What the Best Sales Managers Do Every Week
When sales results start to dip, the first instinct is often to ask the sales team to do more.
• Make more calls.
• Book more meetings.
• Send more proposals.
• Follow up with more prospects.
• Close more deals.
But what if the problem isn’t that your salespeople aren’t selling enough? What if they aren’t being managed effectively enough?
The best sales managers understand that their role isn’t simply to monitor sales numbers. Their job is to create the conditions that allow their people to perform consistently.
They coach. They challenge. They remove roadblocks. They create accountability. They inspect the pipeline. They help their people improve. And importantly, they do these things every week.
Because great sales management isn’t something that happens during an annual performance review. It is built through small, consistent leadership behaviours that keep salespeople focused, motivated and accountable.
1. They Know What Is Really Happening in the Pipeline
A strong sales manager doesn’t simply ask, “How’s the pipeline looking?”
They know the answer. They understand which opportunities are real, which are stalled, which need intervention and which are unlikely to close.
They look beyond the total dollar value of the pipeline and ask questions such as:
• What stage is each opportunity actually at?
• Who is the decision-maker?
• What problem are we solving?
• Why would the customer buy?
• Why would they buy now?
• What could prevent the deal from progressing?
• What is the next agreed action?
This distinction matters. A pipeline can look healthy on paper while producing disappointing results. Effective sales management means understanding the quality of the opportunities, not just the quantity.
2. They Coach Instead of Taking Over
One of the biggest traps for sales managers is becoming the salesperson who happens to have a management title. When a salesperson struggles with a deal, it can be tempting for the manager to jump in, take control and fix it themselves. But that doesn’t develop the salesperson. The best sales managers use difficult situations as coaching opportunities.
Instead of saying:
“Here’s what you should do.”
They might ask:
“What do you think is stopping this opportunity from moving forward?”
Or:
“What have you learned about the customer’s real priorities?”
Or:
“What would you do differently if you had another opportunity like this?”
The goal isn’t simply to solve today’s problem. It is to help the salesperson become better at solving tomorrow’s problem. That is the difference between managing performance and developing performance.
3. They Focus on Activity, Not Just Outcomes
Revenue is the result. Sales activity is what creates the opportunity to achieve it. Great sales managers understand the relationship between the two. They know which activities drive results for their particular team and make those activities visible.
That might include:
• Prospecting conversations
• New meetings booked
• Follow-ups completed
• Proposals presented
• Customer reviews conducted
• New opportunities created
• Existing accounts developed
The important thing is not to create activity for activity’s sake. It is to identify the activities that actually contribute to sales performance. KONA similarly emphasises the connection between sales activity and outcomes, including through its Sales Activity Calculator, which is designed to help sales leaders focus on the activities that drive performance.
4. They Have Regular One-on-One Conversations
The best sales managers don’t wait for something to go wrong before speaking with their people. They create a regular coaching rhythm.
A weekly one-on-one might cover:
| What went well? | Recognise progress and reinforce positive behaviours. |
| What isn’t working? | Identify challenges before they become bigger problems. |
| What opportunities are you working on? | Understand the salesperson’s priorities and pipeline. |
| Where are you stuck? | Identify where the manager can provide support. |
| What will you do next? |
These conversations don’t need to take hours, consistency is more important than length. A focused 30-minute conversation every week can be more valuable than a two-hour performance discussion once a quarter.
5. They Hold People Accountable Without Micromanaging
Accountability isn’t about constantly checking whether someone has completed a task. It is about creating clear expectations and following through.
Strong sales managers make sure their people know:
• What they are responsible for
• What success looks like
• What actions they need to take
• When those actions need to happen
• How progress will be measured
Then they give their salespeople enough ownership to deliver. This is particularly important because there is a big difference between accountability and micromanagement.
Micromanagement says:
“Let me check everything you’re doing.”
Accountability says:
“You committed to this outcome. Let’s review your progress and work out what you need to succeed.”
The second approach builds capability and trust.
6. They Celebrate the Behaviours They Want Repeated
Sales managers naturally celebrate the big wins. A new account, a major contract, a record month. But the best managers also recognise the behaviours that created those results. They acknowledge the salesperson who consistently prospecting despite a difficult market.
They recognise someone who improved their questioning skills. They celebrate a salesperson who recovered a difficult customer relationship. They acknowledge the person who shared a successful approach with the rest of the team.
Why? Because what leaders recognise, teams tend to repeat. If you only celebrate the final result, you may miss the opportunity to reinforce the behaviours that consistently produce that result.
7. They Spend Time Improving Their People
The strongest sales managers don’t assume their team already knows everything they need to know. Every week, they look for opportunities to develop capability. That could mean practising an upcoming customer conversation, reviewing a lost opportunity, role-playing an objection, discussing a negotiation strategy or helping a salesperson prepare for an important meeting.
Development doesn’t always require a formal training session. Sometimes the most powerful coaching happens in the middle of the working week, using a real customer, a real opportunity and a real challenge. That is where sales management becomes practical.
8. They Look for Patterns, Not Just Problems
A weak sales manager might look at an underperforming salesperson and ask:
“Why aren’t you hitting target?”
A stronger manager looks for patterns.
• Are several salespeople struggling with the same objection?
• Are opportunities consistently getting stuck at the same stage?
• Are proposals being sent without enough customer engagement?
• Are salespeople discounting too quickly?
• Are new opportunities being created fast enough?
• Are managers spending too much time managing administration and not enough time coaching?
When the same problem appears repeatedly, it may not be an individual performance issue. It could be a sales process, capability or management issue. The best sales managers don’t just treat symptoms, they look for the cause.
9. They Make Friday About Learning, Not Just Numbers
One of the most valuable habits a sales manager can introduce is a short weekly review.
Not simply:
“Did we hit target?”
Instead, ask:
• What did we learn this week?
• What worked?
• What didn’t?
• Which customer conversations taught us something?
• Which objections are appearing repeatedly?
• Where did we win?
• Where did we lose?
• What should we do differently next week?
This creates a culture where salespeople aren’t afraid of losing a deal because every experience becomes an opportunity to improve.
Better Sales Management Creates Better Salespeople
The secret to improving sales performance isn’t always more selling. Sometimes it is better leadership. A sales team with talented people can still struggle when there is inconsistent coaching, unclear accountability, weak pipeline management and limited development.
On the other hand, a team with strong sales management can continuously improve because its people are being supported, challenged and developed.
That is why the best sales managers don’t spend every week telling their teams to sell more. They spend their week helping their people sell better, they create the rhythm, they create the accountability, they create the coaching environment. And ultimately, they create a sales team that doesn’t just rely on individual talent, but has a repeatable approach to performance.
The Best Sales Managers Don’t Manage Numbers, They Manage the People and Behaviours Behind the Numbers
If your sales leaders are spending most of their time chasing results rather than developing the people responsible for achieving them, it may be time to rethink your approach to sales management.
KONA Training provides tailored Sales Management Training designed around your sales leaders, your team, your market and your business objectives. KONA’s programs focus on practical strategies that help managers become better coaches, strengthen accountability and develop high-performing sales teams.
For more insights into developing effective sales leaders, read KONA’s related article: What happened when this Sales Leader Stopped Micromanaging and Started Coaching
Contact KONA Training today to discuss tailored Sales Management Training for your Sales Leaders and discover how stronger sales management can drive stronger sales performance.
Call 1300 611 288 or Email info@kona.com.au
Author – Garret Norris – https://www.linkedin.com/in/garretnorris/
So, why does this keep on happening?
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