What If We Stopped Asking Sales Leaders to Do It All?

I watched many sales leaders in the past "coaching" team members. Within minutes, the session turned into an audit more than once.

"Have you thought about calling the decision maker directly?" they asked. The seller immediately shifted into performance mode, trying to guess the "right" answer instead of exploring what might actually work.

This happens everywhere. Sales leaders think they're coaching when they're really inspecting.

The Compliance Trap

When sellers hear "Have you considered..." they know their manager has probably got a preferred answer. So they stop thinking and start performing for approval from their leader

I saw this with a seller working a multimillion-dollar opportunity. Her manager, and wider team for that matterm, kept pushing for tactical details about the deal. She responded with surface-level strategies, focusing on what sounded good rather than what she actually needed.

But when an outside coach asked her a different question, everything changed.

"Who would you need to become to win this deal?"

Suddenly her brain shifted. "I need to act like our CEO," she said. She realised she needed better communication skills and delegation strategies to get proper team support.

Same seller. Different question. Completely different level of thinking.

The Structural Problem

Even the best sales managers can't escape this trap. The structure itself creates the problem.

Sales leaders face impossible pressure. They must hit numbers while developing people. Most spend minimal time on actual coaching because they're evaluated on results, not development.

The hierarchy makes genuine coaching nearly impossible. When your career depends on your manager's approval, you can't be vulnerable about skill gaps.

You cannot have a team led by a single judge of what good looks like. The power imbalance kills honest development conversations.

The Numbers Game

Sales leaders get caught between competing pressures. They defend their sellers to senior leadership while those same executives care only about numbers.

I spoke with a CEO recently who understands coaching principles perfectly. Yet within minutes, he was asking tactical deal questions instead of developmental ones.

The pressure flows down and corrupts every coaching conversation. The majority of sales teams consistently miss their targets, proving the current system fails on both fronts.

A Cleaner Contract

The solution requires separating coaching from performance management entirely.

Think of professional sports teams. The head coach orchestrates strategy, but specialised coaches develop specific skills. No single person tries to do everything.

Organisations that implement external to the team coaching see dramatic results. The results speak for themselves when you separate development from performance evaluation.

But the real benefit goes deeper than numbers.

When I work with sellers who don't need to perform for their manager's approval, the change is immediate. They become honest about skill deficiencies for the first time.

They admit to presentation fears, strategy blind spots, and that blank page problem when they don't know where to start. Remove the judgment barrier and authentic development becomes possible.

The Transparent Alternative

This creates what I call a cleaner contract. Instead of pretending the manager isn't judging while claiming to coach, you acknowledge the power dynamic openly.

Sales leaders focus on what they do best: tactical deal collaboration, resource allocation, and performance management. External coaches handle skills development without career consequences hanging over every conversation.

The relationship between manager and seller actually improves. No more performance theater. No more pretending coaching is happening when it's really evaluation.

Bad coaching is worse than no coaching. Most sales organisations would see better results by stopping the charade and implementing dedicated coaching resources.

The current system forces impossible choices. Change the structure, and both coaching and performance improve.