Top Sales Reps Often Struggle as Managers, Leslie Venetz Argues

In a recent LinkedIn post, Leslie Venetz explores a common pitfall in sales organizations: promoting top-performing individual contributors into management roles without adequate preparation, leading to ineffective leadership. Venetz, a seasoned sales leader and consultant, highlights the critical disconnect between excelling at sales and succeeding at people management, challenging the long-held assumption that these are easily transferable skills.

Venetz begins by directly addressing the issue, stating:

SURPRISE – Your top rep is a sh*tty manager. Not because they aren’t an excellent seller. Because closing deals and developing people are completely different skill sets and we keep pretending they are not.

This assertion sets the stage for Venetz’s core argument: that sales leadership requires a distinct set of competencies that must be actively developed. According to Venetz, the skills that make someone a great salesperson – persistence, persuasive communication, and product knowledge – do not automatically translate into the ability to coach, motivate, and develop a team.

The Misconception of Sales Leadership as a Natural Progression

Leslie Venetz points out that the traditional career path in sales often positions top performers for leadership roles, viewing it as the ultimate career achievement. However, this perspective often overlooks the significant differences in responsibilities and required aptitudes.

Venetz elaborates on this point:

Telling people the truth about being a sales leadership. AEs view it as a glorious, prestigious next step in their career. They don’t know that sales leaders usually make less than their top performing reps AND sales leadership is emotional exhausting in a way that selling isn’t (and that’s especially true for frontline managers).

This highlights a crucial aspect often misrepresented to aspiring sales leaders: the potential financial trade-offs and the significant emotional toll of managing people. As Venetz implies, the glamour associated with sales leadership can mask the demanding reality of the role.

The Importance of Training and Development for New Managers

A significant portion of Venetz’s post addresses the lack of structured support for newly promoted sales managers. The prevailing approach, according to Venetz, is to let them learn through trial and error, often at the expense of their teams’ development and morale.

“Why is management training not a standard??!! Just like we wouldn’t let sellers talk to our customers without at least a few days of training – why are we letting new managers talk to our most valuable resources – our people – without some training?” Venetz questions, drawing a parallel between sales training and essential management training.

In Venetz’s view, this oversight is a critical failure. The post advocates for a more intentional approach, emphasizing the need for:

• Honest conversations about the realities of sales leadership.
• Recognition that not every top seller wants to be a manager.
• Provision of comprehensive training, coaching, and clear playbooks for effective leadership.

Venetz also touches upon the societal pressure and internal belief systems that encourage individuals to pursue management even if it doesn’t align with their personal goals or strengths. “That it’s okay to just want to sell / to not want to lead. Becoming a sales leader doesn’t make you better than anybody else. Different folks have different goals and gifts – it’s okay if managing humans isn’t your calling,” Venetz states, advocating for a more nuanced understanding of career aspirations.

Ultimately, Leslie Venetz’s insights on LinkedIn serve as a critical call to action for organizations to re-evaluate their promotion practices and invest in developing their sales leaders, ensuring that success in selling is not mistaken for innate leadership ability.