Here's what sales leaders need to focus on to drive next-level results

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Sales managers frequently look for ways to quickly increase sales. How can we increase our sales this quarter? What can we do that will have an impact now? New research provides answers sales managers can put into practice today.

In a study of over 1,000 salespeople and sales managers that analyzes the skills and behaviors of top performing salespeople and sales managers (those most likely to meet their quota, have higher success rates and maintain premium pricing), we've identified areas where top performers differ significantly from others.

For starters, the average success rate of proposals between the two groups is dramatically different. The top performers have an average success rate of 72%, compared to 47% for the others. As we've shared before, small changes in success rate can lead to big changes in your revenue.

Think about your pipeline forecast for the quarter. Even a few percentage points difference in pass rate is often the difference between meeting or exceeding the quota, or not.

So what can you do to improve your chances of reaching your goal? Look at your sales coaching. Specifically, look at how often salespeople are coached, the coaching skills of sales managers, and the type of coaching salespeople receive.

Related: Why More Sales Managers Focus on Sales Coaching

Frequency of business coaching

Our research found that top performing salespeople and sales teams are 1.5 times more likely to benefit from regular, ongoing coaching. Additionally, salespeople who are coached consistently report higher skills in all areas: from discovering needs, developing solutions, building relationships, advancing the sale, negotiating , prospecting, account growth, virtual and more.

Sales management and coaching skills

Leaders of top-performing sales teams are more likely to excel in these five areas:

Salesperson Motivation for High Productivity and Performance: It's surprising that it's not only the #1 sales management and coaching skill that the best excel at, but also the number one that separates the most the best of others. Motivating sales teams for productivity and performance is an area that has received little attention in the sales world. Yet, helping salespeople and sales managers be maximally productive is strongly correlated with peak performance. Top performing sales manager teams are significantly more likely to score higher on the nine productivity behaviors and skills studied than other managers. They get the most out of it, stay focused, change their habits, are less likely to be distracted, manage their time well and maintain their energy.

Help sellers solve problems and challenges: With regular and ongoing coaching, managers are more likely to uncover seller challenges and can help solve them. Sometimes it's as simple as that.

Supporting sellers to grow their accounts: more on this below.

Leading valuable one-on-one coaching meetings: High-performing sales leaders are qualified to lead successful coaching meetings. They hold these conversations at a regular cadence and their conversations have a greater impact. Imagine having a manager who meets with you intermittently or without a regular schedule, and when they do, the coaching is irrelevant and adds little or no value. This is not very motivating (see point 1). Yet this is what happens in most commercial organizations.

Coach sellers to develop sales skills: 41% of top performing sales managers focus on developing sales skills. Sales managers need to develop salespeople's knowledge, skills, and attributes to improve short- and long-term performance. And top performers agree: They're 83% more likely to rate their managers as extremely or very effective in helping them achieve strong sales performance.

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