The Frontline Multiplier: How AI Enables Great Managers, Not Just Great Sellers

AI isn’t here to replace reps. And it sure isn’t here just to help them type emails faster or summarize calls. The real force multiplier in a sales organization isn’t a superstar AE, it’s a manager who knows how to develop consistent performers.

That was the sharp, unfiltered message behind our recent AI Advantage webinar, “The Frontline Multiplier: How AI Enables Great Managers, Not Just Great Sellers,” featuring Brian Walsh, Managing Director of Facilitation and Delivery at Force Management. Hosted by Momentum’s own Jonathan Kvarfordt (aka Coach K, Head of GTM Growth) and Cristiano Mendes (VP of Sales), this session was a reset on how sales leaders need to think about AI’s role in their orgs.

Most teams start with AI to help reps move faster. But speed without coaching is just chaos in motion. The real unlock isn’t another dashboard. It’s giving managers what they’ve never had before: clear signals, consistent structure, and leverage they can actually use. 

That’s when performance scales. Not from the bottom up, but from the frontline out.

Now let's recap what happened in this episode.

The GTM Fallacy: Reps Are the Wrong Starting Point

Companies chasing AI adoption often start with the rep. Automate their workflows. Summarize their meetings. Push alerts into Slack.

But what happens when the manager doesn’t have the skill, time, or structure to turn those insights into outcomes?

That’s the real gap. Brian Walsh has seen it firsthand. Force Management works with top-tier revenue teams to deploy methodologies like MEDDICC and Command of the Message. And if there's one constant across every high-performing org, it's this: frontline managers (not tools) set the tone for performance.

AI will surface signals. But what happens next? That’s a coaching question, not a data one.

From Einstein to Enterprise Coaching: Brian Walsh’s Core Framework

Brian framed the conversation with a powerful analogy from Albert Einstein: compounding interest is the most powerful force in the universe. Not because it works quickly, but because it works relentlessly.

Now apply that to sales coaching.

Every skill-building interaction a manager has with a rep compounds. It doesn’t just impact the deal they’re working, it sharpens the rep’s performance across the board. The ability to coach micro-skills that can be reused across every deal? That’s the compounding force behind scalable revenue execution.

And that’s where AI fits in. Not to replace the manager, but to supercharge them.

“If you are not willing or able to become a great coach of skill,” Brian warned, “it's going to be over for you really fast. This is happening. There are no more bushes to hide behind.”

The Hidden Execution Crisis: Managers Without Time, Data, or Coaching Muscle

Jonathan Kvarfordt laid out the backdrop: most managers are underwater. The systems they rely on (CRM, dashboards, pipeline reviews) are lagging indicators. And frontline managers are spending more time corralling forecast inputs than actually developing their teams.

Momentum calls this the GTM Execution Crisis. It shows up in three ways:

1. Time drain – Too much admin, not enough coaching.
2. Data silos – Incomplete signals, messy insights, no shared context.
3. Lost actionability – Reps are swimming in calls, but managers lack the structure to act on the insights.

Momentum’s orchestration layer solves this by giving managers structured, validated data from every customer interaction — call, email, support ticket, or Slack thread — cleaned and pushed directly into Salesforce across 38 unique field types. From there, managers get way more than just visibility: they get leverage.

Instead of guessing who needs help, AI identifies the micro-skills that correlate with performance gaps. Then the manager can coach in real-time with full context, not anecdotal hunches.

As Jonathan put it: “Think of it like a coaching Ironman suit.”

The Role of the Manager Just Changed (And Most Teams Aren’t Ready)

Brian didn’t sugarcoat it. The manager role has fundamentally changed. In today’s AI-enabled GTM motion, you don’t get to be a coach in name only. You have to become one, fast.

It’s no longer enough to check in on deals and hope for the best. Managers must identify patterns, diagnose skill gaps, and drive performance improvements every week. The window for vague leadership is closed.

“You are not going to survive this,” Brian said plainly, “if you’re not committed to becoming a great coach and deal strategist.”

But here’s the good news: AI, used well, takes away the busywork and guesswork. It gives managers time back and amplifies their strengths (if they know how to use it).

No More Excuses: Your Stack Isn’t the Problem Anymore

Brian called out the elephant in the RevOps room: “Most companies could kill half their sales tech stack and reps would throw a parade.”

Why? Because bloated tools don’t drive action. They sit idle. And worse, they force reps to do duplicate work updating CRMs, entering data, building slide decks, all while trying to sell.

