Leading Sales Managers: 30PMC Guest Spot

Armand Farrokh and Nick Cegelski open every episode of 30 Minutes to President's Club by asking for three actionable takeaways, so that's where we started: a weekly flash report on bookings and pipe-gen to every manager, VP, and board member; a monthly talent review with each frontline manager; and outsourcing board-deck assembly to my own leaders so they own their numbers instead of me polishing a slide the night before.

The talent review is where we spent the most time. I've managed as many as 175 sellers at once, which makes a real one-on-one relationship with every rep impossible. So once a month I sit down with each frontline manager, someone from sales ops, and our HR partner for thirty minutes — quota and pipeline data first, then the qualitative context a manager knows that I don't, like a rep whose parent was just diagnosed with Alzheimer's. The goal isn't to build a case for firing someone; it's to catch what's fixable before a rep becomes a lost cause.

I also brought up a line an old mentor gave me: missing your goal is bad, missing your forecast is death. You can't always control the number your CEO wants — but you can always control the number you actually call.

For new managers, I still lean on my dad's advice from his years training as a surgeon: watch one, do one, teach one. And I coach every first-time manager on the same distinction — know which mistakes cost your rep a finger and let those happen, and know which ones cost an arm and step in yourself.