, a lack of alignment between the sales team and marketing on what is a sales-ready lead, or perhaps the rep's inability to ask the right questions for lead qualification. 

3. Need assessment 

Understanding what a customer really needs is super important for making a good sales pitch. Reps often battle with this due to inadequate listening and investigative skills. This prevents them from fully understanding the prospect's unique challenges, goals, and requirements. 

4. Addressing complex product details  

When dealing with complex products, reps face challenges in effectively communicating the product's capabilities, specifications, and value. 

They also struggle to personalize their product demos and are unaware about the customer success stories relevant for the specific needs and use cases of the prospect. 

5. Objection handling 

Not enough preparation and practice in anticipating and addressing common objections is another challenge that can impact the outcome of your sales calls. It can be because of poor product knowledge, communication skills or simply practice that reps aren’t able to respond confidently and accurately to prospect objections.

6. Negotiation 

Lastly, closing a deal that’s win-win for both parties is extremely important. However the negotiations that happen before deal closure are often grueling for reps. This can also be attested to lack of preparation and coaching as only 26% of sales negotiators know what questions they will ask when they meet their prospect. Sales training company, RAIN Group, reports that in most deals, negotiators fail to identify and use negotiation leverage points based on the prospect's needs, competitive landscape, and market dynamics. 

Popular sales coaching techniques to tackle these challenges 

B2B sales coaching techniques are a set of tactics that enable managers to build a bridge that takes their reps from where they are today to where they want or need to be. Here are a few popular ones 

1. AI call evaluation

AI has upgraded sales coaching by adding an objective layer to call evaluation. AI-powered tools can automatically analyze sales calls to offer insights such as talk-to-listen ratio, filler word usage, objection handling, and adherence to sales methodologies. This allows you to identify the exact areas where reps need coaching.

📈Happysales offers deep call insights in a click and helps your reps generate contextual outreach and nurturing content aligned with the buyers’ needs. 

2. Sales role-playing

Being great at sales requires practice. Role-playing is a time-tested coaching technique using which reps can practice their sales skills without actually risking customer relationships. Through simulated sales calls, reps can refine product knowledge, objection handling, and negotiation tactics, and get real-time feedback.

💡Happysales’ in-built AI coach handles sales role-playing by mimicking your prospect using LinkedIn data, and offers suggestions for improvement.

3. Call shadowing

Call shadowing involves listening in on the live calls of experienced sales reps to pick up tactics that are tried and tested by them. By doing this, underperforming reps can learn which questions to ask for need assessment, how to personalize product demos and see firsthand how to get past initial contact resistance.

4. Sales call reviews

These are either 1:1 or group sessions to analyze recorded sales calls or transcripts for identifying moments that need improvements. Managers can share feedback on product-related responses, assess lead quality, and find training opportunities while also allowing for knowledge sharing among the team.

5. Training resources

Providing reps with detailed training resources is a coaching technique that promotes self-paced learning. These resources include video-on-demand sessions and tutorials, ebooks, sales playbooks, feature datasheets, and more for reps to reference when they feel stuck during a sales conversation. 

Where do managers struggle with sales coaching (+ how to deal with it)

This section will deep dive into these challenges and suggest some best practices to overcome them. 

1. Rep resistance 

Many sales reps, especially high performers, believe that coaching is provided only to underperformers or new hires. They also often resist coaching because they are comfortable with their current methods or fear that new approaches will lead to a drop in their metrics. 

On the contrary, regular training can lead to 50% higher net sales per sales rep.

Here’s what you can do 

• Make it clear that coaching is a standard practice that applies to the entire team 
• Share success stories and examples of how coaching has positively impacted other reps
• Include reps in building coaching plans to ensure their buy-in and gradually introduce new ways to help reps adapt

2. Lack of time 

Both reps and managers have their daily drills which makes finding time for coaching difficult. They face issues with task prioritization, meeting fatigue, and more. 

