Training is typically a structured programme with defined modules: you teach skills, knowledge and process (for example: “closing techniques”, “lead qualification”, “handling objections”). It’s often delivered to a group, over a short or medium term, with a beginning and an end.

Coaching, on the other hand, is highly personalised, ongoing and focused on behaviour change, accountability and performance improvement. With coaching you’re working one-on-one or in small groups to embed and apply the training, review real deals, refine what’s happening in the field, and ensure sustained execution rather than a “one-and-done” session.

From a business owner or sales manager’s perspective:

• Use training when you need to upskill or refresh your entire team, align everyone to a methodology or roll out a new process.

• Use coaching when you need to convert that training into real results: shorten your sales cycle, raise conversion rates, break old habits, increase consistent execution.

Economic headwinds are challenging, but not insurmountable. In fact, the right approach can turn turbulence into opportunity. Here’s how:

• Shift from “nice-to-have” to “must-have” messaging: In tight times, buyers prioritise risk mitigation, cost reduction, efficiency, certainty. Present your offering in that light.

• Focus on retention and expansion, not just new business: It’s often easier (and cheaper) to sell to existing clients or expand their usage than acquire new ones in tough times.

• Shorten the sales cycle and secure smaller wins: Break large deals into smaller phases, pilots, proof-of-concepts that reduce risk for the buyer and let you demonstrate value quickly.

• Maintain momentum, invest in capability now: Many companies pull back on training/coaching in recessions - but top performers instead invest to out-perform.

• Stronger collaboration between sales & marketing: When budgets are tight you cannot afford waste. Align campaigns, messaging and lead-hand-over to maximise every dollar. Research clearly shows mis-alignment is a common challenge in B2B.

Generating leads is often easier than converting them. To close more sales you need to focus on three key areas:

1. Lead quality & qualification: Not all leads are created equal. Ensure your marketing and sales teams agree on what a qualified lead looks like, and your sales reps are working the right prospects. Research shows that many B2B teams struggle with lead quality and hand-over between marketing and sales.

2. Sales process discipline & conversion focus: Instead of just more activity, focus on conversion steps: the number of proposals issued, decision-maker engagement, objection handling, close timing. The shorter your cycle and the fewer “dead zones” the higher your success rate.

3. Value-based selling & differentiation: Many teams still default to discounting or price-wars. To close more deals you need to articulate value, ROI and stand out among competitors. The buyer is better informed than ever and expects more than a price pitch

Sales-marketing alignment is crucial in B2B yet many businesses struggle with it. The benefits of alignment include better lead quality, faster hand-over, consistent messaging and improved conversion. Here’s how to achieve it:

1. Define shared goals and metrics: Agree on what constitutes a “qualified lead” (MQL to SQL transition), what metrics each team owns (lead generation, conversion rates, pipeline growth, revenue).

2. Document the hand-over process: Ensure both teams know the stages, responsibilities and criteria of moving a lead from marketing through to sales. Clarity reduces friction and dropped leads. 

3. Create common language and regular communication: Joint meetings, review of leads, feedback loops. Marketing should hear what sales is seeing in the field; sales should understand what marketing is doing.

4. Use shared tools/data: If each team works in silos in different systems or with different definitions, mis-alignment creeps in. Integrations, dashboards, and transparency help.

5. Collaborate on content/messaging: Marketing should help sales with relevant content (case studies, buyer insight, objections) and sales should share what’s working/what’s not.

6. Ensure leadership support: Without the backing of senior leadership the alignment efforts often stall.

Shortening the sales cycle is a powerful lever for improving revenue velocity and reducing cost of sale. Here are proven levers:

• Map the buying process: Understand your buyer’s journey, the stakeholders involved, decision-criteria, gating events. The more complex the decision-making (as is common in B2B) the longer the cycle tends to be.  

• Proactive qualification and triggering: Early in the process identify if this is a good fit, what the timeline is, budget exists, decision-maker involvement, competitor situation. If you can disqualify or accelerate early, you reduce wasted time.

• Reduce friction and decision blockers: Use tools, process, documentation that make the internal buying easier for your prospect. Clear proposals, case studies, references, shared timelines, internal champion support.

• Enable internal alignment (sales & marketing):  Because marketing often drives the lead and sales drives the close, delays often happen at hand-off or where the sales rep has to wait for marketing to deliver something. Aligning these reduces latency.  

• Use data and metrics: Track cycle length, stage-to-stage conversion, where deals stall. Use that to pinpoint bottlenecks and remove them.

