Sales Manager Training: How is it Different from Leadership Training?

Leadership training is a core part of professional development in many organizations. It teaches leaders across departments how to manage teams, foster collaboration, and achieve business goals. But when it comes to front-line sales managers, general leadership training often falls short. Sales managers face unique challenges that require specialized training tailored to their roles.

Understanding these differences is essential to building a successful sales team. Providing high impact sales manager training a necessary step to improving performance and driving success.

Why Generic Training Isn't Enough

Many companies assume that generic leadership training will improve sales performance. But they soon realize that these programs don’t address the specific demands of managing a sales team. Just as in the military, where special forces personnel go to highly specialized training programs like SEAL, Airborne or Ranger training after bootcamp, sales managers need their own focused training to thrive in a high-pressure, metrics-driven environment.

Sales Metrics: Under a Constant Spotlight 

Sales teams are among the most visible in any organization. Their performance is tracked daily, with quotas, pipeline health, and revenue forecasts under constant scrutiny. Sales managers are expected lead their teams to hit their numbers consistently, and when they don’t, it’s obvious to everyone. This visibility creates intense pressure, making specialized training essential.

In contrast, other departments may focus on long-term goals or broader strategy, without the same immediate performance tracking. General leadership roles don’t come with the same level of daily scrutiny that sales managers face.

Managing Both Behaviors and Results 

Sales managers need to focus not only on results, but on the behaviors that drive those results. General leadership programs tend to emphasize outcomes, but in sales, routine actions such as making calls, booking meetings, and progressing deals are crucial. A sales manager must be skilled at spotting which behaviors lead to success and which don’t. When there is a gap in performance, the manager must quickly diagnose the underlying cause and coach the rep to close the gap.

Unlike other roles, where managers have more flexibility in how to achieve results, sales managers must track real-time metrics closely and make corrections before problems grow.

Motivating the Sales Team: It's Personal

Salespeople are often motivated by individual success, competition, and compensation. Sales managers need specific tools to tap into what drives each rep, whether it’s money, recognition, or advancement. Generic leadership programs rarely cover these nuances.

In non-sales roles, motivation can be more team-oriented, focusing on collaboration and support. While collaboration can be important in sales, individual performance is often the top driver, and managers need to understand this to inspire their teams effectively. Each individual is motivated by a different combination of factors, and it’s the manager’s job to figure out the unique mix of motivators for each sales professional.

Hiring the Right Sales Talent 

A bad sales hire can be costly—sales roles are directly tied to revenue. Sales managers need training in behavior-based interviewing to identify the traits that predict success in sales, beyond just experience or gut feelings. Sales managers need to understand how to look past the resume and diagnose whether a candidate possesses the behaviors and motivation to be successful in the role.

In other departments, a bad hire may not be felt as quickly, but in sales, underperformance rapidly impacts the bottom line.

Pipeline Management and Forecasting 

Sales managers must also excel at pipeline management and accurate forecasting. They need to understand their team’s pipeline, spot deals likely to close, and coach reps on moving opportunities forward. These skills aren’t typically covered in generic leadership training.

For most managers, forecasting isn’t as critical, but in sales, forecasts are directly tied to a company’s financial health. Missed targets can have serious consequences.

Coaching Deals and Improving Selling Skills 

Sales coaching is a core responsibility for sales managers, and it goes beyond general feedback, generic coaching conversations or performance reviews. Sales coaching requires adopting a coaching mindset and involves deal coachingand skills coaching.

• Deal coaching focuses on helping reps close current opportunities by reviewing pipeline, strategizing next steps, and removing roadblocks to win deals.
• Skills coaching is about developing the core competencies reps need, like prospecting, handling objections, and closing. It’s about collaborating with the rep, identifying gaps and providing ongoing feedback to ensure long-term success.

Sales managers need to excel at both types of sales coaching to drive immediate results and develop their team's future potential. This balance makes sales coaching unique and essential for performance, which is why specialized training is crucial.

Key Takeaway

Sales managers operate in a high-stakes, results-driven environment. They need specialized training to handle the pressures of managing metrics, coaching behaviors, motivating their teams, and hiring top performers. Just as specialized forces need focused training, sales managers deserve the same to lead their teams to success

Investing in sales-specific manager training ensures stronger performance, better forecasting, and more effective sales teams.