The data is in. Sales Coaching is hot and the reason is the ROI that companies realize is significant, 24-40% increase in sales activity, leads generated, average deal size, and close ratios. All great athletes and many business leaders have recognized the value of having a coach. People like Marc Benioff from Salesforce.com, whose company recently joined Fortune’s Top 50, has had a coach from the very beginning when he was formalizing his vision. Sales Coaching is different than business coaching, it focuses on sales situations, opportunity driven, and requires a coach with sales experience. It is a process of maximizing sales performance in the short and long term by executing a playbook, holding regular one-on-one conversations over a sustained period of time, and makes change systematic and best behaviors automatic.