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How to Spot Your Future Sales Managers

How to Spot Your Future Sales Managers

Unlock Leadership Potential Before You Need It. Post #5

Mort Greenberg
July 24, 2025

Hi,

The success of your sales organization tomorrow depends on the leaders you’re developing today. But many businesses wait too long to identify and invest in future managers, leaving them scrambling when growth demands scale.

This workshop is designed to help you spot rising sales leaders early and systematically, not anecdotally. Whether you're a founder trying to build a bench, a VP of Sales looking to reduce turnover, or a seller interested in leveling up, this session will help you build a leadership pipeline with clarity, confidence, and conviction. Because the best sales managers don’t just hit quota, they multiply the results of others.

Before we get into the workshop, one key item to point out. Not every top seller should become a sales manager. While it may feel natural to promote your best seller into a sales manager role, doing so can backfire, for both the business and the individual. Top-performing reps often succeed because of personal drive, autonomy, and control over their own pipeline. Management, on the other hand, requires letting go of personal wins and focusing on team enablement, coaching, and operations.

Signs a Top Seller Shouldn’t Be a Manager:

They show little interest in developing others
They are highly competitive with teammates, not just the market
They resist delegation or team-based systems
Their motivation is tied more to achievement than influence or service
They dread meetings, feedback loops, or non-selling responsibilities

What to Do Instead:

Reward them with elevated titles (e.g., “Principal AE” or “Strategic Advisor”)
Offer special projects: onboarding, sales strategy, key account leadership
Create compensation tiers that let them grow financially without managing people
Give them mentoring opportunities that don’t require full-on team oversight

Real-World Example:

At a high-growth B2B SaaS company, their #1 closer was promoted to manager. Six months later, they burned out and resigned, missing the thrill of closing and disliking team politics. The company restructured its model to offer a “Lead Individual Contributor” path for future reps who prefer revenue creation over people leadership. Including this clarity in your promotion process saves future headaches and preserves morale for everyone.

THE 3-STEP WORKSHOP

STEP 1: IDENTIFY LEADERSHIP SIGNALS IN THE WILD

What to Do:
Build a simple leadership signal tracker to capture behavior, not just results. Look for:

Initiative: Do they volunteer to lead internal meetings or projects?
Coaching: Do peers go to them for advice?
Accountability: Do they own outcomes, even when things go wrong?
Communication: Do they translate feedback clearly and constructively?

Template:

Rep Name	Initiative	Coaching	Accountability	Communication	Notes
Rep1	✅	✅	✅	✅	Led onboarding
Rep 2	✅	❌	✅	❌	Quiet but solid
Rep 3	✅	✅	✅	✅	Leads call reviews

Why it Matters:
Leadership potential is visible long before someone has a title. Start spotting it now.

STEP 2: TEST THROUGH MICRO-LEADERSHIP MOMENTS

What to Do:
Create low-risk, high-signal opportunities for reps to demonstrate leadership. Examples:

Run a pipeline or standup meeting
Mentor a new hire
Lead a product feedback loop with Product/Marketing
Draft or update a sales playbook page

Track outcomes, engagement, and feedback. Then follow up: What went well? What would they do differently?

Why it Matters:
People grow into leadership, not toward it. Small reps-as-leaders projects help surface hidden strengths.

STEP 3: CREATE A FUTURE MANAGER GROWTH PLAN

What to Do:
For high-potential reps, create a light but structured “Manager Readiness Plan.” Include:

Leadership behaviors to strengthen
Metrics they must maintain or exceed
Mentorship or shadowing with a current manager
A timeline (e.g., 3–6 months) and re-evaluation plan

Template:

Name	Leadership Focus	Sales Goal	Mentor	Timeline	Readiness Checkpoint
Rep 4	Coaching + Delegation	120% quota	Manager 1	90 days	Q3 leadership review

Why it Matters:
Your team deserves clarity. So does the person being groomed. This turns potential into a plan.

Tips + Real-World Examples

Tips for Success:

Look beyond the loudest voice, introverted leaders often shine in micro-leadership roles
Leadership isn't perfection, it’s direction. Look for growth mindset over raw charisma
Don’t overformalize too early. Let the process reveal, not define, potential

Example 1:
A VP of Sales at a fast-growing SaaS company rotated three reps through leading onboarding bootcamps. One showed exceptional coaching clarity and now runs a five-person team that consistently hits 130% of target.

Example 2:
A founder gave a top rep ownership of the company’s first enablement newsletter. That rep eventually built the internal knowledge base and now leads Sales Enablement for the org.