My Thoughts

The Sales Coaching Revolution: Why Most Businesses Are Getting It Wrong (And How to Fix It)

You know what's killing me about sales coaching today? Everyone's obsessed with the latest "game-changing" techniques, but they're missing the bloody obvious stuff that actually works.

I've been running sales teams across three different industries for the past 18 years, and I'm here to tell you something that might ruffle some feathers: most sales coaching programs are complete rubbish. There, I said it.

Last month, I watched a supposedly "world-class" sales coach charge a Brisbane manufacturing company $15,000 to teach their team about "consultative selling." The same consultative selling principles we were using back in 2007. The same principles that work, by the way, but nothing revolutionary enough to justify that price tag.

But here's where it gets interesting.

The Real Problem With Modern Sales Coaching

The issue isn't that sales coaching doesn't work. It absolutely does. The problem is that 73% of companies are approaching it completely backwards. They're focusing on tactics instead of psychology, scripts instead of relationships, and closing techniques instead of opening minds.

I learned this the hard way when I was managing a team of 12 sales reps in Sydney about six years ago. We brought in this hotshot consultant who promised to revolutionise our approach. Three months and $22,000 later, our conversion rates had actually dropped by 8%. Turned out, all those fancy techniques were making my team sound like robots.

That's when I realised something crucial: sales coaching isn't about teaching people to sell. It's about teaching them to connect.

Why Australian Sales Teams Are Different

Now, here's an opinion that might get me in trouble: Australian sales professionals have a natural advantage that most international coaches completely miss. We're naturally more direct, less pushy, and we value genuine relationships over quick wins. But instead of leveraging these strengths, we keep importing American-style sales methodologies that make us sound like used car salesmen from a 1980s movie.

Take Atlassian, for example. Their sales culture is built around authenticity and problem-solving, not aggressive closing. They've grown into a multi-billion-dollar company by embracing what makes Australian business culture unique. Yet I still see companies in Melbourne trying to teach their teams to be more "assertive" when they should be teaching them to be more insightful.

The Three Pillars of Effective Sales Coaching

After years of trial and error (and some spectacular failures), I've identified three core elements that actually move the needle:

Emotional Intelligence Over Product Knowledge Your team probably knows your product inside out. What they don't know is how to read the room, manage their own emotions during rejection, or navigate complex stakeholder dynamics. I spend 60% of my coaching time on emotional intelligence training, and it's the best investment any sales leader can make.

Conversation Skills, Not Presentation Skills Stop teaching your team to pitch. Start teaching them to have meaningful conversations. The best salespeople I've worked with are master conversationalists who make prospects feel heard and understood. They're not performing; they're connecting.

Actually, let me contradict myself for a moment here. There is a place for presentation skills in sales coaching. But only after you've mastered the art of dialogue. You need to earn the right to present through genuine curiosity and expert questioning.

Resilience Training This is where most coaching programs fail spectacularly. They pump up your team with motivation and tactics, then send them into the real world where they face rejection, deal with difficult prospects, and navigate internal politics. Without proper stress management training, even the best techniques fall apart under pressure.

The Melbourne Mindset Shift

I remember working with a fintech startup in Melbourne's CBD about three years ago. Their sales team was struggling despite having an incredible product and solid market demand. The problem? They were so focused on hitting numbers that they'd forgotten to help people.

We completely flipped their approach. Instead of "How can we close this deal?" we trained them to ask "How can we solve this person's problem?" Revenue increased by 34% in four months, but more importantly, customer satisfaction scores went through the roof.

The shift wasn't about being less commercial. It was about being more human.

What Big Corporates Get Right (And Wrong)

Companies like Commonwealth Bank and Telstra have some brilliant sales coaching initiatives. They invest heavily in ongoing development, they measure the right metrics, and they understand that sales coaching is a long-term game, not a quick fix.

But here's where they often stumble: they over-systemise everything. They create processes for processes. They measure activities instead of outcomes. And they forget that sales, at its core, is about people connecting with people.

The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. You need systems and processes, but you also need to preserve the human element that makes sales relationships work.

The Technology Trap

Everyone's talking about AI and automation in sales, and yes, these tools can be incredibly powerful. But I'm seeing too many teams use technology as a crutch instead of an amplifier.

CRM systems should make your salespeople more effective, not more administrative. Sales automation should free up time for relationship building, not replace human interaction entirely. The moment your coaching program starts focusing more on software than on people skills, you've lost the plot.

Practical Implementation (Finally)

Right, enough philosophy. Here's how you actually implement effective sales coaching:

Start with individual assessment. You can't coach what you don't understand. Spend time with each team member understanding their strengths, weaknesses, and natural communication style.

Focus on one skill at a time. I see managers trying to fix everything at once. Pick one area—maybe it's asking better questions or handling difficult conversations—and work on that for 4-6 weeks before moving on.

Role-play everything. And I mean everything. Objection handling, discovery calls, pricing discussions, even awkward small talk. The more your team practices in a safe environment, the more confident they'll be in real situations.

Measure the right things. Stop obsessing over activity metrics and start tracking relationship quality, customer satisfaction, and long-term value creation.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Here's something that might sting: if your sales coaching isn't working, it's probably because you're trying to teach techniques instead of developing people. You're focusing on what to say instead of how to think. You're optimising for short-term results instead of long-term relationships.

Sales coaching should be making your team better humans, not better performers. When you get the human element right, the performance follows naturally.

And here's the really uncomfortable truth: most sales managers aren't qualified to be coaches. They might be brilliant salespeople, but coaching requires a completely different skill set. It requires patience, empathy, and the ability to see potential where others see problems.

Looking Forward

The future of sales coaching in Australia is bright, but only if we stop following every American guru and start developing our own approaches. We need coaching methodologies that reflect our values, our communication styles, and our business culture.

We need to stop treating sales coaching as a cost centre and start treating it as the strategic advantage it should be. Companies that get this right will dominate their markets. Companies that don't will struggle to attract and retain top talent.

The choice is yours. You can keep doing sales coaching the way everyone else does it, or you can build something genuinely effective.

I know which path I'd choose.