Ask any CRO where pipeline comes from, and you’ll hear the same answers: outbound prospecting, marketing campaigns, referrals, and maybe a little inbound. But there’s one lever for opportunity creation that most sales leaders miss—frontline managers.
Your managers hold the key to a bigger, healthier pipeline. The problem is that most of them aren’t using it.
Managers Are Running a Playbook That Doesn’t Work
Let’s be honest. Most frontline managers (FLMs) are deal managers, not people developers. They get involved when an opportunity is mid-funnel, ask some standard questions (“What’s the next step?” “Who’s the economic buyer?”), and move on. That’s not coaching. That’s inspection.
If you want more opportunities—real opportunities, not deals stuffed into CRM to make pipeline reviews look good—your managers need to shift from inspectors to connectors. They need to actively coach early-stage prospecting and pipeline creation, not just react to deals that are already in play.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: Coaching Creates Pipeline
We’ve seen this play out with companies using CoachEm.
- Managers who consistently coach their reps in early-stage prospecting see up to 72% pipeline growth.
- Reps whose managers hold structured 1:1s generate more high-quality opportunities than those who don’t.
- Companies where FLMs focus on rep development instead of just deal reviews have higher outbound conversion rates and lower rep attrition.
Yet, most managers aren’t doing it. Not because they don’t want to, but because:
- They’ve never been taught how to coach pipeline generation.
- They’re drowning in forecasting, admin work, and putting out fires.
- They think coaching means reviewing deals, not developing reps.
Fixing the 1:1 Problem
Most 1:1s are useless when it comes to pipeline creation. Ask any rep, and they’ll tell you—these meetings are either a glorified forecast review or a random therapy session.
What should be happening instead? Managers should be coaching the inputs that drive pipeline, not just reviewing the outputs. That means:
- Breaking down outbound efforts. What’s working? What’s not? Where are reps struggling?
- Focusing on behavior, not just activity. Are reps personalizing their outreach? Are they targeting the right personas? Are they following up effectively?
- Tracking opportunity creation as a leading indicator. If a rep isn’t generating opportunities, what’s the root cause? Messaging? Targeting? Mindset?
If your managers aren’t having these conversations, you’re leaving revenue on the table.
Make Coaching a Non-Negotiable
Here’s the hard truth: If a frontline manager isn’t actively coaching, they’re not actually managing the growth of their team. They’re just collecting forecasts and managing numbers, and that’s not influencing the results.
The best sales organizations:
- Track manager coaching behavior—not just rep activity.
- Hold managers accountable for leading indicators like pipeline creation.
- Equip managers with structured coaching tools that focus on behavior, not just deals.
Want More Pipeline? Start with Your Managers
This is where CoachEm comes in. Our AI-powered coaching platform helps FLMs drive an accurate pipeline by giving them data-backed insights for coaching each rep and running their team meetings—what’s working, what’s not, and exactly how to improve. Instead of just inspecting deals, managers get proactive coaching recommendations that help reps generate more quality opportunities.
If you’re serious about pipeline growth, start at the source—your managers. Let’s discuss how CoachEm can help.
