89% of Bad Sales Hires Fail for Attitude, Not Skill. Learn how to screen for coachability and save five figures per rep.
Why this stat should jolt your hiring process
A three-year Leadership IQ study that tracked 5,247 hires across multiple industries discovered that 89% of new-hire failures came down to attitude—chiefly a lack of coachability —while only 11% were due to technical shortcomings. icma.org
Pair that with a CareerBuilder survey showing the average cost of a single bad hire hovers around US$17,000 (and can reach 30% of first-year salary for senior roles). resources.careerbuilder.com
Put bluntly: every time you prioritize résumés over receptiveness to feedback, you risk burning five figures and months of quota-carrying capacity.
The 2025 talent landscape: skills shift, attitude endures
Generative AI and changing buyer behavior mean hard skills evolve fast. No surprise, then, that 69% of executives now place greater weight on soft skills such as adaptability, curiosity, and communication, according to LinkedIn’s 2024 Global Talent Trends report. linkedin.com Coachability sits at the center of those skills because it amplifies every future tool or methodology you introduce.
What “coachability” really means
| Attitudinal trait | What it looks like in an interview | Business upside |
|---|---|---|
| Receptiveness to feedback | Reframes criticism as a learning step and asks clarifying questions | Faster ramp-up on new product lines |
| Growth mindset | Describes failures as experiments with clear next actions | Adapts to market pivots and AI-driven tools |
| Self-awareness | Names strengths and blind spots unprompted | Spots performance dips early and self-corrects |
| Curiosity | Probes you about metrics, processes, and customers | Surfaces fresh insights from discovery calls |
| Resilience | Quantifies how they bounced back from a setback | Keeps prospecting volume high after rejection |
Synonyms you can weave into job ads: trainability, learnability, growth mindset, feedback-orientation, adaptability.
Five interview questions that surface coachability
- “Tell me about a piece of tough feedback you initially disagreed with. What happened next?”
- “Describe a skill you taught yourself in the past 12 months. Why did you choose it, and what was the hardest?”
- “Walk me through the last time you missed your target. What did you learn and change?”
- “Give an example of a process you improved based on someone else’s suggestion.”
- Live role-play: Hand them a new product sheet, give five minutes of prep, then ask for a 60-second pitch. Debrief how they accept notes and iterate.
Scoring tip (0–2 each):
0 = deflects/blames; 1 = accepts but vague; 2 = owns outcome + cites next step.
Advance only those who score ≥ 7/10.
Embedding coachability after Day 1
- 30–90-day feedback loops – Formal retros at week 4 and week 12 with a sales coach.
- Micro-learning sprints – Bite-sized AI, product, or negotiation modules followed by peer teaching; reward iteration, not perfection.
- Scorecard transparency – Display personal KPI trend-lines versus team median inside Pipedrive Insights so feedback is data-driven.
- Leader modeling – Managers share their own development goals publicly (e.g., “I’m taking an advanced discovery-call course this quarter”).
- Recognition for improvement – Celebrate “most-improved pitch” alongside top revenue to normalize growth.
Ready to upgrade your sales hiring playbook?
Coachability isn’t a “nice-to-have”—it’s the single most predictive trait of quota-crushing reps in a landscape where AI, products, and buyer expectations reset every quarter. Hire for it, nurture it, and your conversion rates (plus training ROI) will follow.
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