What kind of leadership transition am I in?

Most revenue leaders are in one of two transitions. The first is a true step into a new role, where foundational skills like delivering feedback, communicating clearly, and knowing what to own versus coach come into play. The second is a move into higher-level leadership focused on influence, vision, communicating at scale, working cross-functionally, and often owning a P&L for the first time. Knowing which one you are in changes what to look for in a coach.

What do most leaders underestimate about a revenue leadership transition?

Two things. First, value: new leaders often keep adding value the way they did in their old role, which does not scale and was not why they were hired. Second, the belief that working harder is the answer, when the role usually calls for working differently. Underneath both is confidence, since you have not done the role before and there is a pull to prove yourself that can push you back into old habits.

Why is coaching revenue leaders different from general executive coaching?

Sales moves at a different pace and rhythm than most functions. A coach who has never carried a quota or faced an end-of-quarter forecast may not fully understand those pressures or that some of them cannot be solved with a quick tactic. A coach does not have to come from sales to help, but firsthand understanding tends to matter most in the hardest parts of the job, like forecasting, end-of-quarter, and planning for next year.

What credentials should I look for in an executive coach?

Almost anyone can call themselves a coach, so credentials are a useful early signal. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) is the one to weight most heavily. It is not the only recognized body, but an ICF credential offers assurance that the coach works from established frameworks and a code of ethics rather than improvising.

How do I know if a coach is a good fit?

Every coach has their own style, process, and methodology, and the right fit is whether their approach matches what you want to accomplish. Ask how they would typically work with you toward your goals, what a session looks like, what support happens between sessions, and whether assessments or takeaways are built in. Asking for references is also worth doing before committing time and energy.

How to Find an Executive Coach for a Revenue Leadership Transition

How to Find a Good Executive Coach for a Revenue or GTM Leadership Transition

To find a good executive coach for a revenue or GTM leadership transition, look for three things: someone who understands the specific pressures of sales leadership, ideally from having carried a number themselves; someone with recognized credentials, with ICF being the one I'd weight most heavily; and someone whose style and process actually fit how you want to work. Credentials get you a baseline of trust, but fit and real understanding of the revenue world are what make the engagement worth it.

If you're stepping into a bigger revenue role, you've probably already noticed that the things that got you here aren't quite the same things the new job is asking of you. Finding the right coach for that moment is less about picking someone with an impressive bio and more about finding someone who understands the specific rhythm and pressure of revenue leadership. Here's how I'd think about it.

What kind of transition are you actually in?

Most of the revenue leaders I work with are in one of two transitions, and they call for pretty different things.

The first is a true step into a new role. Maybe you're leading a team for the first time, or you've been running a team and now you're moving to a true VP-level remit. The skills that show up here are foundational ones: delivering feedback, communicating clearly, getting sharp about what you're responsible for versus what you should be coaching your team to own. It's a real shift, and a lot of it is unlearning the habits that made you effective as an individual contributor or a front-line manager.

The second is a move into higher-level leadership, where the job becomes about influence, vision, communicating at scale, working cross-functionally, managing executives above you, and often owning something like a P&L for the first time. These aren't skills your old role required, so it's less about getting better at what you already do and more about building a set of capabilities you may not have needed until now.

Knowing which of these you're in matters, because it changes what you should be looking for in a coach and what you'll actually work on together.

What most leaders underestimate about the transition

There are a couple of things I see people get wrong early, and they're worth naming because a good coach will help you see them faster than you'd see them on your own.

The first is value. When people first land in a bigger role, they tend to keep adding value the same way they did in their old job, often for the first six to nine months. Eventually it becomes clear that the old way of adding value doesn't scale, and that it wasn't really the reason they were hired into the new role in the first place. Figuring out what new value you're supposed to create is a big part of the work.

The second is the belief that you can just work harder. When you're handed more responsibility, you're usually not being asked to work harder, you're being asked to work differently. That's a mindset shift, and it doesn't happen automatically.

Underneath both of those, what people are often really wrestling with is confidence. You haven't done this role before, so you don't yet have proof that you can succeed at it. There's a strong pull to prove yourself and live up to the expectations that got you the job, and that pull can push you right back into the old habits that don't serve the new role. A good coach helps you sit with that and build a different way of measuring whether you're doing well.

Why coaching revenue leaders is its own thing

Sales moves at a different pace and rhythm than most other functions, and that matters more than people expect when they're choosing a coach.

A coach who has never carried a quota, never sat in the seat, never stared down a forecast at the end of a quarter often doesn't fully understand what those pressures feel like. They may not appreciate that some of the hardest parts of the job aren't things you can fix with a quick tactic or a bit more practice. A coach doesn't necessarily have to come from sales to be genuinely helpful, and plenty of excellent coaches don't. But when you get into the hardest parts of revenue leadership, forecasting, end-of-quarter, planning for next year, having a coach who understands that world firsthand tends to help.

If understanding the revenue world matters to you, it's fair to ask a coach about it directly. A few questions worth putting to them:

What would you recommend I do if it isn't shaping up to be a good quarter?
When you were a sales leader, what did you find actually mattered?
How do you think about the pressure of hitting a number, and how would you coach me through it?

You're not looking for a specific right answer so much as a sense of whether they truly get it.

Screen for real credentials

At this point almost anyone can call themselves a coach, so credentials are one of the clearer signals you have. The one I'd weight most heavily is the International Coaching Federation, or ICF. It isn't the only recognized body, but an ICF credential gives you some assurance that beyond good rapport, the person is working from established frameworks and a code of ethics rather than making it up as they go.

Credentials aren't the whole picture, but they're a reasonable filter early on, especially when you're comparing people whose backgrounds all look good on paper.

Then screen for fit

Every coach has their own style, process, and methodology, and the thing that separates a good engagement from a frustrating one is often just whether their way of working fits what you're trying to accomplish. It's worth asking about that plainly before you commit. Some questions that tend to surface fit:

How would you typically work with me toward my goals?
What does a session usually look like?
What kind of support happens between sessions?
Are there assessments or takeaways built into the engagement?

I'd also ask for references. If you're going to put real time and energy into this, it's fair to want to understand how the coach works with other clients, whether that's through their site or a direct conversation.

A note on how I think about this work

The way I approach coaching revenue leaders is a little different from coaching to a single goal. I'm less interested in tactically helping someone land the next promotion and more interested in building skills that, over the long term, don't require a coach at all.

The aim is long-term excellence and self-generation: giving you a way to handle the pressures of a revenue job on your own, so you're not just set up for this next step but for the ones after it too. It's less about coaching to the goal and more about coaching to the person.

Written by Garret Moniz

Garret is the founder of Revem, an executive coaching practice focused on revenue, GTM, and sales enablement leaders. He is an ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC) and spent 15 leading revenue teams before founding Revem.