But platforms like Momentum flip that model on its head. AI doesn’t just record or summarize; it pushes structured, role-specific data back into the systems you already use. The insights don’t stay trapped in transcripts, they become part of Salesforce fields, Slack workflows, and real-time coaching alerts.

That means:

• No more “book report” pipeline reviews
• No more Salesforce data entry meetings
• No more misalignment between rep reality and manager perception

The data is already there. If a manager doesn’t know what’s going on with their team, that’s not a tech issue. That’s a coaching issue.

Coaching Isn’t a One-Off. It’s an Operating System.

Too often, enablement is treated like an event. You bring in a training program, everyone gets excited for a week, and then… nothing. No reinforcement, no feedback loops, no accountability.

Momentum solves for that gap by embedding coaching directly into the operating rhythm.

Here’s how it works:

• Momentum captures key deal signals (like MEDDICC fields, objections, persona pain) from real calls.
• The platform tracks skill adoption trends across time—showing how reps improve or stall on specific competencies.
• AI pushes personalized alerts to managers when something is missed or needs follow-up.
• Leaders get coaching visualizations inside Salesforce (or Slack) that track development—not just deal outcomes.

It’s the difference between hoping your training worked and knowing exactly where it's landing. That’s how you coach with precision.

“You can finally track what’s working,” Jonathan explained. “Not just what was said, but how it was said, how often, and how it’s shifting behavior.”

Brian agreed and took it one step further: the best coaching organizations build a repeatable rhythm. Weekly coaching syncs. Shared definitions of success. A gold standard for what great looks like in every role.

From Head Coach to Skills Coach: Defining the Gold Standard

A key concept from Brian: define what great looks like for every role in your GTM team. That means not just quota attainment, but the observable skills and behaviors that lead to it.

“You can’t just tell someone to run a play,” Patrick (Momentum’s AE guest) noted. “Everyone has to speak the same coaching language. Otherwise, it breaks down fast.”

Brian broke it down further:

• First-line managers are skills coaches. Like a wide receiver coach in football, they develop specific abilities in their reps.
• Second- and third-line leaders are coaches of coaches. Their job isn’t to close deals. It’s to ensure their managers know how to coach.

When AI supports both layers, you get a scalable system for behavior change. You’re not just managing outcomes. You’re multiplying capability.

RevOps, Meet Your New Job: Enabling the Coach, Not Just the Rep

One of the sharpest moments of the conversation came from a RevOps leader in the audience who asked: “How do we set managers up for success with AI?”

Brian’s answer was immediate: before AI does anything, you need to define what success even looks like.

“If you don’t define the gold standard by role, you’re letting everyone choose their own adventure. That’s not enablement. That’s chaos.”

For RevOps and Enablement teams, the first job is alignment:

• What does great look like for a first-line manager?
• What skills matter most in our market, our sales cycle, our motion?
• What does consistent execution of those skills actually look like?

Without those definitions, AI can’t support the right behaviors because nobody knows what they are.

AI as a Mirror: Exposing Patterns, Surfacing Coaching Opportunities

Let’s get specific. AI isn’t a substitute for coaching: it’s an amplifier. But only if it’s wired into the right signals.

Brian explained it best through the concept of “micro-skills.” These are the repeatable moves top performers make without even realizing it. The skill of laying down stakeholder alignment early. The habit of articulating differentiated outcomes with clarity. The instinct to avoid lazy qualification questions like “who else is involved?”

“If you don’t know what your top reps are doing differently, you can’t replicate it,” Brian said. “AI can help you see it. But the manager has to turn that signal into a teachable moment.”

This is where Momentum shines. The platform captures these micro-skills at scale across every call, every email, every objection and gives managers a side-by-side view of where reps are gaining ground or falling behind.

When your best rep consistently nails a discovery moment that moves deals forward, Momentum flags it. When another rep keeps missing that same step, Momentum surfaces the gap. Then it packages the insight in a way the manager can act on immediately with context, timestamps, and direct links to the call moments that matter.

That’s how coaching becomes specific and actionable.

What Managers Really Need: An Operating Rhythm They Can Rely On

Consistency beats intensity. That’s the philosophy behind coaching as an operating system.

Patrick broke down the weekly rhythm he follows with Momentum’s VP of Sales, Chris:

• 1:1s every Monday focused on priorities, blockers, and execution.
• Sales Engine meetings every Thursday to track pipeline generation, SDR partnership, and self-sourced metrics.
• Forecast calls that aren't about entering CRM data, they’re about deal strategy, because the data’s already in place.

“In past orgs, coaching was a fire drill,” Patrick shared. “Now, it’s structured. It’s predictable. And it builds week over week.”

