Top 10 Sales Manager Mistakes and How to Avoid Them for Better Team Performance

As a sales manager, learning from others' mistakes can save you time, money, and frustration. Here’s a list of common sales management pitfalls to help you steer clear of costly missteps.

Common Sales Management Mistakes to Avoid

When I was thrust into the role of sales manager, I believed that everyone on my team would work like I worked. It took me time to recognize that I wasn’t hitting my targets because some people on my team were doing too little. Eventually, I provided a structure with KPIs that were measured weekly. This helped my team stay on track and work the way I wanted them to, which helped me hit my targets.

2. Hiring Based Solely on Experience

As we scaled up, I needed to hire two sales managers in Chicago. Both of the people I hired had been in sales management longer than me, and I paid them well for their experience. They had everything they needed to succeed, but they were doing too little, so their experience was not valuable. Over time, I realized that paying people more money for experience alone is not a great strategy. You should pay people more after they prove they deserve it. Money needs to be earned.

You want to give people time to get going once they are hired and complete their onboarding. I gave reps time to start to produce meetings and deals, but you can give people too much time. Some salespeople are not going to succeed. Some fail because they are lazy, while others just don’t have it. The earlier you can identify these people, the better. If you are not seeing production after a short period of time, you must make a decision to coach them, find them a role they can succeed in, or replace them.

The sales rep was out of the office all the time. That could seem like a good thing, but it may also be evidence of a bad rep. In this case, he was at the swimming pool for hours, so I decided to release him. In another scenario, a bad sales rep was poisoning the rest of my sales force. That’s a deal-breaker for me. Remove bad sales reps as soon as you are aware they are not a fit.

Every once in a while, you find a person who spends all their time cold calling. This is how they retain their job. I have found that these people are very comfortable making calls without getting meetings or any opportunities. I have had this experience five times. If a rep generates an enormous amount of activity with no outcomes, you may need to replace them. Do not keep salespeople who believe that activity without outcomes is enough.

First, you must know that, as a sales manager, you are responsible for professional development, B2B sales training, and coaching. This is how you ensure that your team will succeed. You will find a rep who can get a meeting but rarely wins a client’s relationship or their business. Salespeople do not have to win every deal, but when they never win, you may have to replace them.

Occasionally, you run into a sales rep who is padding their expense account, finding it easier to increase their income by stealing from their company. Once you discover this, you have no options. You must let them go, as they are a thief. Go to HR and start looking for another salesperson. You may also have a sales rep lying to a client or breaching company policies. You cannot tolerate these behaviors.

Rarely I have had a sales rep who I fired for unethical practices. One was desperate for money, and his client had not paid their bills. He canceled a number of the client’s invoices to speed up his commission. He was gone the same day. He is still paying off his theft.

Sometimes, you do all the development, B2B sales training, and coaching that are available, only to have a sales rep that consistently fails to reach their targets. If this poor performance continues over an extended time, you may have to let them go.

A sales rep who creates conflicts, refuses to collaborate, or undermines team efforts can be detrimental to the overall sales environment. Negativity is the only cancer that spreads to others. Instead of losing your sales team due to one person’s poor team dynamics, lose the rep or lose your team altogether.

The Fast Read

Key Sales Manager Mistakes to Avoid

• Assuming all team members work like you: Provide structure and measure KPIs weekly.
• Hiring based solely on experience without considering performance: Pay for proven results.
• Delaying necessary firings: Act decisively when performance doesn't improve.
• Failing to identify and remove bad sales reps promptly: Get rid of them before your results suffer even more.
• Relying on activity metrics over actual results: Focus on win rates when evaluating salespeople.

Critical Performance and Ethical Issues

• Tolerating consistently low win rates despite proper training and coaching.
• Ignoring unethical behavior, such as expense padding or policy breaches.
• Accepting long-term underperformance after exhausting development efforts.