The sales profession has changed profoundly: buyers arrive informed, cycles have lengthened, channels have multiplied. Management methods, for their part, have often changed less.
Here are the eight steps to better manage a sales team, from equipment to individual reviews. They form a cycle: each one feeds the next, and the last one restarts the first.
The team behind our flexible, automatable CRM tells you everything.
- Managers need their own tools, not just those of their sales reps.
- Training is an ongoing process, not a session at launch.
- Tracking relies on data, not on interrogation in meetings.
- Commission alone does not motivate: recognition and prospects matter just as much.
- The one-to-one review closes the cycle and sets the objectives for the next one.
1. Equip the manager, not just the sales reps
Most sales equipment projects take the sellers’ needs into account well: customer records, calendar, opportunity entry. The manager’s needs are often forgotten.
Yet a manager leads with dashboards: pipeline per sales rep, weekly activity, closing forecasts. Without them, they manage by impression, and their messages to the team arrive a week behind reality.
2. Train, and keep training
Equipment is nothing without knowing how to use it. Initial training is not enough: tools evolve, so do methods, and new hires arrive without the context of their predecessors.
An effective practice is to appoint an internal go-to person, trained in more depth, who answers day-to-day questions. Training also has a valuable side effect: it forces processes to be written down, and therefore clarified. We detail this point in our article on training practices.
3. Define the sales action plan
This is the heart of the role. Set objectives for each person, divide up targets and territory, and translate it all into planned actions.
The allocation must be visible in the tool: each sales rep sees the accounts and prospects assigned to them, by geographical area, sector or account size. An allocation that exists only in a spreadsheet always ends up diverging from reality. The complete method is in our article on the sales action plan.
4. Track activity without interrogating
Once the plan is set, its execution must be tracked. The temptation is to demand accountability in meetings, sales rep by sales rep. It is the surest way to demotivate a team and turn every meeting into a justification session.
Let the data come up on its own: scheduled meetings, calls made, proposals sent are already in the CRM if the tool is used. The meeting then serves to analyze and decide, not to collect. That is where the manager adds value. Good tracking practices are detailed in our tips for tracking your sales team’s activity.
5. Motivate beyond commission
Many managers still associate motivation with variable pay. Commission matters, of course, but it does not explain why two sales reps on the same compensation plan have completely different levels of energy.
Recognition of successes, autonomy over methods, career prospects and the quality of the accounts entrusted weigh at least as much. A good manager knows what drives each of their sales reps, and it is almost never the same thing.
6. Analyze results
Regularly compare results with objectives, per sales rep and for the team: revenue signed, pipeline, conversion rate. Weekly for activity, monthly for results, cumulative for the trend.
A gap is not a fault, it is information. A target missed by the whole team says something about the target or the market; a target missed by one person says something about their situation, which needs to be understood before judging.
7. Look at effort and progress, not just results
A sales result often arrives months after the effort that produced it. Judging solely on revenue signed means steering by the rear-view mirror.
So also track effort indicators: number and type of meetings, proposals issued, opportunities created, and a few simple ratios such as proposals per meeting or signatures per proposal. These are what signal a problem before it shows up in the figures. To choose the right ones, see our article on sales performance indicators.
8. Conduct the one-to-one review
The cycle closes with a one-to-one review with each sales rep: objectives met and missed, reasons for the gap, areas for improvement, training or support needs. It is also the time to set objectives for the next period, which restarts the cycle at step three.
Prepared with CRM data, the review focuses on shared facts rather than impressions. The sales rep arrives knowing what will be discussed, and the discussion can focus on the future.
Figures do not tell everything. A manager must also personally know each person’s abilities and ambitions: only then can they adapt the action plan to their actual team rather than a theoretical one. To avoid the most common pitfalls, also read our article on the seven deadly sins of the sales manager.
Your questions about managing a sales team
How often should the team meet?
Once a week, in a short format. A regular weekly meeting is better than long, irregular meetings, provided it is used to make decisions.
How many indicators should be tracked?
Few, five or six at most. Beyond that, no one looks at them anymore, neither the manager nor the sales reps.
How can you avoid a feeling of surveillance?
By explaining what is measured and why. Known, shared indicators are seen as a working tool; indicators discovered during a review are seen as control.
Should there be a one-to-one review every month?
A short monthly check-in and an in-depth annual review suit most cases. What matters is regularity, not duration.
What should you do about a sales rep who does not use the CRM?
First understand why: unsuitable tool, lack of training, or refusal. The answer differs depending on the cause, and penalties only address one of them.
