(And Why Most of You Are Doing It Spectacularly Wrong)
I was in Singapore last month when a sales manager named David said something brutally honest: "Frank, I spend my entire day firefighting, attending pipeline reviews, and updating forecasts for my boss. When exactly am I supposed to manage my team?"
The room went silent. Then everyone started nodding.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: Most sales managers aren't managing.
They're glorified administrators with fancier titles and higher blood pressure.
The numbers prove it.
Only 28% of sales reps hit their annual quota — the lowest in six years.
Meanwhile, 70% of B2B reps missed quota in 2024. That's not a rep problem. That's a management problem.
The £100,000 Mistake: Managing Activities Instead of Coaching Outcomes
Here's the biggest mistake: Managers track calls made, meetings booked, emails sent.
All measurable.
All documented.
All utterly meaningless if your reps don't know how to actually sell.
Two-thirds of salespeople don't have the skills to close deals. Yet when I ask managers "How much time do you spend coaching?", the answer is always "Not enough."
The managers crushing it? They block out 40% of their week for coaching. Not "when I have time." Scheduled, protected, non-negotiable coaching time.
Frank's Quick Tip: Two hours per rep per week. One hour ride-alongs (joint calls). One hour skills development. Five reps = ten hours coaching. Sounds impossible? You're spending twelve hours in meetings that could be emails.
The Time Theft Nobody Discusses
Sales reps spend only 33% of their time actually selling.
The rest? Administrative rubbish that doesn't close deals.
A Toronto manager did a time audit.
His reps spent twelve hours weekly updating CRM, generating reports, and attending meetings. That's 30% of their week producing zero revenue.
He streamlined inputs, automated reports, killed recurring meetings.
Within two months, selling time jumped from 32% to 48%. Revenue followed accordingly.
Your job isn't creating processes that keep you informed. It's eliminating everything that stops your reps from selling.
One-on-Ones That Actually Matter
Most one-on-ones are glorified pipeline reviews. "Talk me through your deals." "What's moving?" "Why is that stuck?"
That's not coaching. That's interrogation with better lighting.
Effective one-on-ones follow this structure:
First 10 minutes: Wins and challenges. What went well? What's blocking you? This is about the person, not just deals.
Next 30 minutes: Pick ONE skill. Work on it through role-play or call reviews. Not five skills. One.
Final 10 minutes: Pipeline focus. But ask "What support do you need?" Not "Why haven't these closed?"
One makes you a coach. The other makes you a hall monitor.
The Five Metrics That Actually Matter
Sales managers have access to more data than NASA had when they landed on the moon. It's overwhelming. Most of it's useless.
Focus on these five:
1. Time selling vs admin. Under 40%? Process problem, not people problem.
2. Win rate by stage. Where are deals dying? Different stages = different coaching needed.
3. Average deal size. Increasing or decreasing? Tells you if reps are moving upmarket or discounting.
4. Sales cycle length. Taking longer? Wrong people or no urgency.
5. Quota distribution. Three crushing it, seven struggling? Knowledge-transfer opportunity.
Everything else is noise.
The Accountability Problem
44% of sales leaders struggle with holding people accountable.
Why? Accountability feels confrontational. So they avoid hard conversations until it's too late.
The best managers see accountability as clarity, not confrontation.
They set crystal-clear expectations: "20 qualified calls per week, 30 minutes each, following our framework." Not vague goals like "improve prospecting."
When someone misses commitments, they have the conversation immediately. "You committed to 20 calls, did 12. What happened?"
Notice the question. Not "Why didn't you do your job?" but "What happened?" You're problem-solving together.
Most performance issues aren't motivation problems. They're skill, process, or clarity problems. But you'll never know unless you have the conversation.
Build a Learning Culture
44% of salespeople say training motivates them.
Yet 82% think their companies need to modernise sales techniques.
The disconnect?
Most "training" is a two-day annual event with stale pastries. Forgotten by Tuesday.
Managers getting results build continuous learning into daily work:
Monday: 30-minute team call on one specific skill.
Wednesday: Someone presents a won/lost deal case study.
Friday: Team reviews a recorded call together.
No budget needed. Just commitment. And when learning is continuous, top performers stay engaged instead of getting bored and leaving.
The Underperformer Conversation
Most managers wait too long.
They hope it improves.
They make excuses.
They extend "performance improvement plans" everyone knows are documented termination paths.
Effective managers have honest conversations early:
"Your numbers are below target for three consecutive months. I don't think this role is working out. Do you?"
Sometimes they agree. Relief all round. Sometimes they fight back. "Give me another chance." Fair enough. "Here's what needs to change by when."
Then follow through. If improvements don't materialise, make the change quickly.
Why? Keeping underperformers destroys team morale.
Top performers watch you tolerate mediocrity and wonder why they're working evenings.
It takes 6-12 months for new reps to become productive.
Every month avoiding the decision is a month you could be developing their replacement.
The Bottom Line
Being an effective sales manager isn't about fancy CRMs or analytics dashboards. It's not about more meetings or more reports.
It's about coaching people to be better, protecting their time so they can actually sell, having honest conversations, building continuous learning, and leading by example.
The difference between good and great isn't dramatic.
It's small, consistent choices about where you invest your time.
Your reps don't need you to be their friend.
They don't need you to be their boss.
They need you to be their coach — someone who makes them better every single week.
So here's the question: When you look at your calendar this week, how much time is blocked for actual coaching?
If the answer is "not enough" — and for most managers, it is — you know what needs to change.
Ready to Transform Your Sales Leadership?
I've spent 25+ years training sales leaders across 70 countries, helping organisations generate over £1 billion in revenue by focusing on what actually matters: genuine coaching, not checkbox management.
Contact me: frank@frankfurness.com | +44 7711 672888 | USA +1 407 558 9714
Because managing spreadsheets is easy — leading people to be genuinely better is hard, valuable, and exactly what your team needs.
Frank Furness is an internationally recognised speaker, AI consultant, and sales expert based in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, specialising in dev
