9 of the Best Sales Coaching Software, Tools, & Platforms
Modern revenue leaders understand that sales coaching is key to sales success. Sales coaching can help every team member achieve their full potential when done well.
In fact, recent research found that nearly all (91%) of sales managers feel coaching positively impacts team performance.
Investing in sales coaching software can help you improve the effectiveness of your coaching initiatives. But not all sales coaching software is the same. Finding sales coaching tools that align with your needs and goals is important.
In this post, we’ll examine 9 of the top sales coaching software tools today. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of each platform so you can narrow down the options that best suit your needs and goals.
Best sales coaching platforms on the market
Without further ado, here’s a list of the 10 best sales coaching software solutions on the market today. Later on, we’ll dive deeper into each sales coaching tool so you can better understand which coaching tools may be right for you.
What is sales coaching software?
Before we examine the features and benefits of some of the most popular sales coaching tools, let’s define sales coaching software.
Sales coaching, defined
Sales coaching provides ongoing guidance and support to sellers to improve their skills, strategies, and sales performance.
Many sales managers focus on providing deal coaching to sales reps. This guidance is focused on improving the outcome of an open deal. While deal coaching is important, the most successful sales managers also deliver skill coaching, which ensures sellers build the skills they need for long-term success with your company.
A rep’s manager is most often responsible for sales coaching. However, many organizations use artificial intelligence to deliver personalized, real-time coaching at scale.
Sales coaching platform, defined
A sales coaching platform is a tool commonly used by revenue organizations to deliver feedback and guidance to sales teams.
Sales managers use sales coaching software to gain insight into a seller’s strengths and weaknesses and their performance in the field. Then, managers can use the sales coaching platform to deliver feedback and measure how coaching impacts the rep’s mastery of skills and performance in the field.
Sellers use sales coaching software as a single hub for accessing the feedback and guidance they need to bolster their skills and improve performance. Sales coaching platforms allow sellers to access coaching from various sources, including managers and peers.
Some sales coaching platforms also leverage artificial intelligence to deliver real-time coaching based on sales calls and role-play performance. For example, a seller can role-play with an adaptive, AI-powered bot and receive real-time feedback throughout the experience. The seller can use this feedback to improve performance on their next role-play or sales call.
Sales coaching platforms also feature robust data and analytics. Organizations can use these insights to measure the impact of sales coaching and optimize their sales coaching programs.
How do you choose the right sales coaching platform?
If you search for “sales coaching software,” you’ll see plenty of options. And each one promises to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your sales coaching programs.
Which is the right sales coaching platform for you? Making that decision requires you to weigh several factors. Let’s take a look at a few.
Sales coaching goals and program scope
To identify the right sales coaching software, you must first define the goals you hope to achieve with sales coaching. You must also clearly define the scope of your sales coaching program. For example, is sales coaching exclusively for sales reps? Or will you also provide “coach the coach” programs for sales managers?
Once you’ve defined your sales coaching goals and program scope, you can search for sales coaching software with the right features and functionality to support your program. For example, if you’re an organization that uses peer-to-peer coaching, find a sales coaching platform that allows sellers to exchange feedback easily. If you record your sales call or plan to in the future, consider a solution that can record and analyze calls and provide coaching functionality within calls.
Budget
Determine your budget for sales coaching software. Then, look for options that fit it.
But price shouldn’t be the only consideration. You should also determine the value of different sales coaching platforms for your organization.
For example, if a sales coaching platform is more expensive than other options – but also delivers greater ROI – it may be worth the larger investment.
Ease of use
If a sales coaching platform is hard to use, your sales team won’t use it. It’s as simple as that.
Be sure to look for easy sales coaching software for sellers and their managers to use and navigate.
Rather than purchasing stand-alone sales coaching software, consider investing in an integrated revenue enablement platform with great sales coaching tools. That way, sellers have a single hub for all onboarding, training, coaching, calls, and enablement. Then, they can spend less time switching between disparate tools.
Feedback from other customers
Talking to sales reps and scheduling product demos are great ways to learn about different sales coaching platforms. However, it’s also important to seek unbiased feedback from the experts who have actually used the platform.
Sales coaching software vendors often have case studies or testimonials on their websites, which allow you to learn how other businesses have used the tool to solve their challenges. In addition, consider reading product reviews from past and existing customers on G2.
Best sales coaching platforms, tools, & software
Earlier, we shared a list of the 10 sales coaching platforms, tools, and software. Now, let’s take a closer look at each one so you can start narrowing your search.
