Choose the single most useful thing to coach from a call or meeting.
Wei Ming, a sales manager, listened to a recording of one of Raj's first meetings and wrote a list of seven things Raj could improve. He then picked one of them to coach, and the way he chose it applies to any call you review.
The usual approach goes differently. A reviewer listens to a recorded call and fills a page with notes. The opening was rushed, and the rep talked over the buyer twice. They also mentioned price too early, missed a hint about a competitor, forgot to summarise and ended without a clear next step. The reviewer goes through all of it with the rep, carefully and kindly. The rep nods and says thanks, then does almost exactly the same things on the next call.
None of that feedback was wrong. There was simply too much of it. People can't change ten habits at once, but most can change one if they know exactly what it is and get to practise it. A long list leaves the rep with a vague feeling that they did badly and no clear idea where to start, while a single point gives them something they can try on their next call.
Write the full list if it helps you think. Once it's written, choose one item by asking which of these, if it changed, would make the biggest difference to whether this rep's deals move forward.
A weak close is often caused by weak discovery. If the rep never found out what the problem costs the buyer, no closing technique will rescue the deal. Fixing discovery fixes several later problems at once, so the answer to your question is usually found earlier in the call than the close.
Raj's meeting was with a logistics firm. He asked a good first question about how the buyer ran payroll today, and the buyer's answer mentioned overtime errors. Raj moved straight on to the product. Every other problem on Wei Ming's list followed from that moment, including the early price mention and the missing next step. Because Raj never found out what the errors cost, he had no value to anchor the price to and no reason to suggest a follow-up meeting.
Wei Ming chose this behaviour: when the buyer mentions a problem, ask at least one more question about it before talking about the product. Raj could ask "What does that cost you when it happens?" or "How often does that come up?"
Coach what a rep does rather than what a rep is. A trait is something about who the rep is, such as being confident or pushy. A behaviour is something the rep does and can try on their next call. "Be more confident" is a trait, and the rep can't go and "do confidence" on the next call. "When the buyer pushes back on price, pause and ask what they are comparing it with before you answer" is a behaviour the rep can do tomorrow.
Traits also feel personal. A behaviour such as "ask a second question" sounds like a technique, which it is, whereas being told you lack confidence or are too pushy sounds like a verdict on who you are.
Turn every trait on your list into the behaviour underneath it. If a rep "lacks confidence", look for what they actually did on the call and coach those habits instead. They may have apologised before stating the price, or agreed to send information when they could have asked for a meeting.
Tie the behaviour to a stage of the written sales process from module 4. The link does three things:
It makes the point easier to understand and remember. It tells the rep where in a deal the behaviour matters. It connects your coaching to a standard the whole team uses, so it doesn't rest on your personal preference.
Each stage has exit criteria, which are the conditions that must be met before a deal leaves that stage, and main activities, which are what the rep does during it. A deal can only leave "meeting agreed" once the buyer has described at least one problem in their own words. The main activities for "problem confirmed" include putting a cost on the problem with the buyer.
Wei Ming's behaviour belongs to the "problem confirmed" stage. On almost every call, Raj had been skipping the activity of putting a cost on the problem with the buyer. Wei Ming could open the sales process page, show Raj that this was the step he was missing, and give him the question that gets him there.
The link to a stage also tells you where to look in the data. A rep's conversion rate between two stages, which module 8 covers, can show you the same gap in the numbers before you hear any call.
Write the behaviour in the rep's file or in a shared note, with the date and the call it came from. Keep it to a line or two covering what the behaviour is, which stage it belongs to, and an example of what it sounds like. Wei Ming's note read:
Raj, 14 May (an invented date), first meeting with a logistics firm. Behaviour: when the buyer names a problem, ask at least one follow-up about its cost or frequency before moving on, at the problem confirmed stage. Example question: "How often do the overtime errors happen, and what does it take to fix one?"
Without a note, two weeks later you may remember the general topic but not the exact behaviour, and the rep may remember something slightly different. With a note, you can open the next session by checking whether the behaviour showed up. Lesson 6.4, "Run a coaching session and follow up", builds the follow-up on this note.
A rep may ask why you've given them only one thing. One change that sticks is worth more than seven that do not, so tell them honestly that the rest of the list isn't forgotten and will come up in later sessions.
In the activity below you will listen to one recorded call and write the single behaviour you would coach. Make sure everyone on the call knew it was being recorded, and if you do not have a recording, ask a rep to choose one of theirs.
Listen to one recorded call. Write down the one behaviour you would coach and why.
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