Managing a sales team can be very intimidating, especially if you are new to it. SDR leaders have many responsibilities, but if they are not building qualified pipeline, then they are not doing their job. No pressure at all, right?

Many sales leaders do not get any training, so they might have a hard time understanding what their role involves and how to achieve their goals.

I felt very insecure in my previous role as an SDR manager because, for a couple of months, we did not generate any pipeline. This can quickly lead to self-doubt and to questions like “Am I adding any value to the company if my team is not performing?”.

Truth is, the best way you can make sure that you are bringing value to your team is by giving them the best possible sales coaching. The key is to identify the issues your team is facing, the areas for improvement, and the habits and skills that need to be developed.

Then, build a list of specific coaching objectives and consistently measure sales coaching effectiveness, so that you can keep improving your methods and strategy, and ultimately coach your team to success.

Sales Coaching: Why is it Important?

Becoming a sales manager is a big transition. Before you were promoted to an SDR manager, you were probably one of the top-performing reps. You were a great individual contributor, but now you are in a leadership role and you have to learn a completely new set of skills, like people skills, how to give your reps feedback, how to call-coach them, and so on.

But, just because you were amazing at sales does not mean that you will be a great leader. And the thing is, no one teaches you how to be a good manager, and that is why we all experience imposter syndrome.

Sales managers need to wear many hats, and they need to keep a balance between coaching, strategizing, and connecting with their team on a human level, but then also between dealing with cross-functional relationships, marketing enablement operations, and other internal factors.

But your number one most important role is sales coaching. Sales coaching is non-negotiable. If you are a sales manager or a leader, then by default you are also a sales coach. If ⅓ of your week doesn’t go into coaching, then you’re failing the job.

I see the impact of sales coaching on rep performance over and over again. When we hire a new rep, they usually have zero to no experience. By coaching them, I’ve seen how they develop from knowing absolutely nothing, to then starting to book some meetings, to eventually understanding how the whole sales process works.

By the end of it, reps start coaching each other and I’m not even a part of the coaching sessions anymore. They will just send me recordings afterward so that I can make sure that I agree with everything that was said.

Also, coaching has a direct impact on your team’s performance. When I first started managing my current team, we were booking 5 meetings per week. That is atrocious, you shouldn’t exist as a program.

At first, I had to focus on building a strategy and a structure, so I was able to give a little bit of coaching. That already doubled the amount of meetings my team was booking, but it was still bad.

Once I was able to have the structure, the strategy, and the process all figured out, I was really able to focus on coaching and to build that in as a regular part of our culture and to have a weekly rhythm. Then we started seeing 3 to 4 times more weekly meetings booked.

You have to make it a priority to block consistent time slots off your calendar for sales call coaching. You need to build your schedule around these regular sessions because if you don’t have the right workflow and infrastructure, you are constantly putting bandages on issues that need surgery.

By coaching your team consistently and effectively, your reps will be able to perform better, develop faster, and have more confidence in themselves.

If you don’t know how to get started, get involved with your peers. Go to other managers in the industry, and figure out what their week, their day, and their coaching rhythm look like. How often do they call coach? What do they do? What templates do they use?

Once you implement what you know is the right thing, you will grow into being good at it. Whether that’s a weekly one-on-one, or something else. Just start implementing it. The imposter syndrome will go away.

How to Define Your Coaching Objectives?

Sales coaching is one of the hardest parts of being a leader, again because nobody teaches you how to do it. If you want to make sure that your coaching methods will be effective, you need to set specific, measurable sales coaching objectives first.

Every company has different objectives for its sales teams, so it’s important that you identify those specific targets and line up your coaching goals with them.

Then, break them down into behavioral changes you want to see in your team, and into skills you want your reps to develop to reach the desired outcomes. Identify the areas of improvement you need to address.

The way I see it is that the reason why this company needs me as an SDR manager is to develop qualified pipeline so that the sales team has the highest chance possible to close those deals and bring revenue to the company.

1. So, first and foremost, I want to create a team, an engine in a process that provides predictable and repeatable pipeline consistently.

2. The second most important objective is to develop the reps because the future of the company will rely on how qualified those reps are, as they promote up and through the organization.

3. The third objective is to create a highly effective system that anyone can plug into. I’m building a pipeline development assembly line all the way from hiring a good SDR, to training them, and to getting them to perform, so that if a new manager were to take over tomorrow, everything would continue running smoothly.

This actually came from my buddy Mike Milewski. He taught me that when he has a new sales rep, the first thing he does is show them how to catch a fish.

Phase 1: You give your fishing rod (meaning your talk track) to the rep because you know that it is tested and it works. Your rep starts to get some success, making them feel more confident and comfortable.

Phase 2: Then, you break the fishing rod apart and explain how it works. They start understanding why this strategy works so well.

Phase 3: Once they’ve understood what is successful and what isn’t, you encourage them to make their own fishing rod and they are probably going to make a better one than yours. And that’s the whole point.

My main goal is that when an SDR leaves my program, they know how to coach themselves. Now all I have to do is look over their shoulder and be there for them. It’s all about turning them into their own coaches and leaders.