Sales Management Isn’t a Promotion.
READ TIME - 5 MINUTES
Throughout my career, I’ve heard some version of this over and over:
“I’m ready to take the next step in my sales career. I think I want to get into management.”
I usually respond with two questions.
Why do you want to move into management?
Common answers:
More money
It’s the next step
I enjoy coaching
I want to grow
What do you think management actually is?
This is where things get fuzzy. Most people struggle to articulate it beyond “helping the team hit their number”—without being able to explain what that really entails.
So let’s break it down.
The perspective I’ll share today is specific to frontline sales management—directly managing reps. Senior leadership roles look different and are far more strategy-heavy. Today, we’re focused on the reality of managing sellers day to day.
You’ll also notice I’m intentionally using the word manager, not leader. While frontline managers must lead, managing and leading are not the same skillset. That’s a separate conversation. Today is about the job itself.
Management Is Not a Promotion. It’s a Career Change.
Managing is a completely different skillset from selling.
“The first step to becoming a great manager is firing yourself as a seller.” That’s something Evan Bartlett, Senior Director of Sales at ZocDoc, used to say—and he was right.
This is where most new managers struggle.
You are no longer paid to close deals. You’re paid to develop people who close deals. You will still jump into calls when needed, but if you spend your time “saving” deals, you’re failing the role.
As the saying goes:
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach them to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.
Success as a Manager Is Simple—but Not Easy
Success = the team exceeds their number
So how does that actually happen?
It comes down to two things:
People
Hiring the right talent
Coaching them effectively
Holding them accountable
Supporting long-term career growth
Process
Translating company strategy into daily execution
Creating clarity, consistency, and focus
Why Coaching Is Where Most New Managers Fail
It’s one of the top reasons people move into management, and one of the top reasons they leave.
Coaching is individualized feedback designed to change behavior in a way that improves performance. And here’s the part many new managers miss:
Coaching without accountability is just a conversation.
Accountability is the hardest skill for new managers to build—especially if they were a rep on the team the day before.
Accountability has 3 parts:
Set clear expectations
Measure progress against those expectations
Take action based on the outcome - recognition when expectations are met, reinforcement when they’re not
If you aren’t comfortable doing all three, you will struggle as a manager.
The Part of Management No One Warns You About
One of the biggest shifts new managers face is going from a busy calendar to a completely full one.
Meetings. Admin work. Slack messages. Fire drills. Constant questions.
Managing is a lot like babysitting.
As a mom of a toddler, my day is filled with requests:
I want the purple socks
No, not that shirt
I need a snack
Sales management isn’t that different:
Can you approve this quote?
Can you jump on this call with me?
I’m sick today
Or worse—the rep doesn’t show up and you’re scrambling to cover their calls
Time management and delegation aren’t “nice to have” skills. They’re survival skills.
Your calendar is no longer yours.
As an IC, you might think you understand this—last-minute prospect calls, meetings booked by SDRs—but it’s not the same. Management requires constant availability, context-switching, and decision-making.
It’s possible to create flexibility, but it’s harder. And it takes discipline.
I learned this the hard way.
When I first stepped into leadership, I struggled with time management.
Every request from the team felt urgent, and I responded as quickly as possible. I believed speed built trust. What I didn’t realize was that I was training my team to depend on me for answers instead of thinking for themselves.
The turning point came when I slowed down. I started clarifying whether my involvement was actually needed, asked if another resource could solve the issue, and—most importantly—had reps come to me with their proposed solution before I gave mine.
That shift changed everything. I wasn’t just managing my time better—I was building capability.
That’s what real accountability looks like: creating space for people to think, decide, and own outcomes.
I also became far more intentional with my calendar. I defined my weekly priorities, structured my time accordingly, and left space for the inevitable fire drills instead of letting them run my day.
Before You Make the Jump
If you’re considering management, do yourself a favor:
Shadow a frontline manager
Ask them to walk you through a real day—not the highlight reel
And stop thinking of management as the next rung on the ladder.
It’s a different ladder with a different definition of success.
Enterprise AEs earning $300K+ are not uncommon, while many SDR and Mid-Market AE managers sit closer to $150K–$250K.
Senior sales leadership roles do earn more—but that job looks very different from frontline management and comes with an entirely different set of responsibilities.
If money or title is your primary motivator, you should seriously reconsider the move.
Management isn’t an upgrade.
It’s a trade, and not everyone should make it.
Hit reply and tell me if you made the trade, what was the biggest adjustment? Or if you’re thinking about making the trade, what part of management excites you the most?
To clarity and confidence in your career path,
Amanda
See you next Sunday.
