How Do You Use the GROW Model to Coach Salespeople in 2027?
GROW is a four-step structure for a coaching conversation: you and the salesperson set a Goal, look honestly at the current Reality, explore Options, and finish with the Will to act, meaning a specific commitment. In sales coaching, the Goal is a result the rep wants (a skill, a deal outcome or a quota gap), the Reality is what is actually happening in their calls and pipeline, the Options are the different moves they could try, and the Will is the one thing they will do before you next meet.
The model comes from the 1980s. EBSCO says it was developed by business consultants Graham Alexander, Alan Fine and John Whitmore, who turned their four-step counseling model into a formal process during the 1980s. Credit is disputed in places: Wikipedia says Whitmore was the first to publish it, in the 1992 first edition of Coaching for Performance, and that Alan Fine's 2010 book claims he codeveloped it with Whitmore and Alexander. In the version described by Wikipedia the O stands for Obstacles as well as Options, and the W for Way Forward; this page uses Will.
GROW is a conversation structure, not a proven sales method. The research below says skilled coaching is linked to better sales results, but no study read for this page tests GROW itself. Items marked as judgment are this page's own advice.
What each step means in a sales coaching conversation
- GoalWhat the rep wants to be different, stated so you could tell when it happened. EBSCO describes this step as the coach and trainee working together to set realistic, achievable goals (EBSCO). In sales: a conversion step, a deal, a call skill or a quota gap the rep actually cares about.
- RealityWhere things stand now and what has been tried. EBSCO describes the coach and trainee studying the current situation and identifying barriers (EBSCO). In sales: recent calls, stalled deals and the rep's own read on why, ideally with a recording or CRM record in front of you both.
- OptionsThe possible ways forward, generated mostly by the rep. EBSCO says the coach helps the trainee identify the means to advance toward the goals (EBSCO). In sales: different discovery questions, a different stakeholder to call, a different way to introduce price.
- WillThe commitment. EBSCO describes this as the trainee finally taking the action needed to meet the goals (EBSCO). In sales: one named action, a date, the deals where it will be tried, and when you will review how it went.
Rework's guide to the model describes the Reality step as aiming for a shared, honest picture rather than a verdict, and the Options step as brainstorming paths and weighing their pros and cons (Rework). The sales translation above is this page's judgment.
Questions you can ask at each step
These are example questions written for this page as judgment, not quotes from a source. Adjust the wording to your own voice.
- Goal. What would make the next hour worth your time? If your next quarter went well, what would be different in how you run calls? Is this goal yours, or one I handed you? How would we both know it happened?
- Reality. Walk me through the last deal that stalled. What did you ask on the first call, and what did the buyer say back? What have you already tried? What do you know for sure, and what are you assuming?
- Options. What else could you do? What would a rep you admire try here? If you could not discount, what would you do? What is the smallest version you could test on your next call?
- Will. Which option will you take? What exactly will you do first, and in which deal? What could get in the way? What do you need from me? When should we look at how it went?
A worked example (an illustration, not a real case)
- Goal. The manager asks what the rep wants from the conversation. The rep says they keep losing deals when pricing comes up and want to hold the price in the next two they work.
- Reality. They open the last few lost deals together. The rep notices that the discount conversation began on the first call, before the buyer had said what the problem was costing them. The manager does not say what it means and asks the rep what they notice.
- Options. The rep lists three: wait to discuss price until the buyer has described the cost of the problem, bring a solutions engineer in earlier, or change how the price is introduced. The manager adds one only after the rep runs out.
- Will. The rep picks the first option for their next two deals, names the question they will ask, and the pair set a short check-in after those calls to look at the recordings.
Notice what the manager did: asked more than told, held back an opinion until the rep ran out of ideas, and ended on a specific action with a review date. That pattern is the point of the model.
Common mistakes when using GROW with a sales team
These are this page's judgment from how the structure works, not findings from a study.
- Skipping Reality and jumping to advice. If you propose the fix before the rep has looked at the evidence, the conversation turns into a lecture and the rep owns nothing.
- Setting a goal the manager chose. A quota number handed down is a target, not a coaching goal. Ask what the rep wants to change about how they sell.
