Managing a sales team is a challenging task within any organisation. This is because sales targets change often and the pressure to meet goals never ends.
Even the most experienced sales leaders can struggle to keep a balance. They must motivate their team and still achieve key metrics.
Many sales managers focus on activity. They push for more calls, more demos, more deals. But without a clear plan or a strong team culture, all that effort can lead to burnout.
The good news? You can learn how to do it right. When you understand what motivates a sales team, you can get better results. In this guide, we’ll break down simple, proven ways to make managing a sales team more effective.
Sales management has undergone noticeable and significant changes over the years. Traditionally, it followed a command-and-control approach. Managers dictated processes and closely monitored every aspect of a salesperson’s workflow.
Today, things look very different. Successful sales management is about coaching, using data to guide decisions, and empowering teams to perform at their best.
Modern sales managers managing a sales team must wear multiple hats. They are mentors, strategists, motivators, and analysts. They need to cultivate a high-performance culture while ensuring their teams stay engaged and resilient. In this guide, we’ll explore key strategies for managing a sales team to help sales managers elevate team performance and foster a results-oriented sales culture.
When you think of managing a sales team, you might imagine one uniform style. But in reality, there are several types of sales management.
Each of them works for different markets, products, and team structures. Here are some of the key types and how they differ in practice.
Business-to-consumer (B2C) sales management deals with selling goods or services to individual customers. In B2C sales, cycles tend to be short and decisions are more emotional. Also:
Managing a sales team in B2C is different from B2B, as you don’t interact with customers. You focus more on marketing than sales.
Business-to-business (B2B) sales take a different approach. You’re dealing with longer cycles, higher stakes, and more stakeholders in the buying process. Here, relationship building, trust, and deep product knowledge become more important.
Sales teams need to handle procurement processes, technical evaluations, and many decision-makers.
This is an extension of B2B, but it is more complex. You sell to large organisations where deals can take months or years to close. The stakes, contract size, and internal alignment are much greater.
In large companies, sales teams involve many skilled people. You work with sales engineers, solution architects, or executive sponsors. Managing a sales team like this takes patience and strategy.
You have to keep everyone moving in the same direction. Also, you need to understand how decisions are made and manage risks that can shape the whole process.
Selling software-as-a-service or subscription products works a little differently. Instead of single transactions, you manage recurring revenue, renewals, and expansion.
The emphasis is on retention, upsell, and usage growth. In the SaaS model, managing a sales team means guiding reps to nurture long-term client value.
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Effective sales management isn’t just about pushing reps to make more calls or close more deals. It requires structured methodologies and sales tips that help sales teams work smarter. The following modern frameworks provide a roadmap for managing a sales team and optimising sales efforts.
One of the biggest challenges in sales is spending time on the wrong deals. The MEDDIC framework offers a structured way to qualify opportunities, ensuring that sales reps focus their efforts on high-value prospects. This framework consists of six core components:
Image via Flow State
By training sales teams to apply MEDDIC rigorously, managers can significantly improve win rates and prevent wasted effort on leads that are unlikely to convert.
Developed by Neil Rackham, SPIN Selling is a powerful sales methodology designed to enhance sales conversations. It encourages reps to ask the right questions rather than simply pitching a product. The four types of questions in SPIN Selling are:
Professionals managing a sales team should coach reps on how to transition from surface-level conversations to insightful discussions that uncover genuine customer needs. The more a prospect recognises their pain, the more likely they are to buy.
The Challenger Sale model is particularly effective in today’s competitive B2B sales environment. Instead of simply responding to customer needs, Challenger salespeople teach, tailor, and take control of the conversation. They challenge traditional thinking and present unique insights that provoke deeper discussion.
Managers should train teams to move beyond product pitches and engage customers in meaningful conversations that position them as trusted advisors. By controlling the sales narrative, reps can differentiate themselves and create stronger customer buy-in.
To help your team understand this better, watch the short video below explaining how the future of selling adapts with the Challenger Sale approach.
THE FUTURE OF SELLING with Challenger Sale Authors, Matt Dixon & Brent Adamson | Sales Podcast 2022
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Managing a sales team requires keeping people motivated and driving strong results. Here are some approaches you can use.
Many sales managers make the mistake of micromanaging their teams rather than coaching them. Great sales leaders focus on developing their reps’ critical thinking and sales leadership skills, helping them self-assess and refine their approaches.
Encourage Self-Reflection: Instead of immediately giving answers, guide reps through a structured self-assessment. Ask them to analyse their recent calls or meetings and identify what went well.
Also, analyse what could have been improved and what they would do differently next time. Encourage them to document their insights and share them in team discussions to foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Facilitate Peer Coaching: Establish a structured peer coaching program where top performers mentor other reps in scheduled sessions. Encourage experienced reps to conduct role-play exercises and share their most effective techniques.
You can also ask them to provide constructive feedback based on real-world experiences. By fostering collaboration, you create an environment where reps learn from each other’s successes and mistakes.
Provide Tailored Feedback: Move beyond generic feedback by offering specific, actionable insights based on individual performance data. Use recorded calls, CRM analytics, and sales reports to highlight both strengths and areas for improvement.
Provide customised development plans for each rep, setting clear goals for skills enhancement, product knowledge improvement, or strategic selling techniques. Regular one-on-one meetings should focus on progress tracking and recalibrating strategies to maximise each rep’s potential.
Numbers don’t lie, but they don’t tell the whole story either. Sales managers should strike a balance between leveraging CRM data and trusting their intuition. For example, while pipeline velocity can indicate deal momentum, a seasoned sales manager will recognise the warning signs of a stalled deal beyond what the numbers show.
The best sales teams operate with crystal-clear performance expectations. Key performance indicators (KPIs) should be:
Regular check-ins and data reviews ensure that reps stay on track, allowing managers to intervene with coaching or strategy adjustments when necessary. Common KPIs include win rate, sales cycle length, pipeline velocity, and quota attainment.
Win Rate – The percentage of deals won out of total opportunities. A higher win rate indicates strong sales effectiveness, while a declining rate may suggest issues with qualification or closing skills.
Sales Cycle Length – The average time taken from lead generation to closing a deal. Shorter cycles mean greater efficiency, while longer cycles may indicate friction points that need to be addressed.
Pipeline Velocity – The rate at which deals move through the sales pipeline, calculated by multiplying the number of opportunities by the average deal size and win rate, then dividing by the sales cycle length. High pipeline velocity signals a well-functioning sales process.
Quota Attainment – The percentage of sales reps hitting their targets. Consistently low quota attainment may indicate unrealistic goals, inadequate training, or market challenges.
Sales leaders must proactively manage the pipeline to avoid sudden revenue shortfalls. This involves:
Managing a sales team that’s remote requires a different leadership approach compared to in-office teams. A remote salesforce can thrive when equipped with the right communication tools, structured feedback processes, and a strong team culture that prioritises engagement and accountability. Key strategies include:
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When managing a sales team, the goal is to push for results while fostering a supportive, healthy sales team culture. A strong sales culture balances high performance with well-being, ensuring reps stay motivated and engaged without burning out.
Top sales teams learn from both wins and losses. Structured win/loss reviews help refine strategies, while peer coaching fosters knowledge-sharing and continuous improvement through collaborative feedback.
Beyond financial incentives, reps thrive on career growth, public recognition, autonomy, and a clear sense of purpose. These intrinsic motivators build long-term engagement and reduce turnover.
Encouraging team-based goals, knowledge-sharing, and friendly competition creates a culture where individual success fuels collective growth rather than internal rivalry.
Structured one-on-ones should include performance reviews, skill development, goal setting, and mindset checks. This helps to ensure continuous improvement without adding undue stress.
Realistic role-play scenarios help reps refine objection-handling, negotiation, and confidence. Regular practice improves adaptability in real sales situations.
Strong internal advocates within a client’s business can accelerate deals. Sales teams should identify, nurture, and equip champions with insights and tools to support their advocacy.
By fostering continuous learning, motivation, and collaboration, sales managers can build a resilient team that thrives without burnout.
Even the best sales managers face roadblocks that can limit team performance. Recognising and addressing these challenges can help you build an efficient team.
Here are the most common challenges when managing a sales team and how to overcome them.
One of the common challenges of managing a sales team is poor alignment between sales and marketing. This happens when both teams work in silos and communication becomes fragmented. The result is that leads are often left unqualified or neglected.
To resolve this, encourage both teams to have a shared strategy. Here’s how you can go about it:
Maintaining high morale is another challenging aspect of managing a sales team. Reps often face rejection and pressure to meet targets, which can lead to burnout if their efforts aren’t recognised or rewarded.
The best way to keep your team motivated is to build a space where people feel seen and supported. Praise their hard work and celebrate small wins often. Give feedback at regular intervals instead of waiting for quarterly reviews.
Beyond that, offer development opportunities through mentorship, workshops, and career progression plans. People stay motivated when they see a future for themselves and feel supported.
A lack of structure can cause confusion and uneven results across teams. Without a consistent process for managing a sales team, sales leaders can’t identify what’s working and what isn’t.
It’s important to standardise every stage of your sales process from start to finish. This helps the whole team stay consistent and confident in how they work. With a well-defined process, managers can pinpoint weak spots and improve their sales strategies.
Data is at the heart of modern sales management. But many teams don’t keep their records clean or up to date. When data is messy, sales forecasts are wrong, and decisions miss the mark.
To tackle this, you need to establish clear expectations for data management. Schedule monthly data audits to clean up duplicate entries. Also, use dashboards to track metrics for smarter strategy adjustments.
