Strategies for effective sales coaching


The time your people invest in sales coaching doesn’t always deliver the results you need, which means your team experiences significant inefficiencies as you struggle to hit key targets. Nevertheless, each rep requires individual attention, just as each deal requires a unique touch.
To build a coaching approach that maximizes impact without draining resources, it’s essential to implement automated processes.
The right tools can streamline the entire coaching process, allowing you to deliver timely, personalized feedback that enhances your reps’ skills in real-time. Even more, these tools help foster a culture of ownership, motivating reps to take initiative and perform at their best.
Keep reading to discover useful tools and coaching strategies. Learn how AI can support your coaching efforts and help you keep your reps motivated while improving employee retention.
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The role of automated analytics and AI-driven tools in sales coaching
According to The 2024 State of Sales Report, on average, every SDR is responsible for building the sales pipeline for four AEs. This shows just how crucial it is that they are properly coached.
Without the right level of tailored support, SDRs will struggle to generate qualified leads. This leads to missed revenue opportunities and adds pressure on the AEs. Consequently, your pipeline growth slows down.
Let’s take a closer look at the way automated analytics and AI-driven tools can help you deliver the right type of sales training, and nurture top performers.
Gaining deeper insights into performance trends
Easily accessible analytics allow you to see trends in sales reps' performance, measure the effectiveness of your coaching, and identify where your team might need extra support. With the right insights at your fingertips, it’s easier to fine-tune your approach and help your salespeople keep improving.
For example, Orum’s Rep Performance dashboard gives you a birds-eye view of how your reps are performing against key metrics. As well as providing you with a summary of individual results, you can also see how your reps are performing relative to each other.

Personalizing coaching for targeted development
Quick, real-time feedback—like pinpointing call techniques that drive higher conversion rates—helps highlight specific strengths and weaknesses for each sales rep.
For example, if reps frequently struggle with specific objections, Orum’s Analytics can pinpoint these challenges. Sales managers can easily identify the blockers keeping the sales team from booking meetings, and support coach reps to reach their full potential. This is useful not only for coaching purposes, but also for regularly updating your sales playbook.

Driving engagement through gamified feedback and rewards
When reps see their progress compared to peers, it encourages them to push harder and reach higher milestones. This supports knowledge transfer and helps your entire team develop new methodologies, while also building team camaraderie.
Orum has gamification features that help you bring healthy competition to your salesfloor. Sales reps can see key milestones and achievements, and get inspired to climb the leaderboard. This drives both individual and collective growth, and helps your sales team stay motivated.
Scaling sales coaching efforts with automated call insights
When managing larger teams, it’s challenging to stay on top of every call, but automated insights can help bridge the gap.
AI-generated call notes quickly summarize key details, so you don’t have to sift through hours of recordings to find what matters. The Call Library takes it a step further by letting you curate lists of specific sales calls that showcase best practices (or highlight common issues).
This saves you a lot of time, it makes sales training more focused, and it helps reps learn faster. This makes the onboarding more efficient as well. They get access to real-world examples they can use to improve their process and close more deals.

