A sales manager coaching checklist is a short list of coaching checks a front-line manager ticks once a week to confirm every rep was coached and every important deal was reviewed. Copy the one below, run it every Friday in about twenty minutes, and use the gaps it shows to plan next week. It follows the cadence in our sales manager coaching guide.
- MondayThe read
- Fifteen minutes
- Two focus reps named
- After each 1:1Fill the row
- Deal, missing rung, next conversation
- FridayClose the week
- Twenty minutes
- Next week's focus reps
- Month endRead four weeks together
- Next month's focus
The checklist
SALES MANAGER COACHING CHECKLIST Week of: ________ Team size: ___
MONDAY: THE READ
[ ] Team snapshot taken: who is engaging, who has gone quiet
[ ] Two focus reps named for this week, with the reason for each
[ ] Deals thinner than the forecast listed (stage claimed vs buyer evidence)
ONE-ON-ONES (one row per rep)
Rep Held? Deal worked Missing rung Next conversation + date Skill seen on a live call?
________ [ ] ______________ ____________ ________________________ [ ] yes [ ] no
________ [ ] ______________ ____________ ________________________ [ ] yes [ ] no
________ [ ] ______________ ____________ ________________________ [ ] yes [ ] no
DEALS
[ ] Every deal with a signer or pricing call this week was reviewed before the call
[ ] Every "commit" deal has a dated step on the buyer's calendar
[ ] Every "proposal" deal has had the person who signs on a call
[ ] Last week's commitments checked against what the buyer said
TEAM MEETING
[ ] One real deal or call worked in front of the team
[ ] Each rep named one deal of their own to use it on
SKILLS
[ ] Each rep knows their one skill for the month
[ ] Each rep's skill checked on a live deal this week (see table)
FRIDAY: CLOSE THE WEEK
[ ] Reps with no coaching conversation this week: ________
[ ] Deals that moved a rung of buyer evidence: ________
[ ] Next week's two focus reps: ________ ________
How to use it
- Monday, fill the read. Fifteen minutes before the pipeline review. Ask who needs an hour this week and why, and which deals are marked further along than the buyer's actions support. Write down two focus reps.
- Fill a one-on-one row straight after each meeting. One deal, its missing rung, the rep's next conversation with a date, and whether the month's skill showed up on a live call. If you cannot fill the row, the one-on-one did not work a deal.
- Tick the deal checks against buyer evidence. "Commit" needs a dated step on the buyer's calendar. "Proposal" needs the signer to have been on a call. A close date the rep chose does not count.
- Close the week on Friday. Name any rep who had no coaching conversation, count the deals that moved a rung, and pick next week's focus reps. Twenty minutes.
- Read four weeks together at month end. Look for the same rep with no coaching, the same rung missing across several deals, or a skill that never shows up on live calls. That is next month's focus.
The checklist only works if each box is ticked from evidence. Across 1,246 pharmaceutical reps, manager coaching skill predicted goal attainment and frequent coaching from less skilled managers was linked to worse results (Dahling et al. 2016). Ticking "held" on a one-on-one that was a status update makes the checklist lie.
The one-on-one that fills the row
A row on the checklist is only as good as the meeting behind it. This 30-minute structure produces everything the row asks for.
| Minutes | What happens | What it fills |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 3 | The rep names the deal they want to work and why this one | Deal worked |
| 3 to 12 | The rep tells the deal in the buyer's words; the manager asks for the evidence behind each stage | Missing rung |
| 12 to 20 | Together they plan the next conversation: who, what to ask, the opening line, said out loud | Next conversation + date |
| 20 to 25 | Quick check on last week's commitment and the month's skill on a recent call | Skill seen on a live call |
| 25 to 30 | Anything else: a blocker, a question, how the rep is doing | Nothing on the checklist, and it still matters |
Let the rep choose the deal most weeks. Choose it yourself when the Monday read flagged one, and say why. If the meeting keeps drifting into a pipeline walk, use the one-on-one template or read where sales one-on-ones go wrong.
