In this episode of Coach2Scale, CoachEm CEO and co-founder Colum Lundt joins host Matt Benelli to unpack a critical but often overlooked reality in sales leadership: frontline managers are the linchpin to scalable growth, yet they’re routinely undertrained, overwhelmed, and underleveraged. Colum shares firsthand insights on why simply promoting great reps into management roles isn’t working and how the right tools, data, and AI-powered systems can transform managers from reactive deal chasers into proactive skill builders.
Listeners will walk away with a clearer understanding of how AI should act as a copilot, not a crutch; the compounding impact of consistent developmental coaching over deal coaching; and how to drive real behavior change in reps without adding more to a manager’s plate. If you’re a CRO thinking about enablement, productivity, and long-term performance, this episode offers a sharp, no-nonsense look at what’s broken and what you can do to fix it.
Ask any CRO where performance breaks down, and you’ll hear the usual suspects: rep ramp time, too many tools, not enough pipeline, or enablement that doesn’t stick. But there’s one lever that rarely gets the investment it deserves, and ironically, it’s the one most capable of fixing all the others: your frontline managers.
In the latest episode of Coach to Scale, I sat down with Colum Lundt, CEO and co-founder of CoachEm, to unpack the coaching execution gap and what’s really holding sales teams back from sustainable growth. We covered a lot of ground, but the message was clear: you can’t scale by focusing on reps alone. You scale by turning your managers into coaches.
Here’s what CROs need to hear.
1. Great Reps Don’t Automatically Become Great Managers
We’ve all seen it: your top closer gets promoted and now runs a team. But without structure, support, and a consistent operating cadence, they revert to what they know: chasing deals, not developing people. It’s not their fault; they were never taught how to coach. And without coaching, your organization gets stuck in reactive mode.
CoachEm was built to flip that script by helping managers become multipliers, not super reps. As Colum said, “You want scale? Invest in the layer that drives behavior.”
2. Deal Coaching Might Get You Through the Quarter, But Skills Coaching Builds the Future
Most “coaching” in sales today is just deal inspection in disguise. Reps leave 1:1s with a to-do list, but no clarity on how to improve. That’s why CoachEm focuses on developmental coaching, the kind that happens between the games.
If you’re only reviewing pipeline, you’re managing the forecast. If you’re coaching skills, you’re building consistency. One leads to surprises. The other leads to scale.
3. AI Isn’t a Replacement for Managers, It’s a Copilot
Colum made an important distinction in the conversation: AI isn’t the coach. It’s the assistant. Managers don’t need another dashboard; they need the right data, at the right time, to drive focused conversations.
CoachEm uses CRM data, call transcripts, and activity trends to surface the why behind performance gaps. It’s not about automating the manager; it’s about giving them leverage to lead better conversations in less time.
4. Span of Control Is Up, Time to Coach Is Down
The average manager today is managing too many reps, across too many systems, with not enough time. Coaching is often the first thing to get cut.
CoachEm helps close that gap by consolidating signals from across your stack into a simple, focused experience. Reps get personalized development. Managers get back time. Leaders get visibility into what’s working and what’s not.
5. Role Play Isn’t Just for Reps Anymore
One of the most exciting updates in the episode was CoachEm’s new integration with Hyperbound. It enables AI-powered role plays not just for reps, but for managers, too.
Need to practice handling excuse-makers, having tough conversations, or giving feedback on missed quota? There’s now a bot for that. Coaching your coaches isn’t a luxury anymore; it’s the multiplier effect your business needs.
6. Reps Need Proof of Progress, Not Just Pressure
We talked about coaching top performers and how even they need sharpening. But what often gets missed is accountability. Not the punitive kind. The kind that’s driven by data, tracked over time, and aligned to the skill each rep is actively working on.
That’s what CoachEm does creates a clear feedback loop between what’s expected and what’s actually improving. Reps see it. Managers see it. Leaders can act on it.
7. Customer Success Is the Next Coaching Frontier
More CSMs are now carrying upsell and cross-sell quotas. And that means they need the same coaching rigor as AEs. CoachEm is expanding to support that shift ensuring CSMs are not just reactive problem solvers, but proactive revenue contributors.
If your CS org still looks like support with a quota, you’re behind. The line between sales and success is blurring, and your coaching strategy should reflect that.
Final Word: You Can’t Scale What You Don’t Coach
If your team is falling short of quota, don’t look first at your reps. Look at the layer that guides them. Are your managers building skills, or just chasing numbers? Are they having real coaching conversations, or running through a checklist?
You can’t build a performance culture on pipeline reviews alone. You need systems that reinforce development at every level especially the one that holds the team together.
To hear the full conversation with Colum, check out the episode on your favorite podcast platform or watch it on YouTube. It’s called: “From Super Reps to Super Coaches: Why Frontline Managers Hold the Key to Scaling Revenue.”
🎧 Listen now, and as always: Coach ‘Em if you want to keep ‘Em.