Reducing ramp-up time for new sales team members
With automated dialing tools, new reps can get up to speed much faster. The tools make it easy for them to connect with prospects quickly, while detailed sales call data and curated examples show them what works right away.
This combination helps new hires learn on the job, adopt best practices, and start delivering value in record time. You can significantly decrease ramp-up time because improving sales skills gets a lot easier. Before you know it, your team performance improves as well—all because you optimized your coaching process.
5 Steps to building an effective sales coaching plan
To create a solid foundation for your sales coaching program, you need to have a structured approach. Here are five key steps that will guide you in implementing an effective coaching plan.
1. Assess departmental performance
You can start by evaluating your team’s current performance metrics, and identifying their strengths and weaknesses. Make sure to look at conversion rates, sales call quality, and individual performance data to understand where the team stands. This assessment will lay the groundwork for creating the right type of sales training program.
2. Establish objectives and KPIs
Set clear goals for the coaching program. Is your primary goal to increase the number of qualified leads? Or is it maybe to reduce ramp-up time for new hires?
You need to measure what matters to you and define your team’s KPIs. This will help keep the coaching efforts aligned with broader business objectives. Plus, your entire sales organization will have a clear sense of what they’re working toward.
3. Get buy in from SDRs and team leaders
Coaching works best when everyone’s on the same page. Talk to your SDRs and team leaders about the potential action plan, how sales coaching can benefit them, and what they can expect. Learning needs to be interactive and engaging. When your team sees the value and feels included, they’ll be more open to feedback and willing to participate.
4. Establish tools, techniques, and approach
The next thing you should do is choose the right tools and methods to support your coaching efforts. Use call analysis software, real-time feedback tools, and CRM data to make the process easier.
Combining regular one-on-ones, group sales training, and interactive self-serve learning with AI-powered tools–allows you to keep coaching both personal and scalable. This approach helps sales reps feel supported and confident in their roles, knowing they have access to the guidance and resources they need.
5. Track sales performance and iterate
Finally, you need to keep an eye on the metrics you’ve set and adjust your coaching plan as needed. Use the data to see where reps are improving and where more support is needed, whether it’s refining closing techniques or objection handling.
When you regularly review these insights, you’ll be able to spot patterns and stay proactive. As a sales manager, it’s your responsibility to make sure your sales coaching program evolves alongside your team's growth.
Explore this further with our free sales call report template and insights on how to review sales calls for SDR coaching.
9 Effective sales coaching strategies using automation
To get the best out of your sales team, you need to mix a personal touch with smart automation. Here’s how you can make sales coaching more practical and impactful, while also getting buy-in from your team. Because, after all, coaching is a two-way street.
1. Implement regular one-on-one coaching sessions
One-on-one coaching sessions are still the backbone of sales coaching, but automation can make them more effective. Rather than guessing what a rep might need, you can use tools like Orum’s Rep Performance Dashboard to focus on specific challenges. Automated data highlights what to work on, so you can offer more meaningful advice during these sessions.
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2. Utilize call recordings for sales training purposes
It’s one thing to tell reps what a great call sounds like, but it’s another to let them hear it for themselves. With call recordings, you can show them real examples of successful strategies.
Orum’s Call Library lets you create playlists of the best sales calls that cover various scenarios, making it easy for reps to learn what works in real-world situations. Whether it’s overcoming objections, nailing down messaging in their follow-ups, or closing deals, they can reverse-engineer what works. Allow your sales reps to jump in themselves, and you’ll increase productivity and spend less time coaching in-person.
3. Set realistic, personalized goals for your salespeople
Make sure you don’t just throw out generic targets. Tailor goals based on where each rep is now and where they can realistically improve. The data is incredibly valuable here. You can set milestones that challenge your SDRs, but aren’t out of reach.
Orum’s AI-generated insights can help track these goals in real-time, allowing you to adjust and give reps personalized feedback as they progress. Once they gain momentum, you’ll be able to shorten the sales cycle across your organization.
4. Set an example as a sales manager, encourage peer-to-peer coaching
Sometimes, the best advice comes from the person sitting right next to you. Create opportunities for reps to learn from each other by sharing call insights across the team.
Orum makes it easy for reps to listen to each other’s calls and offer feedback. This not only builds a sense of community, but also lets team members share practical tips they’ve found useful.
Additionally, the Salesfloor can help you significantly improve sales performance by bringing all your team members together. On average, reps have a 6% higher conversion rate when they dial in the Salesfloor.

5. Leverage technology for real-time feedback
Don’t wait until the weekly check-in to give feedback. Real-time insights from tools like Orum allow you to coach in the moment. That’s when sales coaching is most effective. Whether a rep missed an opportunity to ask a follow-up question or nail a pitch, address it immediately.
This will help reinforce good habits and correct mistakes while they're still fresh. It’s the fastest way to transfer know-how as a mentor.
6. Focus on soft skills development
Data-driven sales coaching isn’t just about hitting numbers. It’s also about making sure your salespeople connect with prospects.
With Orum’s Call Library, sales reps can improve their soft skills. For example, they can learn how to build trust in sales, which often makes the difference between an “okay” call and a fantastic one.

7. Reward and recognize improvements and successes
As a mentor, you need to keep your team motivated by celebrating their wins. Automated tools can help you effortlessly track progress, so you’ll have more time to recognize reps for hitting personal milestones.
Badges, leaderboards, or other recognition programs can add a bit of friendly competition, and you’ll likely see a boost in team performance.
8. Promote continuous learning and development
Don’t let sales training be a one-off event. You should try to create a culture where learning happens all the time and prioritize continuous improvement. Give your sales professionals access to resources like a library of call recordings, or on-demand training videos, so they can continuously build on their sales skills.
As mentioned, Orum’s Call Library can be a great tool here. Your sales rep can dive into useful content whenever they need a refresher, or in case they want to practice new techniques.
9. Use role-playing scenarios for hands-on practice
There’s nothing like practicing real scenarios (without the pressure of closing a deal) to prepare for the unexpected. Encourage your sales team to use insights from past calls and create role-playing exercises that feel realistic.
This will give your salespeople the chance to practice in a safe space before they face similar challenges in real calls. Additionally, they’ll always look to improve their current sales process.
One way to go about this is to check the CRM to see the accounts they are responsible for, and then filter the calls to find similar customer profiles. They’ll be able to see how more experienced sales professionals handled objections and learn from the process.
Sales coaching just got a lot easier
Sales coaching can be challenging because it means juggling individual needs you have as a sales manager, with team goals. But the payoff—watching your reps grow, gain confidence, and hit their targets—makes it all worth it.
You've now got a full toolkit of strategies to make sales coaching more efficient, personalized, and impactful. From one-on-one mentor sessions powered by data insights to automating real-time feedback and leveraging peer-to-peer learning, you can transform the way your salesforce grows and performs.
With Orum’s suite of tools, including AI-powered call insights and the Call Library, you can start applying these strategies right away. Make coaching easier, keep your reps motivated, and improve employee retention–all while watching your team's performance climb.
Transform sales coaching with AI
Use insights and analytics to identify coaching opportunities and unlock your sales team’s full potential.
Request a demo