Reading Time: 7 minutes Being a sales manager is no longer just about hitting the number. Today’s sales managers must master a complex balancing act—coach and challenger, strategist and supporter, gatekeeper and galvaniser. In a world where buying processes have changed, attention spans have shrunk, and talent churn is high, effective sales management has evolved from tactical oversight to intentional leadership. So what does it take to thrive as a modern sales manager? Here’s what the latest thinking—and a dose of grounded experience—tells us. Set Clear Expectations: Clarity Is Kindness Great sales managers don’t micromanage—they provide clarity. And clarity is often the most generous thing you can give a salesperson. In high-performance cultures, ambiguity is the enemy. According to research from Gallup, only 50% of employees strongly agree that they know what’s expected of them at work. That’s a damning stat, especially in sales where success is heavily behavioural. Good outcomes come from good inputs. And inputs can be measured, coached, and refined. Setting expectations means more than rattling off a target. It means defining what “good” looks like on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. It means setting standards around things like: Pipeline coverage and hygiene Outreach activity and cadence Meeting quality and preparation CRM usage Collaboration and contribution to the wider team It’s worth codifying these expectations, making them visible and referenceable. When you do, it becomes easier to praise alignment and address drift. And crucially, your team knows what to aim for—even when you’re not in the room. Hold a High Standard (Even When It’s Uncomfortable) There’s a temptation in modern sales management to soften the edges—to be the approachable boss, the friend, the buffer. But high-performing teams aren’t built on comfort. They’re built on shared standards, psychological safety, and accountability. Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor, puts it simply: “Care personally, challenge directly.” In other words, kindness isn’t avoiding hard conversations. It’s showing someone enough respect to believe they can grow. This matters especially in sales, where inconsistency kills momentum. If a rep sees a colleague sandbagging or slipping standards without consequence, your culture is compromised. Holding a high standard doesn’t mean being cold or punitive. It means creating a culture where expectations are visible, feedback is regular, and performance conversations are normalised—not saved up for the end of quarter panic. Manage Poor Performance (Not Just the Person) Underperformance is rarely a character flaw. More often, it’s a systems issue, a gap in clarity, a misalignment of role fit, or a temporary dip that went unaddressed too long. Before labelling someone as a poor performer, investigate the context: Are expectations clear and agreed? Has the rep received relevant coaching and support? Is there a capability gap or a motivation gap? Are tools, territories or targets fair and realistic? If performance genuinely falls short, act early. Research from Harvard Business Review shows that underperformers often occupy disproportionate amounts of management time, and their effect on team morale can be corrosive. A structured Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), while dreaded, can be a fair and effective tool—provided it’s framed as a pathway to support, not a prelude to dismissal. Importantly, if the fit really isn’t there, let people leave with dignity. Sales is not for everyone, and that’s okay. A graceful exit can be better for all involved than a protracted struggle. Help Salespeople Manage Time, Not Just Pipelines Time is a salesperson’s most valuable, non-renewable resource. Yet many reps spend more time reacting than selling. Studies by Salesforce and HubSpot regularly cite that reps spend less than 35% of their time on revenue-generating activities. Great managers help their teams reclaim that time. Remove administrative friction: Audit your CRM, approval flows, and internal meetings. What can be automated, delegated, or dropped? Protect focus blocks: Encourage time-blocking for outbound work, and defend those blocks from the meeting monster. Run fewer, better meetings: Start and end on time. Have a purpose. Prepare in advance. Don’t use meetings to broadcast information that could be emailed. Encourage async updates: Tools like Slack, Loom or Notion can shift certain workflows out of synchronous time and let sellers focus. Momentum in sales is everything. When reps feel like they’re getting traction, confidence compounds. When they’re constantly interrupted or spinning plates, they lose rhythm—and results soon follow. Build a Rhythm, Not Just a Process Sales processes matter. But rhythm is what brings a process to life. The most effective sales managers don’t just hand out playbooks—they create cadences. This includes: Daily standups (brief, focused, energising) Weekly pipeline reviews (insightful, not interrogatory) Monthly retrospectives (team-led, learning-focused) Quarterly business reviews (strategic, developmental) Rhythm creates predictability. And predictability builds psychological safety. When reps know when and how they’ll be supported, coached, and challenged, they’re more likely to engage deeply in the process. Crucially, these cadences should be designed with your team, not imposed on them. Involve them in shaping what good looks like, and you’ll get buy-in and better outcomes. Coach the Human, Not Just the Metrics Modern sales managers are expected to be coaches, not just administrators. But coaching isn’t just running through call stats or forecasting deals. It’s understanding the human behind the number. Research from Gartner shows that high-quality coaching can improve sales performance by up to 19%. But the most effective coaching is contextual, not generic. That means understanding each rep’s motivators, mindset, and strengths. Ask questions like: What’s been energising you lately? Where are you stuck or avoiding something? What would “10/10” performance look like for you this month? What’s something you’d like to try, but