bankbuster

Account Executive

Sales Training - Are Coaches worth it?

Hey Champs,

TL:DR - How do you determine if someone can actually help you accelerate your sales vs. How much can be gathered in books

Let´s face it, times now are slower, since its summer. I´m currently thinking on how to level my sales game up (hence also participating here). I am following many people on linkedin that offer coures ranging from 500 - 7k for their knowledge go accelerate in the sales game.

While I don´t want to call out any names maybe some others have been burned before so I´m a bit hesitant to throw money at someone without knowing if they can actually give me an edge or if I should maybe look at other areas of life to accelerate my sales game (e.g. meditation / sports / music, etc)

I used to read many books and with all the knowledge available there is also a lot of conflicting things flying around.

How do you tell appart which info is good? Did anyone already hire a coach for a signifianct amount of money (out of their own pocket, because my company most likely won´t pay for that) + was it worth it?

Maybe there are other perspectives you can share that I may have missed in my thought process.

🎈 Mentorship

👑 Sales Strategy

🧢 Sales Management

11

14 comments

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jefe

Arsonist

5

🍁

There are a ton of posts on this, you should use the search bar and take a look.
The consensus is generally that investing thousands of dollars in these coaches is a dangerous gamble. You can learn most of what they preach from books and free resources.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

5

🦊

They can Venmo us 😆

jefe

Arsonist

3

🍁

Seriously..

HVACexpert

Politicker

2

sales engineer

I’ll take payment in dogecoin

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

4

Sales Rep

Has anyone every back channeled someone who took the course? Seems like they show off their students or the student talk in the comments on their post.
If you are serious, I would ping them to get their thoughts.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

1

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

You would be surprised how many people don’t do this, or fail to talk to people who take the classes/coaching sessions in general.

braintank

Politicker

2

Enterprise Account Executive

It's not going to be worth it

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

The value of a coach in sales is the same as one in sports. A Coach will help keep you accountable and remind you of the little things you may miss when you're operating on your own.

Anyone can go out and run a few miles. A Coach will help you with running form, tempo, cadence, drills, etc...

Same as with a Sales Coach - anyone can smile and dial, run a demo, etc. But there are little things like networking beyond your single POC in an account, understanding the clients pains, mapping out decision making processes, etc... which separate out the big winners from everyone else.
So determine what you need. Do you need someone to constantly push you (and what is that worth?) or can you read a couple books and be self disciplined enough to incorporate what you're taught.

BmajoR

Arsonist

1

Account Executive

I don't think it's worth it, but I've never tried so can't say for certain. Something like access to John Barrows website is much more reasonable, in my opinion.

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

0

Enterprise AE

once a week I get a message from a different former #1 rep at Salesforce who wants to teach me all their secrets for the low price of $8,000. must have been lots of #1 reps at salesforce, or this is the career path of the modern day seller...?

pirate

Big Shot

0

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Usually I learn more from other reps but every now and then it's nice when they bring someone in and I get paid lunch and stuff

sora

Opinionated

0

RevOps Automation Consultant

I had a sales coach back when I was a founding AE for a pre revenue startup. I did close a six figure deal with his help and took them to 7 figure ARR so he was worth it. But now on my own and don’t see much value in it since it’s not his domain. In other words it depends on who and what

DataCorrupter

Politicker

0

Account Executive

Would a good doctor walk in the room and give the same advice he gave the last patient without consulting your charts and symptoms?

I haven't personally had to do this, hire a sales trainer, but if I had my way they'd have to sit on calls with my team for a week before giving out any advice. Like a good doctor, it's gotta be specific to your team, market, etc. If they're willing to do that, you'll get better advice then someone giving the boilerplate stuff. That'd be my deciding factor, being willing to come in and observe before talking.

ASalesCoach

0

National Director of Sales

The value of a coach is not taking a class that shows you a methodology that you can get from books, but the value that a coach can deliver in a true 1 on 1 ongoing relationship. As the coach gets to know you and how you work, they can tweak little things that over time create big change. As an athlete, coach, referee, and sales leader, I understand and value coaching and teaching. it is WAY more personal than most make it. a true coach is a mentor, challenger, guider, and most of all, invested in your success.
find that coach which can come from anywhere, and you will find success.

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