You’re Not Crazy: What Women in Corporate America Need to Know About Promotions, Politics, and Power [Webinar]
Meet the Speakers
[Research Report]
“I never asked!”
Margaret, a CMO, shared a phenomenal story at her company’s “Gals in Sales” event in Seattle.
In a previous role, she was asked to interview candidates to be her new boss. But halfway through the process, she realized…
“I can do this job.”
Problem was, she’d never let anyone know.
Margaret’s story isn’t uncommon. We see this all the time with high-performing sales reps and managers. They’re doing great work, hitting goals, and showing leadership potential… but they’re not actually communicating what they want next.
More than one-third of #GirlsClub participants say they hesitate to ask for development or discuss their career goals for fear of wasting people’s time. This fuels the “Confidence Gap” that HP identified a few years ago, showing that women tend to wait until they feel 100% ready before raising their hands for a role, while men often do so at around 60%.
What you may not realize yet is that Margaret is amazing. Microsoft. Intel. Wharton. Northwestern. I’m feeling more and more inferior as I type this. Ladies, if Margaret felt intimidated to raise her hand, it’s more than fair for the rest of us to feel that way too.
But this story has a different ending.
Because Margaret found the courage (I call this putting on my big girl pants) and asked her boss to be considered for the position.
Please note:
She didn’t complain that she wasn’t considered.
She didn’t blame him for the experience of interviewing people she felt less qualified than.
She didn’t assume she was being disrespected or marginalized.
She simply realized she hadn’t communicated and fixed it.
And his reaction?
“I had no idea.”
Margaret quickly found her way to the top of that organization and others. I won’t say it starts with raising your hand, because it doesn’t. It starts with being exceptional, working hard, having great ideas, following up. You know, all the things you’re already doing.
But the next part of your story starts with raising your hand and communicating what you want. Because confidence isn’t just personal, it directly impacts your performance, visibility, and career trajectory. If your manager doesn’t know what you want, they can’t help you get there.
Not sure how?
Check out our webinar, “Earn That Promotion: Asking For It The Right Way,” where we cover not only how to throw your hat in the ring, but the earlier step of letting people know you even have a hat and want to learn more about the ring. (And yes, this is something we coach sales teams and leaders on all the time.)
In summary, I hear this story over and over. Why aren’t there more women in sales?
Sure, there’s bias in job descriptions. There are still boys’ clubs that make us feel like outsiders. The numbers aren’t always in our favor.
But we are often our own biggest blocker.
If you’ve read this and haven’t talked with your boss in the past six months about where you want to go in your career, make that appointment.
Not to demand.
Not to complain.
Not to convince.
To discuss, learn, absorb advice, and consider.
This is one of the simplest, most overlooked skills we see in sales organizations. The people who grow fastest are the ones who communicate early and often about where they want to go.
It’s step one.
And it certainly worked for Margaret.
Scale revenue-driving behaviors with Gong Enable. Turn every rep into a top performer with enablement powered by real customer conversations. Gong uses conversation data to pinpoint winning behaviors and drive data-backed behavior change across your revenue team.
Check out their guide, ROI of sales enablement: Using AI to prove business impact, to tie enablement initiatives to growth.
Training geeks will tell you there are four traditional ways to measure sales training ROI and the impact it has on an organization. It’s called “The Kirkpatrick Model.” In my experience, this model only includes two measurements that sales leaders actually care about. I’d like to add a few alternate levels to consider.
Level 1 is Learner Feedback. The smile sheet has more to do with liking the trainer or getting fed than the impact, and the quiz results are more about short-term memory than anyone’s understanding of how to actually apply skills.
Level 2 is Observation. What happens on the job? It’s observed behavior change, and it’s subjective. “Manager, did Bob use his new skills?” Manager: “Um, I haven’t been listening to Bob all day long, boss. I have 14 people and 200 emails to read…” You get the struggle.
