10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Sales Manager

So you‘re a top-performing sales rep gunning for that manager title? Before you step into those leadership shoes, let me share some battle-tested advice from the sales management trenches.

Brace yourself for some daunting statistics:

• Sales managers have zero control over 83% of the metrics they‘re held accountable for
• 40% of reps fail to understand customer pain points
• 2/3 of sellers miss quota
• 54% believe their pipeline is inaccurate
• Almost half lack a formal sales playbook
  Sources: Salesforce, Marc Wayshak, Vantage Point Performance

I don‘t share these to discourage you, but to underline just how critical the right preparation is for this demanding role. Learn from my hindsight – here are the top 10 things I wish I knew from day one:

1. Invest Heavily in Recruiting the Right Talent

If I could rewind the clock, I would have devoted far more time to hiring A-players from the start. The old adage is spot-on: get the right people on the bus in the right seats.

The hard costs of a bad hire are steep – it can set you back up to 30% of the employee‘s first-year earnings.

But even more detrimental are the opportunity costs – the deals that weren‘t closed, the relationships that weren‘t properly nurtured. A study by SHRM found that the average cost to replace a rep ranges from $75,000-$100,000+. Ouch.

So what should you look for in your next sales hires? According to HubSpot data, top performers tend to exhibit:

• Coachability
• Curiosity
• Prior success
• Intelligent risk-taking
• Passion for your offering

During interviews, go beyond the standard "sell me this pen" role-play. Ask behavioral questions that probe into these essential traits:

• Tell me about a time you had to quickly learn a new product or industry. How did you get up to speed?
• Give me an example of when you disagreed with feedback from a manager. How did you handle it?
• Describe a calculated risk you took in your last role. What was your thought process?

Aim to allocate at least 20% of your time to recruiting, even when you don‘t have an active opening. Always be nurturing a pipeline of passive candidates so you‘re poised to hire swiftly when the need arises.

2. Prioritize Team Bonding Outside the Office

In the pressure cooker of quotas and commissions, it‘s all too easy for reps to view their teammates as the competition. But a study by UPenn found that companies with highly collaborative sales teams drive 10-15% more revenue than their siloed counterparts.

As the manager, it‘s on you to intentionally cultivate cohesion, especially outside the office walls. The key is to think beyond boozy happy hours. Get creative with morale-boosting activities like:

• Volunteering as a team at a local charity
• Friendly sales competitions with incentive prizes
• Personal development workshops or book clubs
• Active outings like an escape room or TopGolf

With 20-30% annual turnover in sales, your team makeup will likely shift frequently. Prioritize at least one offsite event per quarter to maintain those crucial connections.

3. Master the Art of Time Management

Stepping out of the individual contributor (IC) trenches, I naively expected more white space on my calendar. Reality check: I couldn‘t have been more wrong. Instead of one quota, I shouldered 10. Time management quickly became a survival skill.

After many iterations, here‘s how I recommend structuring your time:

• 30% people development (1:1 coaching, team training)
• 20% deal support (key accounts, late stage opportunities)
• 20% recruiting (sourcing, interviewing, hiring)
• 10% strategic projects (process optimization, tool implementation)
• 10% internal collaboration (cross-functional initiatives)
• 10% admin (forecasting, reporting, budgeting)

Some of my favorite tactics:

• Theme each day around a pillar (i.e. Mondays for 1:1s, Tuesdays for recruiting)
• Time block your calendar to protect maker time
• Delegate, automate or eliminate low-value activities
• Maximize your CRM to track key deals and metrics

4. Evangelize Your Team‘s Higher Purpose

It‘s a common misconception that salespeople are coin-operated, driven solely by the almighty dollar. But Objective Management Group found that only 27% of reps today are extrinsically motivated, down from 54% pre-2008.

Now more than ever, your team craves a deeper sense of meaning and impact in their work. It‘s your charge to define and reinforce that inspiring north star.

Not sure where to start? Reflect on your company‘s origin story:

• What customer problem were you created to solve?
• How do you make your buyers‘ lives better?
• In what ways does your offering leave the world a bit brighter?

For example, when I led sales at an employee wellness startup, our mission was to help companies build healthier, happier workforces. We quantified our ripple effects, like:

• 10,000 people empowered to better manage stress
• 5,000 folks now regularly exercising thanks to our app
• $2M in employer healthcare costs saved
• Immeasurable positive impact on families and communities

Whatever your higher purpose, shout it from the rooftops! Celebrate customer wins at team meetings. Share glowing testimonials. Connect the dots from day-to-day activities to the bigger picture.

5. Flex Your Leadership Style to the Individual

I‘ll be the first to admit, I initially expected my reps to be mini-me‘s. I‘m direct to a fault and thrive on constructive criticism, so I assumed that approach would resonate with everyone. Big mistake.

The Platinum Rule trumps the Golden Rule in leadership: treat others how THEY want to be treated. One-size-fits-all coaching simply won‘t cut it.

To tailor your style, start by understanding different learning preferences:

• Visual (graphs, charts, written) = 65% of population
• Auditory (verbal explanations) = 30%
• Kinesthetic (learn by doing) = 5%
  Source: University of Alabama Birmingham

Better yet, invest in a tool like DiSC or StrengthsFinder to uncover your reps‘ hardwired workstyles and motivators. Then adapt your approach accordingly:

• High D‘s crave competition and challenges
• High I‘s need collaboration and public recognition
• High S‘s value stability and 1:1 feedback
• High C‘s prefer data, logic and time to process

Another critical distinction: a rep‘s level of competence and commitment should dictate how you support them. The Situational Leadership model advises flexing from directing to coaching to delegating as they progress.