haven’t yet? Then get into the weeds with them. Listen to call recordings together. Roleplay. Challenge assumptions. Celebrate experiments. Remember: great coaching isn’t giving advice. It’s helping someone think better about their own challenges. Stay Close to the Work There’s a dangerous trap in sales management: getting promoted away from the problem. Yes, you’re leading now. But don’t lose touch with the craft. Sit in on calls. Shadow demos. Listen to customer feedback. Stay alert to market shifts. Why does this matter? Because proximity drives insight—and credibility. Research from the Sales Management Association found that sales managers who spend more time coaching and observing reps in the field lead teams that outperform their peers by up to 20% in revenue achievement. That visibility into real sales interactions allows managers to spot trends, course-correct early, and offer coaching that’s actually relevant. Gartner echoes this, highlighting that the most effective sales leaders are “sense-makers”—those who reduce complexity and help reps navigate ambiguity. But to do that, they must have first-hand knowledge of what’s happening in the market, with customers, and inside the sales motion itself. There’s also the morale factor. When your team sees you staying close to the work, you gain trust. You’re not just a spreadsheet jockey—they know you get it. You’ve felt the awkward silence in a cold call. You know what it’s like to defend pricing or field objections. That shared understanding builds credibility, which in turn boosts engagement and follow-through. It also makes you a better advocate. Managers who are close to the frontline can make stronger, data-backed cases to leadership for process changes, tool improvements, or resource investment. You’re not guessing—you’re representing reality. In short: don’t become a manager who only manages. Be a leader who still listens, learns, and leads from the front. The closer you stay to the real work of selling, the better you’ll be at guiding those who do it every day. Make Recognition a Habit It sounds simple, but it’s too often missed: people need to feel seen. Especially in sales, where rejection is frequent and rewards are delayed. Recognition doesn’t have to be grand. A well-timed Slack message, a personal note, a quick shoutout in a team huddle—it all counts. And it reinforces the behaviours you want to see more of. Research from OC Tanner shows that employees who feel recognised are 63% more likely to stay in their role for the next 12 months. In a market where sales attrition is high, that’s worth paying attention to. Make praise specific, timely, and tied to effort—not just outcome. That’s how you create a learning, striving culture, not just a scoreboard one. Managing Up While managing your team is crucial, your ability to manage upwards can be the difference between thriving and burning out. Sales managers often sit at a painful junction: translating board expectations into team action while advocating for team needs up the chain. It’s easy to get stuck in reactive mode—defending numbers, over-reporting, firefighting misalignment. But the best sales managers take a proactive stance: Educate your leadership: Make sure they understand the reality of your team’s challenges, market conditions, and growth levers. Control the narrative: Frame progress in terms of quality pipeline, process maturity, and capability development—not just short-term revenue. Be a filter, not a funnel: Shield your team from unnecessary distractions and pressure. Push back with insight, not emotion. Remember, managing up isn’t about flattery—it’s about alignment, influence, and getting the resources your team needs to succeed. Create the Right Team Culture Culture isn’t what you put on a wall. It’s how your team behaves when no one’s watching. And as a manager, you shape it—through your habits, your tone, your consistency. Want a curious team? Ask better questions.Want a resilient team? Show them how to bounce back.Want a learning culture? Admit what you’re still figuring out. It’s not just feel-good stuff. The data backs it up. According to McKinsey, companies with strong team cultures see up to 3x higher total returns to shareholders than those with weaker cultures. And research from Culture Amp found that employees who rate their team culture highly are 4x more likely to be engaged at work. Sales specifically? Culture has a direct commercial impact. A study published in the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management found that a positive team climate significantly improves both individual and team sales performance—particularly when it fosters psychological safety, collaboration, and shared purpose. Strong cultures also protect your team from burnout and attrition. A recent LinkedIn Workplace report found that 94% of employees say they’d stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development—a hallmark of positive, high-trust cultures. So how do you build it? Strong cultures have rituals, language, and shared memory. That might be a Monday morning huddle, a monthly peer-nominated award, a Slack thread of weekly wins. These things seem small—but they build trust, reinforce norms, and keep energy high. They also make performance conversations easier. When the culture is safe and cohesive, people are more open to feedback, more likely to challenge each other, and more resilient when things get tough. And when culture’s strong, results follow. Because people feel like they belong—and that they’re building something worth showing up for. Where Great Sales Managers Make Their Mark The best sales managers don’t just hit targets—they create the conditions for others to do their best work. They remove friction, foster belief, model discipline, and lead with clarity and care. It’s not easy. It never has been. But it’s never been more important. And when you get it right, you don’t just build a great team. You build a reputation—and a legacy—as someone who made others better. To learn more about our Sales management curriculum and how we support managers to succeed you can click here Aaron Evans 26 March 2025 Share : URL has been copied successfully!