Level 3 is Information Retention. New skills should be fresh in their minds and easy to execute the day after training, but what about 2 months later? 6 months? 1 year? Over time, people are known to fall back into bad habits. Truly valuable training provides easy-to-use (and memorable) skills that stick with the learner over time.
Level 4 is ROI. Calculate sales training ROI by taking the results that went up and dividing by the cost of the sales training. Naturally, there are flaws here, like, “When do we stop measuring?” “What about soft costs of missed revenue?” “What if results fall off?” and “Training wasn’t all we changed that quarter!”
When I advise sales training leaders, I help them solve it all with two little words:
“Contributed to”
Last quarter, new vendor training contributed to a 25% increase in meeting close rates and a 34% increase in show rates. Extrapolated over the period of a year and using our standard meeting to deal close rates, that means an additional 245 meetings and 66 closed deals or $3.1 million in revenue. That’s a 31x return on investment of the $100K training investment. (That’s also expressed 3,100% folks and it’s BIG. It’s also a real case study, BTW).
So, sales training ROI is a big deal. When calculating, the bottom line is nearly always revenue or profit, but there are little wins along the way. Look for bumps in any of the following (and celebrate!):
Combine these as I did over a time period of a year and the numbers get big fast. Even a modest increase in a close percentage or deal size will bring double-digit ROI.
Now for the new stuff. In today’s climate, there are 5 more sales training ROI measurements I advise you to start tracking:
Yes, nearly all of these are about helping show the link between the career development you offer the new generation of sellers and how many of them come to work for you and stay.
If you’re offering ongoing development, a training budget, a certification, or a partnership with a premier vendor, ADVERTISE THAT (you’ll attract the new generation of sellers!). Then start tracking the average number of applicants over the previous months, but don’t compare pre-COVID (that’s apples vs. bacteria).
Great development keeps people in companies longer. So count what percentage of promotions are now happening internally and whether your investments are moving the needle of employee satisfaction.
There’s a direct correlation between employee engagement (and happiness) and their performance. If they’ve been with your company for 6 years and are consistently meeting or exceeding quota, chances are they’re happy in their role and less likely to leave. Have they missed quota a few times now, or are they not as engaged with their customers as they once were? Then it might be time for a 1:1 to see what is going on behind the scenes.
Finally, my holy grail: ramp time. How long does it take a new hire to get to quota? This critical number not only impacts revenue right where it counts but also determines whether a rep stays or not. Here’s an insider tip:
People who feel successful at work will keep coming back to work.
No, not Earth-shattering, but it might be if you reverse-engineer it. 20 years ago I revamped a new hire sales training program for a computer manufacturer. It was taking reps 9 months to hit their goal. Ouch. (Best practice is 3-6 months and it’s getting longer – we’re now approaching 9 months again) Yes, we took out a bunch of filler courses and implemented my “Just in Time” training approach, but we also did something a little sneaky. We lowered the bar. The VP of Sales and I saw the mass exit happening at six months and we worked together to get reps PAID if they were on track by this point in time. The result? We cut the turnover in half.
Help people win, and they’ll stay and keep winning.
Long story long, employee development has an impact on more than just revenue. There’s a reason training investments are up over 30% as an industry over last year. And if you don’t already have your enablement team running regular reports on these new stats, I suggest you get started or you’ll be late to the party. It may feel like we’re in a war for talent, but I assure you this is only the battle. Use your training investments strategically to attract, keep, and promote your people because this precious resource will become only more scarce.
Contact us today to request information on our customizable virtual sales training programs
available for reps (and managers).
Sales metrics are your early indicators, your coaching roadmap, and your proof of sales training ROI.
They show you what’s working, where your team needs help, and whether your sales training investment is actually paying off.
But not all metrics tell the full story.
Activity is easy to measure and quota attainment is easy to celebrate. But by themselves, those numbers don’t tell you if reps are building skills, progressing deals, or gaining the confidence to hold real sales conversations.
