The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

The idea of a Wartime CEO was made famous by tech leaders like Ben Horowitz and Andy Grove. It’s the kind of leader who steps in when the business is under threat—decisive, bold, and focused on survival and growth at all costs.

This blog is about what that looks like when you’re not running a tech company—but leading a sales team.

There are times in business when you coach, collaborate, and lead with calm. That’s peacetime.

This is not that time.

If you’re a sales leader in today’s market—flat budgets, shrinking demand, fewer leads, distracted buyers—you are not in peacetime. You are in war.

And wartime leadership is a different game.

As B2B sales leaders and managers, your role in guiding your sales teams to success is more critical than ever. With the ever-evolving sales landscape, it's essential to stay ahead by focusing on key areas that can significantly improve your team's performance. Here are some crucial topics to consider, especially as you work through Q1 to set your team up for success early in the year:

Sales leadership is not just about driving numbers and closing deals; it's fundamentally about people management.

The success of any sales team hinges on the ability of its leader to manage, motivate, and mentor their team effectively. Although many things contribute to your team’s overall success, there are five essential people management skills every sales leader must master to build a successful and motivated sales team.

New data from the Media Sales Report shows that 46% of managers believe less than 20% of their sales teams are underperforming. 

It’s a terrible position to be in. It sucks your energy, time, and takes your focus from where you can be making a positive impact. It’s hard on leaders and underperformers. Underperformers usually fall into two categories:

1. The one that you hired, and they just can’t get it together. They consistently underdeliver on expectations. You hired them because you were confident they could do the job, they were maybe even going to be your next superstar, or so you hoped, but they haven’t met a budget and are underperforming.

2. The one that has performed well and is now consistently underperforming against their goals. What happened to them? They were great, but now….

In business, change is necessary to adapt and grow to meet the needs of prospects and clients. Many companies and business executives tend to resist change - because change is hard and uncomfortable.

As a salesperson, you probably have some good ideas to help your company achieve its goals. Maybe you want to implement inbound marketing or add webinars or videos to your marketing mix. But how can you sell your ideas to management?

Proposing your change can be a daunting task, and rightfully so—only 54% of change initiatives succeed. To increase the chances of your idea for change to be successful, use an organized change management system.

Sales management is an art that requires a delicate balance between the present and the future.

The key to success lies in mastering the art of balancing the pending vs pipeline. This means managing your current deals while also prospecting for new ones. As a sales manager, you must be able to prioritize your time and resources effectively to ensure that you are not only closing deals today but also building a strong pipeline for tomorrow.

In this highly competitive market, mastering this art is essential for any business that wants to stay ahead of the curve. In this article, we’ll explore the key strategies that will help you strike the perfect balance between the pending and pipeline, and take your sales management skills to the next level.

Whether you are a seasoned sales professional or a newbie in the game, read on to learn how to master the art of sales management.

Imagine you’re at the grocery store with your three-year-old son. He’s promised you he’ll behave, and you’re planning to surprise him with a treat at the checkout counter.

You’re roughly halfway through your grocery list when he starts to get antsy. He wants out of the cart and promptly begins pulling things off the shelves, so you put him back in the cart, and he begins throwing a temper tantrum. You look at your watch – it’s getting close to lunchtime, which is closely followed by naptime. It’s becoming apparent that you have a decision to make.

Do you choose to use empathy by giving him a big hug, telling him you love him, and letting him know you understand it can be tough to be patient—or do you choose to hold him accountable to his promise of good behavior? And which one is the right thing to do?

As a sales manager, you play a crucial role in driving results and maximizing the potential of your team. But managing a team is no easy task - it requires a balance of setting clear goals, providing ongoing training and support, and effectively communicating with your team.

If you're looking to up your game and take your team to the next level, here are five proven strategies to help you succeed.

If you are like me, the idea of your sales team working remotely was beyond your imagination. Every once in a while, you might hear a rumor about a salesperson that worked from home a couple of days of the week, but they were more like myths than reality. Oh, sure, they are "working from home," and I saw "Big Foot" run across my backyard.

However, with the pandemic, the world changed seemingly overnight.  

You went from a team that worked 100% in the office to a team that worked 100% remotely, and now that COVID is "over," you have a team that works in a hybrid model. 

Have you changed your management style to match the new reality of a hybrid sales team?

Sales managers are responsible for overseeing the success of a company’s sales department. However, unless sales managers can cooperate with the production/service delivery teams, it will be difficult for sales to back up their promises and/or fulfill the customer’s needs.

Most sales teams know that a successful delivery strategy is essential in the modern era, even if accomplishing this goal is easier said than done. But, by leveraging our tips, your own customer research, and back-and-forth team communication, several delivery-related issues are solvable.