Research Blog

AI Summary 

Sales leaders often believe their coaching, accountability, and motivation efforts are driving performance. Our analysis suggests the relationship between leadership behavior and salesperson tactical execution is more complex. Several commonly emphasized management variables show limited direct correlation to tactical strength across teams. The gap between leadership intent and leadership impact may be wider than many organizations realize. 

The Assumption Behind Most Sales Management 

Most sales organizations operate on a familiar belief: 

If managers coach consistently, performance improves. 
If managers hold people accountable, execution strengthens. 
If managers motivate effectively, results follow. 

These assumptions shape how leaders assess their own effectiveness. 

Objective Management Group (OMG) examined whether the data supports those beliefs. 

What OMG Analyzed 

We mapped four leadership variables against their team’s average Tactical competency score: 

• Manager Coaching 

• Manager’s Time Spent Coaching 

• Manager Accountability 

• Manager Responsibility¹ 

Tactical competencies include consultative selling, reaching decision makers, selling value, and closing. These represent the execution layer of sales performance. 

What the Data Shows 

Manager Coaching vs. Tactical Scores 

The relationship appears relatively flat. 

Higher coaching scores do not consistently align with stronger Tactical performance across teams. 

Time Spent Coaching vs. Tactical Scores 

There is a positive relationship, though with significant variability. 

Managers who spend more time coaching tend to have teams with stronger Tactical scores. However, the pattern is inconsistent enough that frequency alone cannot explain performance differences. 

Manager Accountability and Responsibility 

Both variables show minimal direct relationship to average Tactical scores. 

Managers who score highly in accountability or responsibility do not automatically lead teams with stronger Tactical execution. 

Where the Blind Spot Emerges 

Leadership activity does not automatically translate into measurable improvement. 

Coaching conversations may occur regularly without targeting the right competencies. 
Accountability may be enforced without changing selling behavior. 
Motivation may increase energy without strengthening skill depth. 

Without diagnostic clarity, leadership effort can miss the underlying constraint. 

Tactical gaps in areas such as consultative selling or selling value require precision, and general coaching conversations rarely address them effectively. 

A More Nuanced Signal: Quartile Analysis 

We also examined Tactical performance by quartile to determine whether top-performing salespeople are associated with different managerial behaviors than bottom performers.¹ 

Preliminary analysis suggests that more skilled sales teams (as measured by average Tactical scores) have managers who on average: 

• Spend more time coaching 

• Are more effective at motivating their team 

• Are more effective holding their team accountable and demonstrate higher responsibility for their own behaviors  

Why This Matters for Sales Leaders 

External research reinforces the importance of precision in coaching. 

Harvard Business Review highlights that sales coaching is most effective when it is tailored to specific seller needs rather than applied uniformly across teams.² 

Gartner research similarly reports that fewer than half of sellers operate within a well-established coaching culture, suggesting inconsistency in how coaching is delivered and reinforced across organizations.³ 

Our findings align with this broader theme. 

Three Practical Implications 

1. Spend Time Coaching

More time spent coaching shows some positive relationship with Tactical strength. Other coaching-related behaviors such as Motivating salespeople and holding them Accountable for their behaviors also relate to better selling skills across the sales team.  

2. How you spend your coaching time matters, so Diagnose before you Develop 

If Tactical scores reveal weakness in selling value or reaching decision makers, coaching must focus there. Pipeline reviews alone rarely improve selling outcomes.

3. Track Competency Shifts, in Addition to Management Behavior 

Instead of asking whether managers are coaching, measure whether Tactical scores are improving over time. 

The Larger Insight 

Leadership intent and leadership impact do not always align. 

Managers may believe they are reinforcing standards and providing guidance. Salespeople may believe they are receiving support. Yet, Tactical performance may remain unchanged. 

Sales performance constraints often sit beneath the surface. Without diagnostic clarity, leadership activity may not address the true source of underperformance. When development conversations shift from assumption to evidence, leadership impact becomes measurable. 

That shift begins with diagnosis. 

Methodology Note 

Analysis conducted on manager-level Coaching, Accountability, Responsibility, and Time Spent Coaching variables mapped against team-level average Tactical competency scores within OMG evaluation datasets. Quartile segmentation analysis is currently undergoing additional validation. 

Sources 

1. Objective Management Group. Analysis of Sales Manager Evaluations conducted January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2025. Internal dataset. 
2. Harvard Business Review. Avoid a One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Sales Coaching. 
   https://hbr.org/2021/12/avoid-a-one-size-fits-all-approach-to-sales-coaching. 
3. Gartner. Gartner Research Shows Only 40% of Sellers Say They Work Within a Well-Established Coaching Culture.
   https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/gartner-research-shows-only-23–of-b2b-sales-reps-say-they-are-e.