Filled-in example
Illustrative. Names, accounts and figures are fictional.
Week of: 9 Nov Team size: 6
MONDAY: THE READ
[x] Team snapshot: Theo quiet for two weeks; Mia ran 4 deal reviews
[x] Focus reps: Theo (no coaching in 2 weeks), Ines (3 deals stuck at signer)
[x] Thinner than forecast: Harlow Carriers ($60k, "commit", no signer meeting);
Ostra Health ($85k, "proposal", no number on the problem)
ONE-ON-ONES
Rep Held Deal worked Missing rung Next conversation + date Skill seen?
Ines [x] Ostra Health Cost Thu: ask CFO's deputy for backlog cost [x] yes
Theo [x] Harlow Carriers Signer Wed: champion intro to VP Ops [ ] no
Mia [x] Pell & Co Path Tue: walk approval steps with IT lead [x] yes
Dev [x] Norland Fit Fri: criteria review with ops team [x] yes
Ana [ ] (moved to Monday, rep at customer site)
Raj [x] Kestrel Bank Signer Thu: exec sponsor call [ ] no
DEALS
[x] Signer and pricing calls reviewed before the call (5 of 5)
[ ] Every commit deal has a dated buyer step (Harlow Carriers missing)
[ ] Every proposal deal has had the signer on a call (Ostra missing)
[x] Last week's commitments checked
TEAM MEETING
[x] Worked Ostra Health in front of the team: getting a number from finance
[x] Each rep named a deal to use it on
SKILLS
[x] Each rep knows their skill
[ ] Skill checked on a live deal: Theo and Raj not yet
FRIDAY
Reps with no coaching conversation: Ana (rescheduled to Monday)
Deals that moved a rung: Ostra (cost number received), Pell & Co (approval steps mapped)
Next week's focus reps: Theo, Raj
The unticked boxes are the plan for next week: Harlow Carriers needs a date from the buyer, Ostra needs the signer, and Theo and Raj need their skill checked on a live call.
The monthly and quarterly checks
The weekly checklist keeps coaching happening. A short monthly and quarterly layer checks that it is working.
Once a month
- Each rep's skill for the month reviewed on at least two live calls, with a quote showing it present or missing
- Next month's skill agreed with each rep, based on what the calls showed
- One call per rep listened to in full, beyond the moments flagged in one-on-ones
- Four weekly checklists read side by side for repeat gaps
Once a quarter
- Each rep's coaching plan updated: what improved, what did not, what is next
- One calibration session with another manager on three or four calls, so your standard matches theirs
- Coaching coverage checked: did every rep get a coaching conversation in most weeks?
- Slipped and lost deals reviewed for the rung that was missing, and the most common one turned into a team skill
The quarterly checks are the ones that slip first. Book them as recurring meetings at the start of the quarter.
Checking your own coaching
Ticking "held" says the meeting happened. It does not say the coaching was any good, and coaching quality is the variable the research above points to. After one one-on-one a week, ask yourself five questions:
- Did the rep do most of the talking?
- Did I ask what the buyer said before I said what I thought?
- Did we agree one change, and did the rep say it out loud?
- Is the next conversation on the buyer's calendar, or only on ours?
- Did I check last week's commitment before starting a new one?
Two or more "no" answers in a week is a pattern worth fixing. The usual cause is time pressure: a manager running late jumps to telling the rep what to do. Recording one one-on-one a month and listening back takes ten minutes and shows the habit more clearly than memory does.
Giving feedback that fills the skill column
The skill column only gets a yes when the feedback in the one-on-one was specific enough to use. A four-step pattern keeps it that way, and it fits in the 20-to-25 minute slot of the meeting.
- Name the moment. Play or quote the line from the call: "At 14 minutes the buyer said budget was approved, and you moved to the demo."