Here’s what you can do 

• Opt for shorter, more frequent coaching slots on your calendar instead of lengthy ones with more gaps
• Use modern tools such as AI-powered coaching platforms to streamline coaching
• Add coaching activities into everyday tasks, such as debriefing and sharing suggestions

3. Measuring coaching effectiveness

Quantifying the impact of coaching efforts can be tricky as sales performance may be influenced by various factors beyond coaching. 

Here’s what you can do 

• Establish clear KPIs and correlate them with individual and team sales data 

• Check with your sales reps to see if the coaching they receive is useful and make adjustments 
• Implement pre- and post-coaching tests like role plays to track changes in knowledge

4. Different learning needs

Sales reps have different learning styles and may not respond equally to the same coaching methods. Moreover, with a remote team, the same approach doesn't apply to all. Some reps prefer hands-on practice, while others might need theoretical instruction.

Here’s what you can do 

• Be flexible and provide a mix of learning formats, such as 1:1 sessions, group workshops, online courses, and interactive role-playing
• Circulate surveys to understand reps' preferred learning methods and adjust your approach

5. Maintaining motivation

For most sales reps, 84% of their sales training is forgotten within just three months due to a lack of information retention. 

Keeping sales reps engaged throughout the coaching process gets hard, especially over the long term. Reps lose interest or feel discouraged if they don't see immediate results.

Here’s what you can do 

• Break down long-term goals into short-term ones to maintain a sense of progress
• Regularly recognize and celebrate the achievements of your sales reps 
• Incorporate interactive elements and gamification into coaching sessions

How to design an effective sales coaching program

Only 17% of companies say they have an effective training program. However, to become a part of this 17%, here are key things that you must keep in mind while implementing a sales coaching program at your organization. 

1. Contextualize the coaching

Before you begin with your sales coaching program, it's important to define clear goals and objectives. What specific skills do you want your reps to improve? Are you aiming to increase win rates, average deal size, or customer lifetime value? 

Suppose your objective is to increase the customer lifetime value (CLV), you might focus on training your reps in upselling techniques. 

Once you have an objective, it gets easier for you to align content and activities to achieve it.

2. Optimize coaching using AI 

Next, harness the power of AI to personalize your coaching program. Use AI-powered tools like Happysales to prepare self-paced, role-play driven coaching programs. Without any need for human intervention, the AI can automatically analyze coaching calls, identify unique skill gaps, and offer suggestions. The data AI algorithms produce can be used to create effective 1-1 coaching unique to each rep.

3. Use real-life examples and sales calls

High-quality sales coaching is grounded in real-life scenarios and examples. Incorporate recorded sales calls or transcripts into your coaching sessions, allowing reps to learn from actual customer interactions. Role-playing exercises based on real-life situations or AI-simulated scenarios can also provide good practice and feedback opportunities.

4. Measure coaching programs effectively 

Lastly, justify the investment you have made in your coaching program. Establish a clear set of metrics for different stages of the sales process. The analysis may cover the following areas:

Using Happysales for B2B sales coaching AI-powered tools have taken over the market with their impact on almost all business functions. Happysales is an AI-powered sales coaching platform that does all the heavy lifting for both managers and reps. Its AI algorithms are trained to turn sales coaching into sales success, round the clock. Here’s how:

• The platform offers realistic AI-powered role-playing that feels like actual prospect meetings. Its Chrome extension seamlessly feeds LinkedIn prospect data into role-play scenarios making each one a dynamic, real-world experience. 

• Whether your reps need guidance at 2 AM or during a midday slump, its AI Coach is always there to provide timely support, cutting down the ramp-up times for new hires as well

• The call scripts and insights offered by Happysales assist your reps and improve their performance in real-time empowering you to offer targeted coaching without any human interference

What’s even better? It offers a forever-free plan for you to explore its full range of features firsthand and experience its positive impact on your team's performance. Ready to begin your journey towards sales success? Get started here.