- Treating Options as a quiz. If you already have the answer and keep asking until the rep says it, they will notice. Offer your idea openly, after theirs.
- Ending without a Will. A good chat that finishes without a named action and a review date changes nothing on the next call.
- Using it for every conversation. A rep who needs a skill demonstrated, or who is missing basic product knowledge, may need teaching first. GROW assumes the person has some ideas to work with.
- Coaching only the deals, not the person. The Goal and Will should be about behavior the rep can repeat, such as how they open a call, not one account.
What research on sales coaching says
No study read for this page tests GROW as a method. The research below is about managerial coaching in sales more broadly, and the first item is the strongest.
Dahling, Taylor, Chau and Dwight (2016), Personnel Psychology. The authors tested coaching frequency and skill against the sales goal attainment of 1,246 sales representatives in 136 teams at a pharmaceuticals organization over a year. Managers' coaching skill, evaluated in a training exercise, was directly related to the annual sales goal attainment of the reps they supervised, and coaching frequency had a negative effect on goal attainment when coaching skill was low (abstract via Crossref). A Training Industry summary of the study, dated October 27, 2020, says frequency proved irrelevant when the manager was a highly skilled coach. It is one company, so the result may not carry to every sales team.
Peesker, Ryals, Rich and Boehnke (2019), Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. A qualitative, interview-based study of leader behaviors perceived to enable salesperson performance. Training Industry's summary describes 60 salespeople at a major global information technology company and says coaching was the most cited behavior. This measures what salespeople believe helps, not measured results, and this page could not read the full paper.
Wilson Learning (Michael Leimbach), a vendor research paper. It says the author identified eight studies reporting percentage improvement in performance but does not name them. Its one concrete result is an internal study at a large U.S. travel services company with 246 salespeople and managers: training alone was followed by a 43% improvement in performance, and training plus manager coaching by 67%, which the paper calls a 24% improvement over training alone (Wilson Learning). That 24 is the gap between the two results in percentage points, it comes from one organization, and the paper reports no significance test. Wilson Learning sells manager-training programs.
How to use this
- Build coaching skill before adding frequency. Evidence. The Dahling study links poor coaching skill with worse results at higher frequency. Practice the questions with a peer before running more one-on-ones.
- Use real call or deal evidence in Reality. Judgment. Recordings and CRM records keep the step about what happened, not about memory.
- Let the rep talk first at Options. Judgment. The model rests on the person generating their own ideas, which is the part that makes the Will theirs.
- Write the Will down and review it. Judgment. Open the next session with what happened to the last commitment.
Questions people ask
What does GROW stand for?
Goal, Reality, Options and Will. Wikipedia lists the O as Obstacles and Options and the W as Way Forward, which is a naming variant of the same four steps.
Who created the GROW model?
EBSCO says it was developed by Graham Alexander, Alan Fine and John Whitmore, who formalized a four-step model in the 1980s. Wikipedia says Whitmore first published it in 1992 in Coaching for Performance and that credit for the name and the model is disputed.
Is there proof that GROW improves sales results?
Not for GROW itself in any source read for this page. A Personnel Psychology study of 1,246 sales representatives links manager coaching skill to sales goal attainment, but it measures coaching skill, not the GROW structure.
How long should a GROW sales coaching conversation take?
No source read gives a time. As judgment, a conversation about one skill or one deal can run in a single one-on-one if the Goal is narrow.
Sources
- EBSCO Research Starters: GROW model · Origin and the four steps
- Wikipedia: GROW model · 1992 publication, naming dispute, Obstacles and Way Forward wording
- Rework: GROW Model coaching framework · Step descriptions
- Dahling, Taylor, Chau and Dwight (2016), Personnel Psychology, abstract via Crossref · 1,246 sales reps, coaching skill and frequency
- Training Industry: Strong Coaching Builds Strong Salespeople (October 27, 2020) · Summary of the Dahling and Peesker studies
- Peesker, Ryals, Rich and Boehnke (2019), Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management · Qualitative study of leader behaviors
- Wilson Learning: Invest in manager training · Vendor paper, 246 salespeople, 43% and 67%
Coaching research in sales is limited and much of it is vendor published. This page is general information, not advice for your specific team.
Top photo: Shixart1985 / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons