u/thesellingnomad

Not because they don't know sales.

Sometimes, because they know it too well.

A great salesperson can rely heavily on instinct.

They know when to push.

When to wait.

What to say.

Which objection isn't really an objection.

Then they become a manager and tell their team:

“Just do what I did.”

That's where things usually go wrong.

Your job changes from closing deals to helping other people close deals.

You can't take over every difficult conversation.

You can't be the best salesperson on the team anymore.

You have to coach the thinking, not just fix the problem.

I've seen managers spend hours reviewing deals when they should have spent 20 minutes understanding why the salesperson made the decision they did.

Selling and coaching sales are two very different skills.

What's the biggest adjustment you had to make when you moved from selling to managing?

Not because they don't know sales.

Sometimes, because they know it too well.

A great salesperson can rely heavily on instinct.

They know when to push.

When to wait.

What to say.

Which objection isn't really an objection.

Then they become a manager and tell their team:

“Just do what I did.”

That's where things usually go wrong.

Your job changes from closing deals to helping other people close deals.

You can't take over every difficult conversation.

You can't be the best salesperson on the team anymore.

You have to coach the thinking, not just fix the problem.

I've seen managers spend hours reviewing deals when they should have spent 20 minutes understanding why the salesperson made the decision they did.

Selling and coaching sales are two very different skills.

What's the biggest adjustment you had to make when you moved from selling to managing?

“Just checking in.”

“Wanted to follow up.”

“Any update?”

Most of the time, that's not a follow-up.

It's just a reminder that you exist.

A good follow-up should do one thing:

Move the conversation forward.

Answer a question.

Remove some uncertainty.

Agree on the next step.

Or find out if the priority has changed.

And sometimes, the best follow-up is no follow-up.

If someone has ignored three meaningful attempts, continuing to call it “pipeline” doesn't make it pipeline.

It makes it hope.

What's your rule for knowing when to keep following up and when to walk away?

After leading sales teams for years, one pattern keeps repeating itself.

Whenever revenue slows down, the first reaction is almost always the same.

"Let's generate more leads." or easier blame the leader.

Very rarely does anyone ask:

• Are we talking to the right customers?
• Are we qualifying opportunities consistently?
• Are managers coaching or just reviewing dashboards?
• Has buyer behaviour changed?

More leads feel like progress because they're measurable.

Better decisions are harder because they force uncomfortable conversations.

I've seen teams double their pipeline and still miss their targets.

I've also seen teams reduce their pipeline by nearly 40% and end up closing more business. Which ensures focus and clarity.

The difference wasn't activity.

It was clarity.

Curious to hear from this community:

What's one commercial decision your company made that had a bigger impact than generating more leads?