6. Don‘t Shortcut New Hire Onboarding

As Murphy‘s Law would have it, three reps resigned within my first 60 days as manager. In my haste to fill the headcount, I drastically underestimated the ramp time for the new hires.

That baptism by fire cost us big time. Average ramp time for SaaS sellers is 4.5 months, but 62% of companies say it takes 7+ months to onboard reps. Productivity lags are expensive – up to 2.5X the base salary plus $50,000.

Don‘t leave your new hires‘ development to chance. Craft a comprehensive onboarding roadmap spanning their first 90 days:

Days 1-30	Days 31-60	Days 61-90
Learn company processes, tools	Shadow calls	Give a product demo
Complete product certifications	Update 5 records in CRM daily	Conduct 25 outreach calls/day
Buddy up with tenured rep	Co-deliver a presentation	Close first deal

Assign each new hire a dedicated mentor for their first 6 months. A peer can often provide more candid advice and hands-on guidance than a manager.

Block two standing coaching sessions per week for new sellers in addition to your typical 1:1s. Keep a tight pulse on their activity metrics, pipeline and skill development.

7. Your Team‘s Results Are YOUR Results

When wins rolled in, I loved touting my team‘s monster months. But when they missed the mark, it was mighty tempting to lay the blame squarely on "their" execution.

Here‘s the uncomfy truth: as a manager, your team‘s failures are YOUR failures. You can‘t pass the buck. As Jocko Willink preaches in Extreme Ownership, "Leaders must own everything in their world."

When the same questions surface again and again, you‘re not nailing the message. When reps miss quota, peel back the layers to pinpoint the real culprit:

• Not enough pipeline? Crank up prospecting.
• Low close rates? Hone in on objection handling and negotiation.
• Deals languishing? Diagnose stalled opportunities weekly.
• Inaccurate forecasting? Audit your pipeline reviews.

Ultimately, you can‘t want success more for your reps than they want it for themselves. But widespread shortcomings point right back to your coaching gaps.

8. Coach Reps to Their Own "Aha" Moments

"What should I do?" In the early days, that question hit my inbox at least 10 times a day. I thought serving up the answer was my job.

I quickly learned playing Chief Problem Solver does reps a major disservice. My goal is to mold self-sufficient sellers, not order-takers.

Now when a rep brings me a dilemma, I guide them to their own solution through Socratic questioning:

• What have you tried so far? What were the results?
• Where are you getting stuck? What‘s the ideal outcome?
• If you had a magic wand, what would you do?
• What‘s another angle you haven‘t considered yet?

Occasionally a situation calls for a swift answer, but that‘s the exception not the norm. Equip your team with frameworks to think critically on their own. The GROW model works well:

• Goal – Clarify the objective
• Reality – Understand the current state
• Options – Explore potential paths forward
• Way Forward – Commit to next steps

9. Influencing Through Questions, Not Commands

The more I resisted giving orders, the more receptive reps became to my suggestions. I realized that TELLING quickly breeds resistance, while ASKING yields buy-in.

Consider two approaches to the same pipeline gap:

• Directive: "I need you to make 50 more calls this week."
• Collaborative: "What‘s your plan to create more opportunities? What support would be helpful?"

Defaulting to questions doesn‘t mean shying away from hard accountability conversations. But it invites reps into the problem-solving process. Their ideas become the impetus for change.

Some of my go-to questions:

• Where do you see the greatest potential this month?
• What deal gives you the most heartburn? How can I help?
• Which part of your process feels clunkiest right now?
• If you were coaching you, what would you advise?

Instead of quick fixes, you‘ll hone reps‘ judgment muscles for the long haul.

10. Step Up as a Leader Before You Have the Title

Hindsight is 20/20, right? If you‘re vying for a leadership role, start acting the part now. Don‘t wait for the promotion to stretch your skills.

Seize every chance to mold the next generation of sellers on your team:

• Volunteer to onboard/mentor new hires
• Share best practices in team meetings
• Suggest process tweaks to your manager
• Rally the team around a compelling vision

Proactively unburden your boss where you can:

• Help source and interview candidates
• Offer to lead a team training on your area of expertise
• Tackle a project to improve team efficiency or visibility
• Review deals together to sharpen your coaching eye

Trust me, your initiative won‘t go unnoticed. Management is always scouting for their successor, even if not openly. 83% of organizations say developing new leaders is important, but only 14% do it well.

Demonstrate the core skills to thrive in a player-coach role:

• Emotional intelligence
• Adaptable communication style
• Analytical problem-solving
• Strategic planning
• Cross-functional collaboration

No one waltzes into management wholly prepared. It‘s a continual evolution, fueled by on-the-job learning. Soak up leadership wisdom wherever you can find it – books, podcasts, mentors, courses.

Your team‘s success depends on your insatiable hunger for growth. Show up for them as the coach you wish you‘d had from the start.

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There you have it – the top 10 things I wish I knew before becoming a sales manager. I hope these hard-won lessons give you a head start in making the leap from rockstar rep to all-star coach.

Becoming a great leader is a never-ending journey. Stay coachable. Lean into the discomfort. And never forget, your job is to grow people, not just revenue.