Sales is an evolving discipline, and what worked last year might not work today. One major challenge in managing a sales team is neglecting ongoing training. Without regular development, reps fall behind on new tools, techniques, and buyer behaviours.
To overcome this, you need to build a culture of continuous learning. Offer monthly training sessions, micro-learning resources, and access to industry webinars. When training becomes routine, your team remains confident, adaptable, and ready for new challenges.
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Managing a sales team depends on skill and strategy, but also on having the right tools in place. The right technology can make your sales process smoother and give your team clear visibility into performance.
Here are a few tools that can help you with managing a sales team.
As a sales manager, one of your biggest responsibilities is keeping track of customers and leads. That’s what CRM tools are useful for. They help you organise contacts, track deals, and monitor communication history.
Tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and others allow you to see where each lead stands in the sales pipeline. You can also see what actions have been taken.
For example, Pipedrive provides a dashboard with lead stages, activity timelines, and performance metrics clearly displayed.
Image via Pipedrive
When you’re managing a sales team, using a CRM enables everyone to work from the same data.
With collaboration tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, teams can stay connected. They allow your team to chat and share updates without the usual hassle of long email chains.
Most of them support voice and video calls too, so your team can connect face-to-face for meetings.
For example, with Slack, you can create channels for different projects or clients. This makes it easy to organise conversations and share documents in one place.
Image via Slack
Collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, or Notion also make document sharing, scheduling, and project coordination simple. Sales managers can assign tasks and track progress without needing multiple update meetings.
These tools also integrate with CRM platforms and project management apps, which makes it easier to keep all your data connected.
Sales enablement platforms help in managing a sales team by exposing your reps to the right sales tools and knowledge. These platforms act as a central hub where sales professionals can access sales materials and assets.
The main goal of a sales enablement platform is to align marketing, product, and sales teams. It ensures that everyone on the team is able to use the same updated information when engaging with prospects.
These platforms also allow managers to track how sales materials are used, measure engagement, and identify what resources help close deals faster.
For example, tools like Seismic and Highspot are two widely used sales enablement platforms that help teams create and share sales materials. With Highspot, sales team members can access company materials on the central platform for various sales aspects.
Image via Highspot
One of the best ways to understand the impact of effective sales management is by examining real-world success stories.
Fastmarkets implemented a set of modern, consultative selling skills, practices and processes, in order to help sales managers improve their sales team’s metrics and KPIs. The results were impressive, with Average Order Value (AOV) from new customers increasing by 24% and cross-sell revenue by 147%.
Testimonial: “Since Fastmarkets started working with Flow State, they have seen improvements in several key revenue performance areas. Churn almost halved, dropping from 11% to 6.4%, a proportional decrease of over 47%. Additionally, the training improved the reliability of the sales pipeline and the ability to predict future sales, with forecast accuracy increasing by 14%.”
Image via Flow State
Jato Dynamics adopted MEDDIC as a global opportunity qualification methodology. It helped sales managers across multiple regions globally increase opportunity quality and velocity while shortening the sales cycle.
Testimonial: “Flow State’s MEDDIC training helped our teams understand how to embed the framework into pipeline reviews and establish a common language around deals. The implementation of MEDDIC deal scorecards allowed sales managers to assess pipeline health more precisely, leading to improved sales forecasting accuracy. The weekly deal clinics provided valuable coaching, driving adoption of best practices across regions.”
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1. What is the most important part of managing a sales team?
The most important part of managing a sales team is effective communication. Without it, even the most skilled team can lose direction. When you communicate clearly, you help your team members understand what success looks like and how to reach it.
Talk often with your team through one-on-one chats, group meetings, and regular feedback sessions. These talks keep everyone informed and connected. When people know what’s expected and feel heard, managing a sales team becomes much easier.
2. How can I improve performance when managing a sales team?
Improving performance when managing a sales team requires structure and strategy. You can try these tips for effectively managing a sales team:
3. What tools help in managing a sales team effectively?
The right tools make managing a sales team easier and more transparent. For effective sales team management, some of the tools you can use include:
4. How do I manage a remote sales team?
For managing a remote sales team, maintaining communication and structure is important. Here are some strategies you can use for managing a remote team:
5. What are common mistakes managers make when managing a sales team?
Common mistakes often come from misunderstanding what motivates people. Managers sometimes:
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Successful sales leadership is about coaching, qualification, and execution. You can apply frameworks like MEDDIC, SPIN Selling technique, and The Challenger Sale. These frameworks can elevate team performance, improve forecasting accuracy, and drive consistent revenue growth.
However, sustainable success requires more than just frameworks. It demands a commitment to continuous learning as well as adaptability. It also needs an unwavering focus on both short-term performance and long-term strategy.
To build a high-performing sales team, start by implementing structured sales coaching programs, setting clear KPIs, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. This is an evolving discipline that, when mastered, transforms both teams and revenue. Ready to do so? Let’s talk- reach out to us and let’s discuss how we can help make the change.
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