Assess Sector Expertise and Commercial Accumen

Why Sector Expertise and Commercial Acumen Are Non-Negotiable

Even the most skilled executive coach can struggle if they don’t understand the commercial realities your leaders face.

For revenue organisations, sector expertise and commercial acumen are not a nice-to-have – they are essential. Your CRO, regional VPs and Heads of Sales don’t have time to translate basic concepts or explain why a seemingly small decision in a deal review could have multi-million-pound implications.

In this article we explore Step 5 of our process for how to choose executive coaching services: assessing whether a potential coaching partner really understands your sector and how your business makes money.

What We Mean by Sector Expertise

Sector expertise is about more than being able to name a few clients in your industry.

A coach or coaching provider with real sector expertise will have a working understanding of:

• Market dynamics
  How your industry is changing, where pressure is coming from, and how that affects revenue predictability.
• Regulation and risk
  The key regulatory bodies and requirements, and how they shape what “good” looks like in sales and account management.
• Buying journeys and stakeholders
  Typical decision-makers, influencers and blockers; how long deals take; where they tend to stall.
• Competitive landscape
  The kinds of propositions and pricing models your leaders are competing with.

This doesn’t mean your coach needs to know the minutiae of every product or policy. It does mean they should be able to follow – and meaningfully challenge – conversations about your pipeline, deals, accounts and strategy.

What Commercial Acumen Looks Like in an Executive Coach

Commercial acumen is the ability to understand how value is created, protected and grown in your business – and to coach leaders accordingly.

Signs of strong commercial acumen include coaches who:

• Talk fluently about revenue, margin, risk and cost-to-serve, not just “performance” in general.
• Ask sharp questions about pipeline quality, not just volume.
• Understand the difference between leading and lagging indicators, and how leadership behaviour influences both.
• Can help leaders think through trade-offs – for example, short-term revenue vs long-term value, growth vs risk, efficiency vs customer experience.

In practice, this means a coach can sit in a conversation about a major deal, a forecast review or a board update and offer challenge and support that is grounded in commercial reality, not theory.

Why Generic “Leadership Coaching” Often Falls Short

Generic leadership coaching can be valuable for some contexts – but for senior commercial roles, it often isn’t enough on its own.

Common issues with purely generic approaches include:

• Misplaced focus – time is spent on topics that feel interesting but aren’t directly connected to how the leader drives revenue and manages risk.
• Lack of empathy for real constraints – advice that ignores regulatory requirements, pricing guidelines or governance processes.
• Slow progress – leaders have to spend too long explaining basic realities of their sector before any meaningful coaching can begin.
• Limited credibility – senior leaders disengage if they feel the coach doesn’t really “get” their world.

You don’t need your coach to have done the exact job of your CRO or regional VP, but you do need them to be commercially literate enough that leaders feel challenged and supported as peers.

Evidence to Look For When Assessing Sector Expertise

When you are evaluating potential providers, look beyond a client logo slide. Ask for specific evidence of sector expertise, such as:

• Case examples
  Stories of work with similar organisations, including context, approach and impact – not just name-dropping.
• Role-level experience
  Experience working with roles similar to those you plan to coach: CROs, regional VPs, Heads of Sales, Enablement and RevOps.
• Understanding of your regulatory and risk environment
  For example, the implications of FCA requirements in financial services, or compliance and clinical governance in healthcare.
• Proficiency with your commercial language
  The way they talk about pipeline health, forecast accuracy, deal quality, renewals, expansion and churn.
• Relevant content and thought leadership
  Articles, webinars or research specifically addressing revenue leadership in your sector or similar ones.

You can ask for short, anonymised examples of coaching scenarios in your industry to see how they think.

Questions to Test Commercial Acumen

To assess commercial acumen, bring your own world into the conversation. For example, you might:

• Share a sanitised pipeline snapshot and ask the provider what they notice and what questions they would ask your CRO.
• Describe a recent strategic deal and ask how they might work with a regional VP or Account Director around it.
• Outline a forecast surprise and ask what conversations they would want to have with your leadership team.

Then listen for:

• The quality and specificity of their questions.
• Whether they focus on behaviour and decision-making, not just process.
• How quickly they grasp your commercial context and what “good” would look like.

You can also use direct questions such as:

1. Which sectors do you work in most, and what are the main commercial realities in those sectors?
2. How do you stay current with changes in our industry and market?
3. Can you share anonymised examples of how coaching impacted revenue, risk or customer outcomes in similar organisations?

The goal is not to quiz them on jargon, but to see how they think.

Balancing Sector Fit and Fresh Perspective

While sector expertise is important, there is a balance to strike. In some environments, a coach with adjacent sector experience can bring helpful fresh perspective while still understanding the fundamentals.

For example:

• A coach experienced in enterprise B2B technology may also bring useful insight to complex B2B professional services.
• Someone who has worked extensively in financial services and insurance may be able to add value in other regulated industries.

The key is that:

• The fundamentals of the commercial model are similar enough.
• The coach is willing to learn and adapt quickly.
• Leaders feel they are talking to someone who respects and understands the complexity of their world.

Be wary of going too far the other way – for instance, expecting a coach with only small-business or individual contributor experience to be credible with a global CRO or a highly regulated enterprise.

Checking the Provider’s Bench, Not Just the Pitch Team

Sector expertise and commercial acumen have to exist in the coaches who will actually work with your leaders, not just in the people selling to you.

When you’re close to making a decision, ask to:

• Meet or sample coaches who would be matched with your leaders, not just the lead partner.
• Understand how coaches are selected and matched – by sector, role experience, style, geography and language.
• See a summary of coach backgrounds – industries, roles, qualifications and any specific commercial focus.

You can set expectations such as:

• “Our CRO and regional VPs must work with coaches who have meaningful experience in complex, multi-stakeholder B2B sales.”
• “Leaders in regulated markets need coaches who understand regulatory and risk constraints.”

This helps the provider design a coaching team that genuinely fits your world.

How to Capture Sector and Commercial Requirements in Your Brief

To make sector expertise and commercial acumen explicit in your selection process, add a short section to your coaching brief, covering:

1. Sector and Market
   • The industries and regions you operate in.
     
     
   • Key regulatory or risk considerations.
2. Commercial Model
   • High-level overview of how you generate revenue and margin.
     
     
   • Typical deal sizes, cycles and complexity.
3. Leadership Roles in Scope
   • Titles, accountabilities and key interfaces (e.g. board, investors, regulators, strategic customers).
4. Required Experience and Acumen
   • Essential: e.g. experience coaching CROs and regional VPs in complex B2B environments.
     
     
   • Desirable: e.g. work in your specific sub-sector.
5. Evaluation Expectations
   • How you will assess sector fit and commercial acumen during selection – for example, through case discussions, coach interviews or sample sessions.

Sharing this upfront saves time on both sides and reduces the risk of mismatch.

How Step 5 Supports Better Choices Overall

Assessing sector expertise and commercial acumen is a critical part of deciding how to choose executive coaching services.

Alongside clear outcomes, defined audiences, suitable formats and robust coaching methodology, this step ensures that your chosen provider can:

• Engage credibly with your most senior commercial leaders.
• Connect coaching conversations directly to revenue, risk and strategic priorities.
• Help leaders make better decisions in the deals, meetings and moments that matter.

When you get this right, coaching stops being a generic leadership perk and becomes a lever for sustainable commercial performance.