Discounting erodes margin, teaches your customers price is your differentiator, and creates expectation that you’ll discount next time. Here’s how to avoid that trap:

• Lead with value, not with price: Demonstrate the business outcomes your solution delivers (cost saved, revenue gained, risk mitigated). If the buyer sees a strong ROI your price becomes easier to justify.

• Differentiate your offering: What makes you unique? Your expertise, service, partnership mindset, proven results, client success stories. If you’re “just another vendor” then discounting becomes the lever.

• Structure pricing smartly: Consider value-based pricing, bundling, tiered options, phased implementation, outcome-based payment. It means you’re selling a solution not a commodity.

• Address budget and decision criteria early: If you know the budget constraints you can position accordingly. If you wait until late you’ll be forced to play the discount game.

• Teach your team negotiation and objection handling: Many reps default to discounting when they face a “no” or “we can get cheaper elsewhere” objection. With proper training/coaching you can instead handle the objection by emphasising value and reframing the conversation.

Based on current research the major challenges include:

• Long sales cycles, especially in complex B2B environments. 

• Informed buyers who are doing more research before engaging with sales. 

• Data overload, technology complexity and poor integration of systems. 

• Sales & marketing mis-alignment. 

• Difficulty differentiating and articulating value versus being drawn into discounting or commoditisation.

• Reaching decision-makers and getting stakeholder buy-in within their organisation.

To overcome these, you as sales leader should:

• Invest in buyer research and process mapping;

• Train your team in value-based selling and stakeholder management;

• Simplify your tech stack, ensure data integration and remove time-wasting tasks;

• Improve alignment between sales/marketing;

• Develop clear differentiation and train your team to lead with value not price;

• Use metrics and data to track where deals stall and focus improvement efforts there.

Focusing only on number of deals or revenue may obscure issues in process, pipeline health or team behaviour. Here are additional KPIs to track:

• Pipeline velocity / cycle time: How long does it take a lead to move through each stage? Are deals stuck?

• Stage-to-stage conversion rates: For example: from qualified lead → proposal → close. Low conversion in a stage indicates a process issue.

• Lead quality / conversion rate: Look at the percentage of leads that become opportunities, and opportunities that become closed deals.

• Forecast accuracy: How often does your team hit forecasted numbers? Is there large variance?

• Customer retention / expansion: For B2B especially, repeat business or upsell matters.

• Sales activity metrics: Number of calls, meetings, proposals, follow-up touches; but with the caveat that activity must align with meaningful behaviours, not just volume.

• Sales talent and coaching metrics: e.g., percentage of reps receiving coaching, change in win-rate post-training, etc.

Quality leads drive higher conversion and shorter cycles. Here’s how to drive quality rather than quantity:

• Define your ideal customer profile (ICP) and buyer persona: Be clear on company size, sector, decision-maker titles, pain-points, buying triggers.

• Lead scoring and qualification frameworks: Use criteria like budget, timeline, decision-maker involvement, pain level, competition. Leads that don’t meet minimum criteria should be nurtured rather than passed immediately to sales.

• Marketing and sales collaborate on lead definitions and hand-over: Avoid the trap where sales complains “these leads aren’t good” and marketing says “we did our job”. Alignment reduces waste.

• Use intent-data, behavioural signals and targeted prospecting: Modern research shows that B2B buyers are more digital, self-directing and the buyer journey longer. 

• Track and analyse conversion metrics: What percentage of leads convert to opportunities? What attributes did high-converting leads have? Use that insight to refine lead criteria.

One-off training is useful, but behaviour change and performance improvement come from ongoing support. To embed a continuous coaching culture you should:

• Set up regular coaching sessions: For example weekly or bi-weekly 1-on-1’s where real deals are reviewed, pipeline discussed, obstacles identified, actions agreed.

• Measure coachable behaviours, not just outcomes: Track behaviours you want repeated (e.g., number of discovery calls, decision-maker meetings, objection handling) and coach around them.

• Use data to drive coaching conversations: Use your CRM data, pipeline analysis, win/loss reviews as input into coaching. Ensure you’re not just “motivating” but diagnosing and improving.

• Train your managers to coach: Many sales managers are good at selling, but lack coaching skills. Provide them frameworks, tools, templates (e.g., your “Sales Manager Accelerator™” provides this).

• Create peer-coaching and micro-learning culture: Encourage your top performers to share what works. Use short, focused modules, refresher sessions, role-play.

• Embed review and accountability: For example, track rep improvement over time, tie coaching to performance metrics, recognise progress.