Coaching is a skill worth cultivating among sales managers; Forrester data shows a strong correlation between coaching and high performance. Most first-line managers in B2B sales organizations rise from the ranks of individual contributors and rarely step into their role armed with the skills to effectively coach their reps. As a result, they focus their one-on-one interactions on the pipeline, rather than the person managing it, missing opportunities for long-term professional development and trust-building. Coaching empowers chief sales officers to invest in enabling managers to be more coach-like through training, time, rewards, and feedback. This is a snapshot of Forrester’s data on sales performance.