That’s why we’re breaking down the top sales metrics to track by role.
Because every sales position contributes to pipeline and revenue in different ways, and tracking the right metrics helps you spot success earlier, coach more effectively, and tie enablement wins to revenue.
Here are the roles we’ll cover:
Let’s take the guesswork out of performance and start measuring what matters.
Confidence shows up in activity. Skill shows up in conversion. That’s why the best BDR metrics don’t just tell you how many calls they made, but what actually happened after they hit “dial.” You won’t measure all of these, but pick 2-3 that are easily reported in your world. Focus on quantity and quality.
These metrics help you go beyond the mindset of “more dials = better rep.” You’ll see who’s dialing scared, who’s winging it, and who’s actually applying the skills from training.
When BDR/SDR training is working, reps get more voicemails returned, keep prospects on the phone longer, and confidently set next steps. These are your first signs that sales training or coaching is making an impact.
READ: How to Keep Prospects on the Phone
Inside Sales Reps do it all: prospect, qualify, demo, and sometimes close. That’s why tracking ISR performance requires more than just activity. You need to know if they’re creating pipeline, overcoming early objections, and setting up seamless handoffs (or closes).
*SaaS companies will track a few additional standard metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost, Lifetime Customer Value, MRR, and Customer Churn.
These metrics show you how effectively ISRs are turning conversations into qualified opportunities and moving deals through the pipeline. They help pinpoint where in the sales process training can create the biggest lift.
When ISR training is working, you’ll hear better discovery calls, improved demos, stronger objection handling, and confident next steps. And you’ll see it in stage-by-stage conversions in your pipeline.
READ: Call Bridging 101: Paving the Way for a Follow-up Sales Call
AEs get judged by the number, but that doesn’t tell the full story. You can close a big deal and still be losing pipeline behind the scenes. That’s why it’s critical to track not just what they’re closing, but how they’re progressing deals, and where they’re getting stuck.
These metrics give visibility into each stage of the sales cycle so you can see where deals are progressing smoothly and where they may need coaching or additional support to move forward.
When account executive training is working, you’ll see cleaner pipeline stages, stronger discovery, and tighter forecasting. It’s less “I think it’s coming in” and more “Here’s where we are, here’s what’s next.”
WATCH: How to Fix the Top 5 Mistakes Made During Sales Demos
Account Managers and Customer Success Managers are the face of your brand after the deal closes. But renewals and growth don’t come from check-in emails and good vibes. These reps need to earn trust, uncover new opportunities, and consistently demonstrate value. That’s how you keep customers, and grow them.
Here’s what to track:
These metrics provide a clear picture of account health and growth potential, helping you spot risks early and identify where strategic conversations can open new opportunities.
When account manager training is working, you’ll see AMs running stronger account reviews, finding new revenue inside existing customers, and proactively addressing risks before they become churn. They’re not just retaining customers, they’re growing wallet share, keeping renewal pipelines clean, and avoiding last-minute surprises.
READ: How to Ask Existing Customers for a Sales Referral
Good managers build great reps. That’s why your manager scorecard should go beyond team quota and focus on how well they coach, develop, and retain talent. The best metrics show whether their reps are getting better, faster, and sticking around. You don’t need all of these, but pick a few that help you measure both leadership impact and team performance.
These metrics measure a manager’s impact on team development, consistency, and overall performance, giving you insight into both leadership effectiveness and team health.
When sales manager training is working, you’ll see faster ramp times, stronger forecast accuracy, and more reps hitting quota consistently. Team skills improve quarter over quarter, retention goes up, and promotions happen more often. Great managers coach with purpose, run effective meetings, and keep their teams performing without the burnout rollercoaster.
