How to Become a More Coachable Sales Rep

As a sales rep, you can read all the sales books and blogs, watch all the instructional videos, and become something of a minor theoretical knowledge expert. And while this is both valuable and helpful, what will likely make the biggest impact in your sales career is receiving expert sales coaching.

Why? Because expert sales coaching takes concepts and applies them to real-world scenarios, so you can clearly see the what and how of doing things more effectively.

But in order to get the full benefits from expert sales coaching, you need to be, well, coachable. And this article here is your guide to becoming that.

How to be Coachable in Sales

Don’t take it personally

During a coaching session, your manager will have a discussion with you about your sales performance. This might include sales metrics, but also may encompass a review of your prospecting, territory management, and presentation and closing skills. A strong manager will include some praise and validation of the aspects of your position that you are doing correctly; along with this will be some constructive criticism.

Keep in mind this is not a pre-meditated attack on your reputation, intelligence, or honor. In most people, there is an immediate response to go on the defensive when we hear someone, especially our manager, say something less than glowing about us. Fight the urge to give a knee-jerk response such as, “But I always follow up promptly,” or “I always file my sales reports on time.” A good manager will be prepared with specific examples and numbers analysis. You too should be prepared, and a large part of your preparation is to anticipate some areas that your manager would like to see improved.

Tell your manager how you like to be coached

This might sound awkward, but it’s one of the best things you can do to improve both the quality of coaching and the benefits you derive from it. After all, some people prefer to hear praise alongside critiques. Others want to just hear the facts. You might prefer small talk before getting down to the meeting. (If you’re noticing this can be mapped to customer communication styles, congratulations. That’s exactly the case). Otherwise, the manager could default to whatever their preferred communication style and mode of coaching is. That could work, but it could be suboptimal or simply just not resonate with you – in which case the coaching benefits will either be reduced or even potentially lost in the most extreme cases. So it’s important to make this a priority.

Ask questions and don’t be afraid to seek help

Many sales reps are wary of asking questions or seeking help out of fear of appearing incompetent. Remember, your coaching meetings are opportunities to probe your manager or other leader for their expert advice and knowledge. Take advantage. Ask about the things you need or want to know about, those situations or behaviors you could use some assistance with. Or simply just get their thoughts on things you’re considering. There’s the added bonus of cultivating a reputation for someone who is passionate about sales and wants to get better – which can only help your career.

As a New Career Sales Rep or a More Experienced Rep with a New Employer

If you’re a totally new sales rep, congratulations and welcome to the exciting world of sales. Your primary objective is to ask questions and learn as much as you can – not only in any onboarding process, but in meetings and coaching sessions with your sales manager.

Be humble enough to recognize that you have a lot to learn and consider yourself a student. Along those lines, one thing you might want to do is ask your manager for sales books they recommend you read. It’s a good way to demonstrate your enthusiasm and the manager is likely to recommend titles that will align with the company’s sales process.

For more experienced reps with new employment, stay humble there, too – even if it’s within the same vertical. While you have a wealth of knowledge and skills you’ve acquired over the years, every business has their own sales process and methodology. The strategies and tactics you used before might not match your new employer’s approach, so you may need to relearn some things. It’s a good idea to also ask questions – to really understand the organization’s selling philosophy and get in sync with it.

If you’re shifting to an entirely new vertical, or to a company with a different target market within your previous industry, then you’ll want to ask to be coached to dealing with the new sales landscape you find yourself in. Paired with your pre-existing abilities, that’ll help you get to quota faster.

As a Mid-Career Sales Rep with an Average Amount of Company Tenure

You’ve been in the game for a while now, all with the same company. You know the company, the product, the process, and have a stable of clients. The tendency might be to think you don’t need coaching, but even probable future Hall of Famer quarterback Aaron Rodgers needs a coach.

In your position, coaching is about refining your skills on the margins, finding that little extra edge that takes you from an average sales rep to a good one, or a good one to a great one. You might also have some deals that are more complicated or proving more difficult to land than your usual fare, so asking for help is a smart strategy.

As a Tenured Sales Rep with Extensive Company Experience

You’ve had a long, successful career with your current company. You’ve learned a lot and are on top of the game enough to still seek out best practice tips from other sales reps and your sales manager. You believe in ABL – Always Be Learning. What does coaching have to offer you, who has accomplished so much?

This is the time when you perhaps start thinking about a more senior role in your organization’s hierarchy – maybe you’re eyeing a transition to manager or feel like you could help the company by mentoring junior reps. Hence, while you’ll still seek out coaching on specific deals like a mid-career rep, it’s a good idea to be coached on leadership and mentoring. Even if you don’t formally move to a manager position, these skills will prove useful in working with less experienced reps and allow you to pass on your knowledge to the next generation

General Advice for All Sales Reps

Coaching is ideally a collaborative exercise – sales manager and rep exchanging information and brainstorming ways about how to help the rep become better at what they do – whether it’s a general practice or the tactical approach to a single deal. If sales reps accept the coaching in the right way, and take ownership of what they’re looking for in coaching using the ideas we’ve described here as an outline of what to seek, it will be a successful project – both for the sales rep and the organization as a whole.

Updated: 4/10/2025

Justin Zappulla

Justin brings over 20 years’ sales and sales leadership experience as Managing Partner of Janek Performance Group. Justin’s career has been highlighted by remarkable performance and is considered one of the top authorities and thought leaders in sales training, sales consulting and sales performance improvement. Justin co-authored the highly acclaimed sales book, Critical Selling and was a key contributor to the sales book Mastering the World of Selling. An often-quoted authority on sales and sales management practices, Justin has widely been recognized as one of the biggest names in sales.

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