Part I
A sales manager can make or break a sales team. Whether you’ve recently stepped into a position of leadership, or have been leading sales reps for years, these ten tips are worth reviewing.
→ You’ll find tips #6-10 next week at www.thesaleshunter.com/blog!
1. Set Clear Expectations and Metrics
What does it take to be an effective sales manager? First things first—you’ve got to set clear expectations. No vagueness. Vagary—yeah, I made up a word—but that’s exactly what you want to avoid.
When I say clear, I mean specific goals with concrete metrics. This isn’t about micromanaging. This is about providing direction. Your team needs to know exactly what’s expected of them, and how success will be measured. If it can’t be measured, it can’t be improved.
Clear expectations drive accountability, and the right metrics help you steer the ship. Without them, your team’s just wandering.
2. Coach Relentlessly, Not Just Manage
Stop managing—start coaching.
Managing is reactive. Coaching is proactive. Managing says, “Why didn’t you get this done?” Coaching asks, “How can we improve for next time?”
Great sales managers are relentless coaches. I mean every day, every call, every deal—you’re looking for ways to lift your team up. Tools like Gong or Chorus are powerful because they help you listen, observe, and guide.
The goal is continuous improvement. Your reps should be sharper next month than they are today. That only happens when you coach them relentlessly.
3. Lead by Example
You want your team to grind on Friday afternoons? You better not be teeing off at the golf course while they’re dialing.
Credibility is everything. If you’re not willing to do the hard stuff—make the tough calls, handle objections, prospect cold leads—your team won’t take you seriously.
Leading by example means you don’t ask your team to do anything you’re not doing yourself. Your actions define your culture, not your policies.
4. Hire and Onboard Strategically
Don’t hire just to fill a spot. That’s lazy leadership. Hire strategically.
Bringing in someone because they say, “I’ve got a book of business”? Be careful. That “book” rarely follows. Instead, hire based on attitude, skill set, and communication style. You can teach skills. You can teach process. But you can’t teach someone to care. You can’t teach drive.
Once you’ve hired right, make sure you onboard right. Get them grounded in your business, your culture, your expectations. Don’t throw them in the deep end. Strategic onboarding sets the tone—and sets them up to succeed.
5. Create a Winning Sales Process
Iif your sales team is all doing their own thing, you’ve got chaos, not strategy.
You need a defined sales process—a framework your entire team can operate from. That doesn’t mean stripping individuality. Every rep will put their own spin on things, and that’s fine.
But the process? That has to be repeatable, measurable, and coachable. Build it into your CRM, align it with your marketing tools, and create consistency across the board.
When everyone plays from the same playbook, everything gets more efficient—your coaching, your pipeline reviews, your resource allocation.
Shattering the Overnight Success Illusion
Let’s tackle the all-too-common roadblocks of inaction and premature quitting.
Find episode #321 wherever you download podcasts!
Common Assumptions that Lead to Lost Opportunities
w/ Steve Gielda
Learn the five common assumptions that often lead to stalled or lost opportunities.
Episode #322 is out now!
Copyright 2025, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
