Why SaaS sales coaching works?

In the fast-paced world of sales, it’s vital that you always maintain a fresh and modern sales strategy. Otherwise, your techniques can quickly become outdated and you might find that your business starts falling behind the competition.

But how can ensure you stay ahead of the game?

Well, there are several different ways you can implement a strong and effective sales strategy. But arguably the most successful and cost-effective way is to hire a SaaS or B2B sales coach.

This is because SaaS sales coaching has been proven to have a positive impact on:

But not only this, an effective SaaS sales consultant can help your business to build a scalable and profitable sales process to future-proof your sales strategy.

In this guide, we’re going to take a look at what a SaaS sales coach actually does, what you need to consider before hiring one and most importantly, why SaaS sales coaching really works.

A sales coach is an important part of the sales force. Through coaching and training, they are responsible for ensuring the team is ready and equipped to get the best results.

They focus on the behaviours and strategies that the sales reps are using to help them gain confidence. Plus, they teach them the skills they need to succeed.

Ultimately, they must help the sales team to improve their effectiveness and sales techniques. In doing so, their main responsibilities typically include:

As you can see from this list, it’s not just about telling sales reps exactly what to do. It’s about adapting their behaviour and equipping them with the skills they need to succeed in the long run.

Now, you might be thinking, well isn't this what a sales manager should be doing?

But let’s face it, amongst their daily responsibilities and overseeing the team it’s difficult to find the time to dedicate to coaching and development.

As such, a sales coach is often a better solution for everyone.

There is a number of reasons why SaaS sales coaching is so effective. If you're thinking about hiring a SaaS sales coach for your business, here’s why you should!

The archaic method of hiring and firing until you’ve created a naturally gifted team is outdated and inefficient. Not to mention it can be seriously costly to keep recruiting and creates a huge challenge for the HR team.

But guess what? SaaS sales coaching could be the ideal solution.

Instead of using a staff turnover approach, coaching can help to nurture the existing team. It does so by equipping them with the sales skills they need to succeed.

This means that you can grow and develop your team without all the hassle of hiring and firing. Rather, you invest in your sales reps and help them to become the best they possibly can be.

Although you might think your onboarding or annual training session is enough, this is often not the case.

As we said, the world of sales moves fast! And though training can give a temporary boost in sales behaviour and results, it’s not a permanent solution.

SaaS coaching, however, offers reinforcement and equips your sales reps with the skills they need. It continues to shape and develop your team so they create positive behaviours and habits that they bring to work with them every day.

One of the main goals of SaaS sales coaching is to create a team of self-motivated sales reps who feel supported and appreciated.

By investing in a SaaS sales coach, you show your reps that you're investing in them. And this can be very empowering and can encourage them to work even harder to hit their targets.

It also encourages them to take responsibility for their own workload and career development.

Last but not least, sales coaching encourages feedback and regular feedback is vital for both employers and their workforce.

The use of a SaaS sales coach means there is someone there to offer your sales reps in-depth feedback and to help them work on their techniques.

It also gives your reps someone to talk to if they're struggling or if they’d like to further their skills.

But more than this, a sales coach can report back to managers and look at the data to see how things are going. This is great news for businesses as it allows them to quickly highlight areas of strength and weakness.

Now you know why SaaS sales coaching works, you might be considering taking on a coach for your business. If this is the case, you need to make sure you're choosing the right coach for your team.

To help you do this, there are several key questions you should ask before you make a hire.

Below, we’ve pulled together a list of the top three questions to help you find a coach that will best support your business and help you achieve your sales goals. These are:

Someone can have an extensive sales background and strong knowledge of the industry. However, this doesn't necessarily mean they’d make a great sales coach.

There is a huge difference between simply giving yourself a Saas sales coach job title and having actually worked hundreds of hours leading and training sales professionals.

For this reason, you need to make sure you ask any potential coaches what formal training they’ve had.

If they're unable to prove that they’ve had any training or even experience acting as a sales coach, the likelihood is you and your team might not receive all the support you need.

Of course, that’s not to say you can’t hire a coach who has not had any formal training. You just simply can’t expect the same results as hiring a highly experienced sales coach.

On a similar note, you should try and uncover their personal track record of success in SaaS sales. This means discovering whether they’ve helped to build, develop and manage sales teams in the past.

After all, how can you expect someone to come in and educate your sales team if they have never had to walk the walk?

You need to choose a SaaS coach that can prove they’ve had results and successes in a past role and that they will be able to help you achieve your goals.

Otherwise, you could be wasting your time and money on someone who isn't able to support or lead your team.

Lastly, you want to make sure that whoever you hire as your SaaS sales coach isn't going to try and palm you off with a generic strategy.

Instead, you want someone that will tailor their coaching program specifically for your business and team.

As a general rule, a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't yield the best results. So find out early on what their coaching processes entails by asking them to reveal:

If they don't have a good answer or any previous examples to share, this is a red flag. You want a coach who knows their process inside out and how to get the most from a sales team. So be sure to ask these three questions.

As you can see, hiring a SaaS sales coach can have a number of benefits for your business. If you're hoping to boost your lead generation, increase conversion rates and boost profits, you need to start at the bottom.

Getting a SaaS sales coach on board is the perfect way to support your sales reps and equip them with the skills they need to be the best. This can also encourage them to take responsibility for their own sales techniques and workload.

But hey, we don't need to go through and list all the key benefits again, do we?

So if you're looking to take your SaaS company to the next level, it’s seriously time to consider taking on a SaaS sales coach.