- Say what it cost. "We still don't know who approved it or how much, so the proposal goes in blind."
- Offer one alternative line. "Next time: who signed off on that, and what number did they agree to?"
- Have the rep say it out loud. Twice is normal before it sounds like theirs.
Write the alternative line in the rep's row next to the next conversation. On Friday, the skill box asks one question: did the rep use that line, or something like it, on a live call?
Adapting the checklist
New reps. Add a second row per week for reps in their first 90 days, since they need two coached conversations a week early on. Replace "skill seen on a live call" with the onboarding gate they are working toward.
Tenured reps. Keep one row, but let the rep lead more of it. The check that matters most for them is the skill column, because experienced reps drift from the method on one or two habits.
SDR teams. Swap the deal columns for an account, a touch and the change made to it. The Monday read becomes the week's target accounts and the Friday close becomes the team pattern across sequences.
Larger teams. Above eight reps, a weekly one-on-one with everyone is hard to protect. Keep the row for every rep, and alternate a full one-on-one with a fifteen-minute deal check in the weeks between.
What to do with an empty box
An empty box is where the checklist earns its keep, as long as it turns into a plan.
- A rep with no coaching conversation: book it for Monday, before anything else in the week.
- A commit deal with no dated buyer step: move it to best case until the rep gets a date from the buyer, and plan that conversation in the next one-on-one.
- A proposal deal with no signer on a call: make getting the signer the job of the next conversation, and help the rep draft the ask.
- A skill not seen on a live call: pick a specific upcoming call and agree the moment the rep will use it.
- A box empty three weeks running: it is a habit, yours or the rep's. Name it in the one-on-one and decide together what changes.
Doing the deal checks on every deal
The deal section is where a manager runs out of hours: six reps with a dozen deals each is too many to review personally before every signer call. Our AI sales experts take the reviews: each rep can bring any deal to an expert on a call, in the team's method: Caty for MEDDPICC or the team's own playbook, Keenan for Gap Selling, Val for the ValueSelling Framework®. The expert stages the deal by buyer evidence and plans the next conversation. The manager gets Bryce for the Monday read: a team snapshot, one rep, and coverage risk (manager coach docs). On a new account, give it a few weeks of real use before reading patterns into the snapshot.
Print the checklist, run it for four weeks, and see which boxes stay empty. If the deal section is the one that keeps slipping, how to run a one-on-one on a deal breaks it into steps; the weekly rhythm around it is in how to set a sales coaching cadence.
FAQ
What should a sales manager do every week?
Hold a 30-minute one-on-one with each rep that works one deal, run a pipeline review and a team meeting, and make sure every deal with a signer or pricing call is reviewed before it. On Monday, name the two reps who need the most time. On Friday, check which reps had no coaching conversation and which deals moved.
What should be on a sales manager coaching checklist?
A sales manager coaching checklist should cover each rep's one-on-one, the important deals and each rep's monthly skill. In detail, it asks whether each one-on-one was held and worked a real deal, each deal's missing rung and next conversation with a date, whether commit and proposal deals have the buyer evidence their stage claims, whether each rep's monthly skill showed up on a live call, and which reps had no coaching that week.
How long should a weekly coaching checklist take?
About twenty minutes on Friday, plus a minute after each one-on-one to fill that rep's row. The Monday read adds fifteen minutes before the pipeline review. If it takes longer, the checklist is being filled from memory at the end of the week.
Should reps see the manager's coaching checklist?
Reps can see the checklist, but it should stay the manager's record of their own week. Used as a grade on reps, it pushes them to bring easy deals to the one-on-one. Share the parts that concern each rep, such as their deal row and their skill, in the one-on-one itself.
How do you build a coaching plan for each rep?
Start from evidence on live calls: pick the one skill that, if it changed, would change the most of the rep's deals, and agree it with the rep for a month. Check it on two live calls a month and update the plan each quarter. How to build a sales coaching plan has the template.