Sales Coaching for Founders, Executives and Sales Managers
Bedrock Sales Strategy's sales coaching gives business owners, founders, executives and sales managers a seasoned sales leader in their corner every week. It is one-on-one coaching built around your market, your team and your goals, and it draws from four coaching buckets: Sales Foundation & Leadership Presence, Sales Strategy & Methodology, Essential Sales Knowledge & Skills, and Sales Analysis & Organization.
Some sessions are teaching. Some are advice on a deal, a hire or a comp plan. Some are about where the business goes next year. Every one of them ends with a clear next step.
Who is sales coaching for?
Sales coaching is built for the person who leads sales and wants to get better at it, with an experienced partner guiding the work. That usually means:
- Founders and owners who still carry sales. You want structure before you build a team, or while you build one.
- Executives responsible for sales without a sales background. You own the number and want a sales leader to think with.
- Newly appointed sales managers. Often promoted from top rep, now learning to lead the people they used to sit beside.
- Leaders of small sales teams building the basics. An ideal client profile, a value message, a simple process and the rhythm to run it.
Coaching works on its own or alongside any Bedrock engagement.
What are the four coaching buckets?
Every coaching engagement is built from four buckets: the leader, the strategy, the skills and the systems behind predictable revenue. Think of them as the menu. You won't work through all of them in order; at kickoff we choose the focus areas that fit your business and track progress against the outcomes that matter to you.
1. Sales Foundation & Leadership Presence
Clarity, structure and accountability across the business.
Sets the rhythm that keeps a sales team moving in one direction: clear 90-day goals, a steady meeting cadence, and a leader the team wants to follow.
Focus areas
- Inspiring and motivating the sales team
- Modeling resilience and optimism
- 90-day SMART objectives and cascading priorities
- Sales meeting rhythm and scorecard design
- Sales roles and team structure
- Holding team members accountable
- Building a unified sales culture
You walk away with: goals aligned across sales and leadership, a weekly cadence, and clear ownership of every role.
2. Sales Strategy & Methodology
Stronger pipeline, sales process and go-to-market execution.
Sharpens who you sell to, why they buy from you, and the process that moves them from first conversation to closed deal and beyond.
Focus areas
- Ideal client profile (ICP) and value proposition
- Differentiation from competitors
- Sales process mapping and funnel metrics
- Prospecting and outreach systems
- Customer retention and account management
- CRM use and best practices
- AI in the sales process
- Breaking into new verticals and segments
You walk away with: a clear ICP and message, a documented sales process, and a consistent prospecting rhythm.
3. Essential Sales Knowledge & Skills
Leadership capability and a culture of accountability.
Moves the leader from managing activity to coaching people, with the tools and structure to develop every member of the team.
Focus areas
- Leadership mindset: coaching vs. managing
- One-on-one meeting structure and feedback
- Coaching frameworks
- KPI and target alignment
- Managing hunters vs. farmers
- Core values and communication rhythm
- Modeling sales discipline: prospecting, follow-up and retention
You walk away with: a leader who coaches effectively and a team that takes ownership of its results.
4. Sales Analysis & Organization
Scalable systems and a roadmap for long-term growth.
Builds the infrastructure that lets sales grow with the business: the right data, the right plans, and the right people in the right roles.
Focus areas
- Sales tech stack and CRM optimization
- Quotas that drive the right behavior
- Hiring plan development
- Incentive and commission plan design
- Metrics and dashboards for visibility
- Capacity planning and scaling strategy
- A 1–3 year strategic growth plan
- Preparing for exit and value creation
You walk away with: scalable sales infrastructure, clear visibility into KPIs, and an aligned long-term plan.
How does sales coaching work?
Sales coaching runs on a weekly rhythm that starts with a clear picture of the business and ends every session with a decision.
- Kickoff and planning. We start with an assessment of how sales works today and a working session on where you want the business to go. Together we choose and prioritize the coaching buckets that will move the needle first.
- Weekly one-on-one sessions. Each session, typically 60 minutes, starts with what matters most right now: a priority from your plan, or something that landed on your desk since we last talked. Every session closes the same way: the goal, the reality, the options, and exactly what you'll do before we meet again.
- Progress toward outcomes. We regularly step back and review progress in each focus area, so you can see what has moved and where to point the next month of coaching.
What is the difference between Small Business Coaching and Executive Coaching?
Both programs use the same four buckets and the same weekly rhythm. The difference is scope.
- Small Business Coaching is a 16-week program for owners and founders who lead sales themselves. At kickoff you choose the two buckets that matter most right now, and we go deep on those.
- Executive Coaching is a nine-month program, with a six-month minimum commitment, for executives and sales leaders of established teams. It covers all four buckets, prioritized at kickoff to match where the business is headed, and revisits the starting assessment at the end to measure progress.
What will I walk away with?
- A seasoned advisor for the decisions that matter: pricing, hiring, comp, big deals and where to invest next.
- Clarity on how sales works in your business: how your buyers decide, what a real sales process looks like, and how to tell a real opportunity from a hopeful one.
- Foundations you built yourself: an ICP, a value message, a repeatable process and the rhythm to run it, whichever of these your business needs.
- Confidence as a sales leader: knowing which questions to ask, spotting problems early, and deciding deliberately instead of reactively.
- A clear path forward: when to hire, what to build next, and what support the business will need as it grows.
How is sales coaching different from a Fractional VP of Sales?
With coaching, you lead the work and we teach, guide and hold you to it every week. With a Fractional VP of Sales, we lead the work, from strategy through sales management, until there is a leader in place to hand it to. Coaching is usually the right fit when one person will own sales long term and wants to grow into the role.
Compare coaching, Fractional VP of Sales and Infrastructure + Hiring Plan →
Who is the coach?
Mike Dowhan, Founder and President of Bedrock Sales Strategy. Over a career spanning more than 30 years, Mike has led and advised sales organizations across B2B and technology, including Morningstar, Toptal, G2i, ChaiOne and Uprite Services. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a BSE from Princeton University, and is a Certified Sales Leader through Sales Xceleration.
When you engage Bedrock for coaching, Mike is your coach. More about Mike →
Want a sales leader in your corner?
A 30-minute conversation is usually enough to tell which buckets matter most for your business and whether coaching is the right place to start.