Ask a sales manager how many calls they reviewed for each rep last month. The honest answer is usually two or three. And those two or three were not random. One went badly. One the rep asked them to listen to.
That sample tells you almost nothing about what the team actually needs.
A manager with eight reps running fifteen calls a week has roughly 480 conversations a month to learn from. Reviewing 20 of them means coaching on 4% of the evidence, chosen for the wrong reasons.
Three Questions Before the One on One
When every call is reviewed, the manager can answer three questions before the one on one even starts:
- Who needs coaching this week?
- Which behavior needs attention?
- Which issue will move the number most?
The one on one stops being “how do you feel about the Acme deal” and becomes “in four of your last six discovery calls, the buyer gave you a pain point and you moved straight to the demo. Let’s practice staying on it.”
The Whole Team Gets Smarter
The same data feeds the team. A new objection shows up three times this week? It becomes a battle card, a role play scenario, and a slide in onboarding by Friday. Your best call of the month becomes the example everyone else listens to.
Try this: use call data to set one coaching priority per rep for the next 30 days. Keep it narrow enough that the manager and the rep can both see whether it improved.
Read the full story in Why Sales Teams Lose Deals They Were Close to Winning.
Learn more about Dextego, Influence Coaching for sales teams, at dextego.com. Explore AI powered prospecting and business development with David Bush at BDR.ai.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many calls should a sales manager review per rep?
Most managers review two or three a month, about 4% of a typical team’s conversations. Reviewing every call with AI lets managers coach on patterns instead of exceptions.
How do you decide what to coach a sales rep on?
Use call data to answer three questions: who needs coaching, which behavior needs attention, and which issue will move the number most. Then set one priority per rep for 30 days.