The reason this works? AI isn’t the meeting. AI preps the meeting by equipping the manager ahead of time. Chris gets an analysis of Patrick’s calls before they even meet. He already knows what went well, what’s trending, and where to lean in. That’s leverage.

Brian called it out plainly: “You won’t be allowed to hide anymore. The ‘I’ve been too busy to coach’ excuse is gone. If you can’t coach, this job isn’t for you.”

Coaching the Coaches: The Other Layer Most Orgs Miss

This wasn’t just a clinic on frontline execution. Brian reminded everyone that coaching doesn’t stop with first-line managers.

If you're a VP of Sales, CRO, or Enablement leader, your job is to coach the coach.

“If I’m watching a manager coach a deal, I’m not just auditing the deal. I’m watching how they run the session. I’m coaching them on how to coach better,” Brian emphasized.

This is where most enablement efforts fall apart. Companies roll out training, drop it into the field, and hope managers figure it out. But without reinforcement, without feedback loops on coaching itself, nothing sticks.

The organizations that win embed coaching in their leadership cadence. Not just for reps. Not just for deals. But for the people responsible for developing both.

That’s how you build a culture where coaching compounds and execution scales.

AI Adoption Is a Coaching Problem, Not a Tech Problem

One of the attendees posed a question that cut to the heart of the issue: “Most leaders say what needs to be done. But do they know how to coach the ‘how’?”

Brian didn’t flinch. “They don’t,” he said. “But it’s not their fault. Nobody taught them.”

That’s the dark truth behind AI adoption failure. The tools aren’t broken. The training isn’t bad. But most managers have never been taught how to translate insights into action.

Momentum solves for this by turning signals into skill-based workflows, then automating that reinforcement. You don’t just see that a rep missed a stakeholder alignment question. You get a Slack or Teams alert, a call clip, and a suggestion for coaching all tied to a repeatable rhythm.

And that rhythm matters, because consistency creates culture.

Turning Skeptics into Champions: The AI Adoption Curve

Brian offered a simple framework for managing AI adoption inside GTM teams:

• Early adopters jump in, use the tools, and drive change. Promote them.
• Skeptics wait for proof. Give them evidence, structure, and action. They’ll convert.
• Cynics wait for failure. If they won’t move, make them available to industry.

The key? Once skeptics see AI is being used to enable them not monitor or micromanage, they switch sides. Fast.

“You want reps running to you for strategy,” Brian said. “Not hiding behind rocks hoping you don’t check their pipeline.”

Momentum helps enable that shift. It provides reps and managers with clear, actionable visibility, not compliance dashboards. You coach better. They perform better. Skepticism fades.

Avoiding AI Shelfware: Operationalize or Die

Ash, another RevOps leader in the chat, asked how to keep coaching consistent week after week.

The answer: build the rhythm first. Then layer AI on top.

Here’s what that looks like:

• Define your gold standard by role. What does a great AE, SE, SDR, or Manager actually look like in your context?
• Set a coaching cadence that reinforces micro-skills tied to that standard.
• Use AI to track performance against those skills automatically, across channels.
• Equip leaders with pre-call data so they’re not winging it in 1:1s or pipeline reviews.
• Audit your operating rhythm every quarter. What worked six months ago may be stale now.

“AI won’t fix a broken rhythm,” Brian emphasized. “But it will supercharge a good one.”

Final Takeaways: The Real Frontier of AI Is Manager Enablement

As you might have noticed, this conversation wasn’t centered on tools. It focused on how teams are rethinking the role of the manager and how AI can support better coaching, not just faster workflows.

AI isn’t the end goal. It’s the multiplier. And like compounding interest, its effect grows only when applied consistently. But for that to work, your first-line managers need to stop playing spreadsheet tag and start playing coach.

They need better signals, better structure, and better support from leadership.

That’s what Momentum delivers:

• A complete orchestration layer across every customer touchpoint
• Structured data pushed into Salesforce fields (not just rich text blobs)
• Real-time coaching alerts, visualizations, and workflows
• Seamless Slack, Teams and CRM integration that eliminates rep friction
• Operating rhythm reinforcement for every manager and team

Brian said it best: “Until AI can buy from AI, the seller isn’t dead. But the sales manager? That job just got a lot harder and more important.”

What’s Next?

Want to build a sales org where every manager is a multiplier?

Here’s how to take the first step:

• Explore Momentum’s Coaching Features
• Watch the full AI Advantage webinar recording
• Check other AI Advantage episodes

Most AI tools promise efficiency. But efficiency doesn’t build a team. What actually drives performance is the person helping reps get better every week. 

That’s where AI should focus. And where Momentum does.

‍