A sales coaching template that lists topics discussed is a note-taking tool, not a coaching tool. The difference is whether the template captures call evidence, pre/post scores, and a scheduled verification date. This six-step guide shows sales managers how to build a template where every field connects a coaching conversation to a specific performance outcome.
What You Need Before Step 1
Gather these before starting: your current performance goals for the team (win rate, quota attainment, ramp time, or specific QA criteria), access to your QA platform or call scoring data for the last 30 days, and a clear list of the call behaviors that your QA rubric evaluates. The template will be built from these inputs, not from generic coaching frameworks.
Step 1: Map Performance Goals to Specific Call Behaviors
Every performance goal you measure in reviews connects to one or more specific call behaviors. Win rate connects to objection handling and closing behavior. Ramp time for new reps connects to script adherence in the first 30 to 60 days. Quota attainment connects to the full QA rubric but is most directly predicted by discovery quality and next-step commitment rates.
List your top three to five performance goals and write the specific call behaviors that drive each one. This mapping becomes the foundation of your template: coaching sessions that target behaviors tied to goals are strategic. Sessions that address behaviors without a goal connection are developmental but should not appear in performance review documentation.
Common mistake: Building a template around what managers want to discuss rather than what performance data shows needs improvement. Start from QA criterion scores, not from managerial intuition. Templates built on intuition produce inconsistent coaching; templates built on data produce comparable, accountable development records.
Step 2: Build Template Fields From QA Criteria
Your QA rubric already names the behaviors that matter. Build template fields directly from rubric criteria. If your rubric evaluates objection handling, discovery quality, and next-step commitment, your template has fields for each: criterion targeted, current score on that criterion, and target score.
This alignment makes the template machine-readable by your QA platform. When a manager selects "objection handling" as the criterion for a session, the platform can auto-populate the current score without manual lookup.
Insight7 generates per-rep criterion scores from 100% of calls. A sales manager building a coaching template in Insight7's platform starts with actual behavioral data for each rep: which criteria are below target, by how much, and over what period. The template fields populate from real call scores rather than from the manager's last impression.
How Insight7 handles this step: Insight7's coaching module links QA scorecard data to coaching session creation. When a manager opens a coaching session for a rep, the platform surfaces the rep's lowest-scoring criteria and suggests scenarios targeting those specific behaviors. The template pre-fills with the criterion and current score, leaving the manager to add call evidence and a follow-up date. See how sales coaching and performance tracking work together in the platform.
Step 3: Add a Required Call Evidence Field
Every coaching session needs to be anchored to a specific call moment. A required call evidence field forces managers to cite a transcript quote or a call timestamp before the session. This does three things: it prevents sessions based on general impressions rather than data, it gives the rep something concrete to respond to, and it creates a defensible record for performance reviews.
The field prompt should read: "Paste the transcript excerpt or timestamp from the specific call moment you're addressing." If a manager cannot fill this field before the session, the session is not ready to run. Returning to the calls to find evidence is part of the coaching preparation, not optional.
Common mistake: Allowing the evidence field to be filled after the session from memory. Post-session documentation of call evidence is reconstructed, not retrieved. Use your QA platform to pull the evidence before the session; insert it into the template before the conversation begins.
Step 4: Add a Rep Self-Assessment Section
Before the manager presents their assessment, ask the rep to rate themselves on the targeted criterion: how do they think they performed on objection handling in their last 10 calls, on a 1-to-5 scale? Then share the actual QA score.
The gap between self-assessment and actual score is more diagnostic than the score alone. A rep who self-assesses at 4 and scores at 2.1 has an awareness problem. A rep who self-assesses at 2 and scores at 2.1 has an accuracy problem: they know the gap exists but may not know what to change. Different gaps require different coaching responses.
The self-assessment section also increases session engagement. Reps who contribute their own assessment before hearing the manager's data are more likely to treat the session as a conversation rather than a verdict.
Step 5: Set a Follow-Up Scoring Date Tied to a Specific Call
Every coaching session ends with a scheduled follow-up: a date, a number of calls to be scored, and the specific criterion to be measured. "We'll check in next week" is not a follow-up. "I'll pull your next 10 calls scored on objection handling and we'll review the criterion delta on April 15" is a follow-up.
Insight7 scores calls continuously, so the follow-up date triggers a report pull rather than a manual review. The manager sets the date in the template, and the platform surfaces the criterion scores from that period automatically. This reduces follow-up preparation from 2 hours to 10 minutes.
Decision point: Choose between fixed follow-up intervals (every session follows up in two weeks) or behavior-adjusted intervals (reps improving quickly get shorter intervals, reps with slower trajectories get longer windows). Fixed intervals are simpler to manage. Behavior-adjusted intervals produce more responsive coaching. Use fixed intervals for teams under 20 reps; consider behavior-adjusted for larger teams where manager bandwidth is the constraint.
Step 6: Track Criterion Score Movement in the Template
The final field in every coaching template is the outcome: what was the criterion score at the time of follow-up, and what was the delta from the session baseline? This field closes the feedback loop and makes the template a development record rather than a meeting log.
At 90 days, a manager with complete template records can pull a table showing every rep, every criterion targeted, and every pre/post score delta. This is the evidence base for a performance review conversation that distinguishes coached-and-improving from coached-and-flat from never-specifically-coached.
Reps with positive deltas across targeted criteria are demonstrating coached improvement. Reps with flat deltas despite multiple coaching sessions on the same criterion may need a different coaching approach, a clearer behavioral anchor, or a reassignment conversation. The template makes both patterns visible.
What Good Looks Like at 90 Days
After three months of template-driven coaching, a sales manager should see: complete evidence fields in 90% or more of session records, criterion score deltas of 10 to 20 percentage points on behaviors targeted in three or more sessions, and a documented development record per rep that supports performance reviews without additional preparation. The coaching log and the performance review use the same behavioral data, connected through the template's criterion and score fields.
How do you build a sales coaching template that reinforces performance goals?
Map performance goals to specific QA rubric criteria. Build template fields from those criteria, requiring call evidence and pre-session QA scores. Add rep self-assessment, a follow-up date tied to specific calls, and a field for post-follow-up criterion scores. The template reinforces performance goals when every field connects a coaching conversation to a measurable behavioral outcome.
What should be included in a sales observation coaching notes template?
A sales coaching notes template needs: criterion targeted (from your QA rubric), current score on that criterion, call evidence (specific transcript quote or timestamp), rep self-assessment rating, manager notes on behavioral gap and recommended action, follow-up date and number of calls to be scored, and post-follow-up criterion score. Templates without call evidence and follow-up scores are meeting logs, not coaching tools.
What is the 70-30 rule in coaching?
The 70-30 rule in coaching means the person being coached speaks 70% of the time; the coach speaks 30%. In a sales coaching context, this means the manager spends more time asking questions about what the rep noticed in their own calls than delivering assessments. The evidence field in your template supports this: when the rep has access to their own call data before the session, they can drive the conversation using actual examples.
How do you write a coaching note after a sales observation?
A coaching note after a sales observation needs four elements: the specific behavior observed (with call evidence), the gap between current performance and the target criterion score, the behavioral change recommended, and the scheduled follow-up date with a specific criterion to be re-scored. Notes that record "discussed objection handling" without these four elements cannot be used in a performance review or compared across sessions.
Sales manager building a coaching template for a team of 10 or more reps? See how Insight7 connects QA criterion scores to coaching session templates automatically. See it in 20 minutes.