READ: Build Your Sales Manager Cadence (& Save Time and Stress)
Tracking the right sales metrics isn’t just about managing performance, it’s how you prove what’s working, where to coach, and when your sales training is actually paying off. Whether you’re investing in new training programs or reinforcing skills with your current team, these metrics are your clearest window into what’s driving real behavior change and revenue impact. Because when you can connect skill development to pipeline movement, you’re not just improving performance, you’re proving sales training ROI.
Gong is the #1 AI Operating System for revenue teams. Move faster, coach smarter, and hit targets with fewer surprises. Gong cuts down manual work, captures real buyer signals, and guides reps to action so more deals close and more sellers hit quota.
Check out their guide, “Sales playbook for frontline managers: 4 coaching best practices“ to unlock your team’s potential.
How do you build a top-performing sales team? Short answer: Skills. Confidence. Coaching.
Every sales team has a few all-star reps. The ones who just get it and crush it. The question is, how do you clone that kind of success?
Here’s the truth: some people are born with drive, curiosity, and that inner fire to win. But top-performing sellers aren’t just born, they’re developed. They learn the skills, build the confidence, and have managers who coach them along the way. The good news? Every bit of that can be taught.
If your reps are struggling to find the right contacts, freezing up when someone actually answers the phone, or taking forever to ramp, it’s not a talent problem. It’s a skills and confidence problem.
So, whether you’re building a team from scratch or helping seasoned sellers hit the next level, here’s how to turn potential into performance.
Before you can grow a high-performing sales team, you have to figure out what’s slowing reps down. For most, it starts with confidence. New sellers don’t know the language yet, feel unsure about the tools, and get stuck just trying to figure out who to call.
Here’s what sales leaders say are the top challenges:
And even when they do reach the right people, getting them to engage (and knowing what to say next) isn’t always natural.
Confidence doesn’t just appear. It’s built, one conversation, one small win at a time.
New hire sales training often tries to do too much. But what sellers need most in their first few weeks is confidence, the kind that comes from actually knowing what to do and say in real situations.
Skip the deep dives into quoting systems or pricing battles. In the beginning, focus on the basics that make up 90% of their day:
That’s the heart of just-in-time sales training. Teach what reps need for their first 30 days, not their first 300.
Tip: When new reps leave training feeling confident, they come back hungry for more. That’s how you build a learning culture and ramp faster.
READ: 8 Sales Rep Onboarding Best Practices
One of the most effective coaching tools out there is the Pause Game. It’s simple and powerful:
This exercise pulls reps out of their own heads and into the customer’s world. It builds active recall, which science shows is five times more effective than passive learning.
The game teaches reps when to apply knowledge, not just what to say. That small shift in awareness can shave weeks off ramp time.
Tip: It’s not just about knowledge. It’s about retrieval. Helping reps recognize when to use the right skill is what separates good from great.
READ: Sales Training Techniques: Telling vs. Teaching
Reps can’t succeed without the right tools and the know-how to use them at the right moment.
To set your team up for success:
Digital Sales Rooms (DSRs) are must-have sales tools. These microsites let sellers organize resources, track buyer engagement, and keep deals moving with mutual action plans and real-time visibility.
Tip: Tools like DSRs don’t just help reps. They make it easier for buyers to stay informed and move deals forward. That’s a win-win.
If you want to keep your top reps, you have to do more than teach them how to sell. You have to show them what’s next.
Reps are motivated by success stories, recognition, and growth. So give them that:
Coaching plays a massive role here. Too many managers run 1:1s, review pipeline, and put out fires, but never actually coach.
That’s why developing your managers matters. Coaching certifications give them a repeatable system to build skills, boost confidence, and grow their people.
Tip: If managers don’t know how to coach, reps don’t improve. Equip your frontline leaders to develop people, not just push deals.
READ: Tips for Enablement Leaders to Increase Sales Coaching Focus
Let’s be real. Most reps are buried under too many tools and use none of them well. The average tech stack is a juggling act, not a system.
Keep it simple. Your learning, content, and call-intelligence tools should actually talk to each other so managers can move fast, coach smarter, and see what’s working.
Manager dashboards should show trends, not snapshots; who’s improving, who’s stuck, and where to step in.
And here’s the kicker: about 90% of what managers say in a 1:1 is forgotten within a week. Real learning sticks when it’s reinforced, coached, and repeated until it becomes a habit.
READ: The Secret to Scaling Sales Team Revenue: Your Managers
This article is based on insights shared during a Sales Shot webinar featuring Lauren Bailey and Devyn Blume, Sr. AE at Allego. Watch the full session here.
In the past decade, inside sales has been out-pacing field sales by a 10-15x ratio. Scalability is a challenge inside sales leaders will continue to face for years to come.
While I normally focus on building your process, today my job is to talk about the people angle. Although, a good half of my people’s suggestions are process suggestions! Allow me to highlight the top 3 common pitfalls we have all faced when trying to scale your inside sales team and a few outside resources that can help.
Ramp time means something different to each company. It could be time to quota, paying for their overhead, or something unique to you. Whatever your ramp goal, you’ll be creating projections to hit a 1.5x, 3x, or even 5x number and you’ll be doing it with a new headcount.
That means your success hinges on the ability of your headcount to:
Really dig into your new hire training program, and start doing it six months before your first hiring wave. If you haven’t onboarded recently, check out our sales rep onboarding best practices. And if your offices are still remote, brush up on virtually onboarding new sales reps
Pro Tip: Hire a sales-focused training leader NOW. Most new hire training programs need a LOT of work, and the good ones can cut your ramp time by HALF.

Even if you previously onboarded an awesome team that is still with you today, your process likely needs a few tweaks before being pressure-tested during scaling. We usually see breakdowns in two key places:
Pro Tip: Pull hiring out of HR and to a recruiter – even if you need to re-appropriate a sales headcount. You need someone doing passive recruiting on the front end, AND who can handle a phone screen for sales. It’s the only way to free up your managers’ time. Make sure you tie the recruiter’s compensation to the RIGHT hires that align with your goals, instead of fighting a recruiting company’s goal of straight-up bodies. I’ve seen way too many new hire classes filled with “live bodies” by recruiters only to have to rehire a replacement class a month later. Sales leaders make no mistake, the need to retrain or rehire is how your hiring goals will be perceived in a culture of scale.
Also, check your hiring process. It should look like your pipeline, with your managers involved only toward the final stages. Oh, and let them hire their own team, OK? (Managers, you can send your cash directly to the Factor 8 HQ for that tip).
I’m watching a friend’s floor triple in size right now. They’re super successful and swimming in leads. They need a headcount to maximize the revenue. What they’re missing is strong leadership, definitions of what ‘good’ looks like, and consistency among the management team. And folks, it’s being held together with duct tape and rainbows right now. These managers are SO (say it like a teenage girl) green. Everyone runs different reports, they all manage a different sales process, there are seven disparate call methodologies, no one can forecast because pipelines are atrocious, teams are mixed and matched constantly (because managers are leaving the chaos!) and no two are managed the same. I’d say they’re all marching to a different beat, but no one remembered to hire the drummer.
Pro Tip: Hire a drummer…as long as that drummer is a series of documented processes (management cadence, performance improvement, sales handoffs, sales process to name a few). Then, TEACH your managers how to execute against them. You and I both know these people were reps five minutes ago. They need training. They need help being better leaders (or you’ll quickly wind up back at #1 hiring even more bodies). Reps join companies and quit bosses, right? New managers are going to FLAIL in a rapid-growth environment, and your reps will be confused, frustrated, and complain about a lack of development (which also happens to be the number one reason reps leave).
So, save yourself some time and a headache by updating your training program, and getting the professionals to help you with hiring, and developing those managers! I promise, the work now will be worth it once your sales floor is full (and stays that way!).