Sales training and coaching · Team foundations
Train the stage before the steepest drop, and train one behaviour at a time.
A funnel gap diagnostic counts the deals that entered each stage and the deals that moved on, finds the stage with the steepest drop, and picks the one behaviour at the stage before it that training should change. It ends with a forecast built from conversion arithmetic and a training objective with a number on it.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A funnel gap diagnostic counts the deals that entered each stage and the deals that moved on, finds the stage with the steepest drop, and picks the one behaviour at the stage before it that training should change. It ends with a forecast built from conversion arithmetic and a training objective with a number on it.
A distributor of electrical goods in Hyderabad decides the reps need negotiation training. A look at six months of deals shows that quotes sent turn into orders at a respectable rate. The drop is earlier: of the enquiries that were answered, only a fraction ever got a site visit. Negotiation training would have fixed nothing.
The diagnostic is a table. Pull the deals from the past three to six months out of the CRM or sheet, noting the furthest stage each one got to. For each stage, count how many entered, how many moved on, and the days spent there. The steepest drop shows where deals are lost. The training need lies at the stage before that drop, because that is where the rep did, or failed to do, what carried the buyer forward.
The sales head builds the table and the owner chooses the training topic. This page assumes your stages already have exit criteria, as described in the pipeline stage exit criteria page. Be consistent about GST: count every deal value excluding it, or every one including it, so rates do not move for accounting reasons.
Where this sits
Topic 5 of 8 in sales training and coaching: team foundations. The shared definitions a team needs before coaching.
- The topic before
- Objections and closing practice
- The topic after
- Coaching the sales team
If you want this done for you
Sales blames the leads, marketing blames the reps, and nobody has the data to settle it.
The work
What this is actually like.
“The biggest drop is not always the biggest problem”
A steep drop between enquiry and first call may be a lead quality issue that no training fixes. Check what the leads were before you blame the reps. Compare drop rates by source, and treat a bad source as a marketing problem.
“Hope-based forecasts hide the same gaps”
A forecast that multiplies the target by an optimistic win rate never reveals the stage that leaks. Use your own history: deals won, average size, cycle length and open opportunities. The figure that comes out may disappoint you, and that is the point of computing it.
“One behaviour per person per quarter”
Reps change one habit at a time. Choose a measurable behaviour, such as asking for a site visit on the first call, rather than a topic such as 'better selling'. Plan no more than four behaviours per person across the year.
“Counts need a clean start”
If reps have been skipping stages or backdating, the numbers are noise. Spend a week cleaning stage records before the diagnostic, otherwise you will train against an artefact of the way people fill the sheet.
What we do
What you end up with.
The documents this topic produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
The deal export
A list of every deal from the last three to six months with created date, value, source, rep, furthest stage reached, and closed date or lost reason.
Result: Finished when each row has a stage and the totals match what your accounts show for won deals.
The stage funnel table
For each stage, the number that entered, the number that moved on, the conversion, and the average days spent.
Result: Finished when you can read off the stage with the steepest drop.
The drop-stage note
A short paragraph naming the drop stage, the stage before it, and what the rep is supposed to do there. Add three real lost deals as examples, with what went wrong in each.
Result: Finished when the rep's behaviour at the earlier stage is described in one sentence.
The velocity forecast
Number of open deals, average value, win rate and average cycle length, combined into an expected revenue for the next period, shown beside the target.
Result: Finished when the gap between forecast and target is a figure the owner has seen.
The training objective
One measurable target for one behaviour, with a date: for example, a site-visit request on at least a stated share of first calls by the end of the quarter.
Result: Finished when every rep can state the objective and how it will be counted.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Your brief
Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
How much data do we need?
What if there are two steep drops?
Is this a task for the owner or the manager?
Should we involve an outside trainer?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this topic further.
The rest of team foundations
Or read all of sales training and coaching.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.