Why Your Sales Manager Sucks

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In today’s Follow Up:

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Why Great Sales Reps = Bad Managers

It’s a tale as old as time.

The top rep on a sales team gets promoted to Sales Manager, and absolutely blows it…

They micromanage, take credit for the team’s work, and create a toxic culture.

What made them great as an individual contributor ends up hurting them as a manager. 

Leaders continue to do it because it sounds reasonable… On paper, MJ and Lebron should make the best basketball coaches ever.

But it ain’t that simple. 

In reality, most top sales reps make bad sales managers. 

And bad managers lead to missed targets, angry customers, and unhappy employees. 

The perfect recipe to kill businesses quicker than you can say ‘per my last email…’

The Difference :

As a top-performing sales rep your main priority = you.

You’re responsible for meeting your quota and praised for doing so. Micromanaging deals is your job and a part of what makes you successful.

And that’s why it’s tough to make the switch.

A good sales manager needs to operate like a coach. They aren’t the superstar getting credit for the deal. They’re empowering their team to win.

They need to develop their sales talent to deliver results on their own, without micromanaging them.

It’s a tough transition, but not an impossible one…

What To Do

A Harvard Business School professor outlined the 4 things that can help sales reps make the jump.

1. A New Identity: Transitioning from sales to management is like hanging up the jersey, and pulling out the clipboard. Managers will need to step out of the spotlight and into a role where their success is measured by how well others perform. If they don’t want the new identity, management might not be right for them.

2. Spot and Develop Talent: A great sales manager is a great talent scout and coach. Managers need to learn how to identify talent that doesn’t just remind them of themselves. Once on board, they need to continuously train and develop their talent to win.

3. Know Ya’ Numbers: Beyond sales metrics, a sales manager should understand the financials of their team’s performance. This includes things like the return on investment for each rep and the total cost of their team.

4. The Why? Why does someone want to become a sales manager? Is it for the title and promotion, or is it to develop and train others?

Just remember, if you had a team with Michael Jordan in his prime, you wouldn't make him coach.

Let the players play.

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Checking In On The Job Market

If you’re not funny, you can’t work here… 😅 

Sales Meme of the Day