Sales Coaching Models: GROW, OSKAR and OSCAR for Sales Teams

The most widely used and best-documented sales coaching models are GROW (John Whitmore), OSKAR (Paul Z. Jackson and Mark McKergow) and OSCAR (Karen Whittleworth and Andrew Gilbert), and each fits a different conversation: the stalled deal, the slump and building a skill. None was designed for sales alone; they are general coaching models that work in sales teams because they turn the deal review into a conversation where the rep does the thinking instead of taking orders.

For the full landscape of models (CLEAR, GROUP, NLP, feedback and more), see the guide to coaching models and methodologies. Here we stay with the three that translate best into the week of a sales manager, or of a coach who works with sales teams.

What is a sales coaching model, and why use one?

It is a sequence of steps that structures the conversation between the person coaching (a sales manager, a coach) and the rep. It is not training, which teaches a new technique, and it is not a forecast review, which checks numbers. Coaching starts from a specific situation the rep is in and helps them find their next move.

Why bother? A Harvard Business Review article makes the case: Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson of the Sales Executive Council argue that "no other productivity investment comes close to coaching in improving reps' performance" (Dixon and Adamson, HBR, 2011). A model keeps that coaching from depending on the manager's mood that day: you walk the same steps every time, even when the conversation lasts ten minutes.

How do you apply the GROW model to sales coaching?

GROW stands for Goal, Reality, Options, Will. John Whitmore and his colleagues developed it in the late 1980s, and his book Coaching for Performance made it widely known (Performance Consultants). In sales it is the natural model for a specific deal that is not moving.

• Goal: "What do you want to have happened with this account by month end?" A customer action ("they sign the pilot") beats a wish ("close it").
• Reality: "What do you actually know, and what are you assuming?" This is where the gaps show: who decides, what budget exists, what the customer's last real answer was.
• Options: "What could you do this week? What else?" The manager offers no ideas until the rep runs out of their own.
• Will: "What will you do, when, and how will we know it happened?" Close with a dated action.

For a fuller version of the model, with questions for each phase, see the GROW model guide.

When should you use OSKAR in sales?

Mark McKergow and Paul Z. Jackson developed OSKAR around the year 2000, within the solutions-focused approach (SFWork). Its steps are Outcome, Scaling, Know-how and resources, Affirm and action, Review. Compared with GROW it spends less time on the problem and more on what already works, which makes it a good fit for the slump: the rep arrives discouraged, and analysing the problem only drags them further down.

• Outcome: "What would a good month look like for you?"
• Scaling: "From 0 to 10, where 10 is that good month, where are you today? Why aren't you lower?" The second question does the work: it forces them to name what is working.
• Know-how and resources: "When did it go better? What were you doing then?"
• Affirm and action: the manager acknowledges what they see of value, and you agree on a small step: "What would move you up one point this week?"
• Review: next time, "what has improved, even a little, and what caused it?"

With Diego, who has gone two weeks without a close, the scale comes out at 4. Asked why it is not a 2, he says his first meetings are still going well: the trouble starts in the follow-up. The small step: call the three accounts with a recent meeting within 48 hours, as he used to when he was closing more.

What does the OSCAR model add for a sales manager?

Karen Whittleworth and Andrew Gilbert described OSCAR in 2002 as an extension of GROW for people in management roles who want to develop their team (Businessballs). Its steps are Outcome, Situation, Choices, Actions, Review. What it adds to GROW is review as a step in its own right, which makes it useful for building a skill over several weeks.

• Outcome: "What do you want to do better in your discovery calls two months from now?"
• Situation: "In the last call we listened to, what happened in the first ten minutes?"
• Choices and consequences: "What could you try, and what would happen with each option?"
• Actions: "What will you do in your next three calls?"
• Review: agree when and how you will review, and actually do it.

Which sales coaching model should you choose?

A simple rule: if the conversation is about an account, use GROW; if it is about how the rep feels, OSKAR; if it is about how they sell, OSCAR. When the goal of the conversation is fuzzy, sharpen it first with SMART goal criteria.

How do you prepare a sales coaching session?

1. One topic. One account or one skill, not a walk through the whole pipeline.
2. Observable data. The deal history, a recorded call or meeting notes. Without data, the conversation runs on impressions.
3. The model chosen in advance. Using the table above.
4. Three or four questions written down. They anchor you when the urge to give the answer shows up, and it will. If you need more, borrow from these powerful questions.
5. Room for feedback at the end. If something needs saying about the rep's behaviour, it comes after they have spoken, using a clear method such as the feedback models.

Which mistakes ruin sales coaching?

• Turning it into a forecast review. "When will it close?" is not a coaching question; it is control. Both are needed, in separate meetings.
• Giving the answer at the options step. Reps execute someone else's idea worse than their own, even when the other idea is better.
• Covering five accounts in half an hour. You end up with a to-do list, and nobody learns much.
• Skipping the review. Without it, the next coaching session starts from zero.
• Using one model for everything. Problem-analysing with GROW when someone is in a slump tends to dent their confidence further.

How can you use these models with CoachPro Tools?

If you are a coach working with sales teams, CoachPro Tools has two of these models as interactive tools: the GROW Session Master Script and the OSKAR Session Script, which includes two marks on the same scale to show the gap and a commitment thermometer. You also get a visual GROW template to work on live, Live Notes with a GROW template, and a per-client agreements kanban to review what was agreed at the next session. OSCAR is not a built-in tool; you can create it with the tool builder or follow it in your session notes.

Frequently asked questions

Related resources: Coaching models and methodologies · The GROW model step by step · Free GROW model