G2 rating: 4.7 out of 5
Price: Mindtickle offers three pricing editions. Request a demo for customized pricing information.
Mindtickle isn’t a standalone sales coaching platform. Instead, it’s an all-in-one revenue enablement platform that equips sellers with the training, coaching, tools, and resources they need to deliver great buying experiences and close more deals faster.
Our suite of sales coaching tools enables organizations to deliver tailored, data-based coaching relevant to the needs of every seller on the team.
Mindtickle equips sales managers with rich insights into each seller’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, managers can assess sellers’ skills and get insight into how they perform on sales calls and in role-plays. Sales managers can use these insights to deliver coaching that builds on sellers’ strengths and improves their weaknesses.
While manager-led coaching is important, it’s also labor-intensive. This is especially true for the large portion of sales managers who indicate their teams are larger now than just a year ago. Mindtickle also leverages AI to deliver real-time coaching and feedback to sellers with role-plays. This gives sellers a safe place to practice their pitches and improve without waiting for a manager to review or give feedback.
Notable features
- Ideal Rep Profiles (IRPs) allow sales leaders to outline the skills reps need to master to be successful in their roles. Organizations can create different IRPs for different customer-facing roles.
- The Readiness Index allows managers to measure sellers against the IRP to pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses.
- Skill and performance data helps sales managers identify their top and bottom performers so they can provide coaching to improve outcomes.
- Conversation intelligence tools analyze and benchmark call performance so sellers can improve behaviors and outcomes.
- Conversation intelligence tools provide sales managers with insights into their team’s performance, which can inform sales coaching.
- Role-plays allow sellers to practice their skills and get manager and artificial intelligence feedback.
- Role-plays allow sellers to practice their skills in dynamic environments with an AI bot and receive real-time feedback for improvement.
- Tracking capabilities allow sales leaders to keep a pulse on the coaching behaviors of managers.
- A flexible and mobile-first platform means managers can deliver coaching from anywhere.
- Best-in-class templates enable organizations to launch coaching programs quickly and easily.
- Peer-to-peer coaching tools allow reps to learn from each other.
- Enablement suggestions allow reps to proactively work on lagging skills.
Best for
Mindtickle has more than one million users across the globe. Organizations of all sizes and types rely on Mindtickle to build best-in-class sales coaching programs. Mindtickle has customers in a wide variety of industries, including:
- Automotive
- Medical devices
- Consumer goods
- Chemical
- Technology
- Manufacturing
- Pharmaceuticals
Price: Bigtincan Readiness offers multiple pricing options, depending on your needs. Contact the company for detailed pricing information.
Bigtincan Readiness (formerly known as Brainshark) is a tool that helps equip sellers to deliver outstanding buying experiences. It also enables organizations to deliver impactful training and personalized sales coaching.
Notable features
- CoachingAI enables sellers to access real-time feedback without relying on their manager’s schedule.
- Readiness Scorecards enable sales managers to determine sellers’ weaknesses so they can provide coaching to close gaps.
- Readiness CRM Scorecards enable organizations to understand whether or not coaching efforts are impacting results.
Cons
Bigtincan Readiness users note some downsides of the sales coaching platform, including:
- A steep learning curve
- Limited customization options
- A confusing interface that’s not intuitive or user-friendly
- Missing features that are common in other sales coaching platforms
Price: Showpad Coach offers two pricing tiers: Essential and Plus. Contact Showpad for detailed pricing information.
Showpad is a popular sales enablement platform that aligns marketing and revenue teams to deliver better buying experiences. The platform has two components: Showpad Coach and Showpad Content.
Notable features
- Analytics shed light on what skills and behaviors set star performers apart.
- AI-powered coaching delivers instant feedback on recorded role-plays, which sellers can use to improve their pitch.
- Integrates with many other tools and technology commonly used by revenue teams.
Cons
Showpad users cite certain drawbacks of the platform, including:
- Limited features
- Poor search functionality
- Overall confusion with the platform
Price: Gong pricing varies based on the needs of your organization. Contact Gong for personalized pricing information.
Gong is a revenue intelligence platform enabling companies to understand customer interactions and leverage those insights to improve outcomes. The platform also offers sales coaching tools that help organizations replicate the behaviors of their top reps.
Notable features
- Powerful insights help you determine what your best sales reps are doing differently so you can work to replicate those behaviors across the entire team.
- Analysis of interactions to understand where there are coaching opportunities.
- Peer-to-peer coaching enables sales reps to share and learn from one another.
Cons
Gong users cite challenges with the sales coaching tool related to:
- Recording issues
- Accuracy issues
- Missing features
Price: Dialpad offers multiple pricing tiers. Dialpad’s standard plan is $15 per user per month, and its Pro plan is $25 per user per month. Dialpad also offers an Enterprise plan. Organizations can contact Dialpad for detailed pricing on the Enterprise plan.
Dialpad is an all-in-one customer communication platform. With Dialpad, sellers can engage with buyers through a variety of channels – all from one platform. Dialpad’s Ai Coaching Hub enables sellers to access personalized real-time coaching and feedback.
Notable features
- AI scorecards grade every sales conversation and analyze the customer experience.
- AI Call Purpose identifies a caller’s intent.
- AI-powered live coaching provides real-time feedback and sales recommendations.
Cons
Dialpad can be a great tool for coaching sales teams more effectively. However, some users indicate the sales coaching platform has a poor user interface.
Price: Clari offers customized pricing based on the organization’s needs. Contact Clari for detailed pricing information.
Clari is an all-in-one, unified revenue platform that helps organizations drive predictable revenue growth. Its sales coaching tools empower sellers to improve performance in real-time.
Notable features
- Copilot delivers real-time coaching during live sales calls.
- AI-powered insights enable managers and sellers to centralize call insights.
- Integrates with many of the major tools revenue teams use.
Cons
Clari users note downsides to the sales coaching software, including:
- A steep learning curve
- Limited customizations
- Platform limitations
- Missing features
- Problems with the Salesforce integration
Price: Spekit does not publish pricing information. Contact the company for custom pricing information.
Spekit is a sales enablement platform. It provides sellers with the answers, content, and training they need – right within the flow of work.
Notable features
- Real-time sales coaching provides just-in-time feedback to sales reps.
- Sales coaching is delivered within the tools sales reps already use, including Salesforce, LinkedIn, ZoomInfo, and others.
- Bite-sized knowledge is available right within a seller’s flow of work.
Cons
Spekit users face some challenges when using the sales coaching platform, including:
- Missing features
- Inadequate search functionality
- Issues with content management
Price: Seismic offers custom packages and pricing to fit the needs of the business. Contact Seismic for personalized pricing information.
Seismic is a unified sales enablement platform that ensures customer-facing teams have the right skills, content, tools, and insights. It has over 2,000 customers worldwide, ranging from startups to large enterprises.
Notable features
- Rich data helps sales managers identify reps’ knowledge gaps so they can deliver customized coaching plans to fill those gaps.
- Real-time coaching empowers sellers to refine their pitch before taking it into the field.
- Integrates with many other tools, including CRMS, email, and collaboration software.
Cons
While Seismic is a popular sales coaching platform, users face challenges related to:
- Navigation difficulty
- Layout issues
- Limited features
- Confusing, an interface that’s not intuitive
Price: Highspot offers a range of packages and pricing options. Contact the company for customized pricing information.
Highspot is a popular AI-driven sales enablement platform. Customer-facing teams use It to deliver buying experiences that increase revenue and customer retention.
Notable features
- AI-driven coaching delivers real-time competency and delivery feedback, which sellers can implement right away.
- Sales coaching tools enable managers to understand how sellers perform in the field and identify opportunities for skills coaching.
- 360-degree assessments and scorecards allow managers to consistently evaluate and coach every member of the team.
Cons
Highspot users say there are some downsides to the sales coaching platform, including:
- A steep learning curve
- Navigation difficulty
- Layout issues
- Confusing platform that’s not intuitive
Kick your sales coaching into high gear with the right sales coaching software
Sales coaching, when it’s done well, can have a large impact on sales performance. Consider that top-performing sales reps receive significantly more coaching than lower performers. That’s no coincidence.
The right sales coaching software is a key ingredient of any sales coaching strategy. With the right sales coaching tools, you can deliver targeted training that addresses the needs of every sales rep. And, you can measure the impact of coaching on reps’ skills mastery and performance.
Today, several sales coaching platforms are on the market, each with unique features and functionality. While some sales coaching tools are standalone platforms, others are part of integrated sales enablement platforms.
Mindtickle is an all-in-one revenue enablement platform with robust sales coaching tools. With Mindtickle, sales managers can identify reps’ strengths and weaknesses. Sellers can also access manager-led and AI-driven feedback to grow their skills and improve performance.
Sales Coaching in Mindtickle
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