Sales manager training · Sales
Your best salesperson is now a manager and nobody taught the job.
A rep who closed well gets the team because the numbers were good. Selling and managing are different jobs. The new manager still takes over the big deal, answers every question, and runs the review as a round of status updates.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Sales manager training teaches the people who lead salespeople how to run a review, inspect a deal, give feedback, set targets, handle a weak performer and hire. GullySales trains your managers on their own team's records, so each routine is practised on real deals and left behind as a template they keep using.
This service teaches the manager's job on the manager's own material. The pipeline review is run on your open quotations. Feedback is practised on a call or WhatsApp thread from your own team. A target is built from your own enquiry and order records.
It is not coaching for reps, which is sales-coaching, and not the senior programme for heads and directors, which is sales-leadership-development. If you want GullySales to run the function for you, that is sales-management.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- Manufacturers and dealers that promoted a top seller into a team lead role
- Clinics, hospitals and schools whose admissions or enquiry desk now has a supervisor with no training
- Software and service firms where a founder is handing the sales team to a first manager
- Businesses with several branch or area managers who each run reviews differently
- Owners who sit in every pipeline review because the manager cannot yet run it alone
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- Owners who want GullySales to manage the team in their place; that is a different scope
- Teams with no CRM, sheet or record of enquiries, where a record has to be built before a review can be run on it
- Employment disputes: dismissal, notice and settlement questions go to your own employment adviser
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
Common situations this work addresses.
“My manager does the selling and the team waits”
The manager jumps into the biggest quotation and leaves the others unchecked. The reps learn that difficult deals are handed upward, so they stop working them.
“The pipeline review is a read-out”
Each rep lists what is open and nobody asks what the buyer actually said. A quotation sits at the same stage for weeks and no one questions the close date.
“Feedback is either shouting or silence”
Praise is vague and criticism arrives at month end, tied to the target. The rep cannot name one thing to do differently on the next call.
“A weak rep stays on the team for a year”
Nobody wrote down the gap, so there is nothing to show the rep or the owner. When the exit comes, it surprises everyone, and the replacement is hired the same way as the last one.
What we do
The work we can include.
Each deliverable and the purpose it serves. Your written scope confirms what is included, who is responsible, and what it costs.
Review agenda and deal questions
A one-page agenda and a list of questions that test each open deal: who approves, what the buyer asked for last, what is the dated next step. The manager runs it on your live pipeline.
Call and chat inspection sheet
A short sheet for listening to a recorded call or reading a WhatsApp thread, with the moments to look for: the buyer's requirement, the price discussion, the agreed next step.
Feedback script and practice notes
A structure for saying what was observed, why it mattered and what to try next. Managers practise it aloud on your reps' real examples, with notes on what to change.
Activity and outcome target sheet
Each rep's target set in two columns: the work that is in their control, such as qualified conversations and quotations sent, and the result, such as orders and collections.
One-to-one record
A running page per rep for agreed actions, observed behaviour and the next check, kept apart from the deal review so that coaching time is not eaten by status.
Underperformance file
A written gap, the support offered, the dates checked and the evidence kept. Whether to start a formal improvement plan or end the employment is for your own adviser.
Hiring scorecard and interview kit
The traits the role needs, structured questions, a short task using your own product, and a rule that each interviewer scores before the group talks.
How the result is measured
- Open deals with a buyer-confirmed next step and date
- Reviews held against the agreed agenda
- One-to-one records with an observed behaviour and a follow-up
- Targets set with both an activity and an outcome column
- Quotation-to-order conversion by rep
- Hiring decisions made against a written scorecard
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Before you decide
Agree the work. Know how to judge it.
Sales manager training: use these checks to prepare, choose the scope, and review what changes.
Bring the right evidence
Bring real questions, objections, and call examples that the team finds difficult. Agree which selling behaviour needs to change and how it will be observed at work.
Make the scope clear
Choose the roles and situations to practise. Separate a training session from coaching, manager follow-up, and any scripts or reference material to be produced.
Check the work in use
Use a realistic practice conversation, then review the same skill in live work with appropriate permission. Look for a change in behaviour before attributing a sales result to training.
Know when to change course
If the problem is an unclear offer, missing product knowledge, or no permission to make a decision, fix that first. A communication workshop cannot remove those barriers.
These are discussion points, not a fixed package. GullySales confirms the deliverables, responsibilities, fee, and term in writing after reading your brief and speaking with you.
How it works
How the sales manager training work runs
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Read the manager's current routine
We review how reviews, one-to-ones and targets run today, using your pipeline sheet or CRM and two or three recent review notes. The gaps become the training list.
- 2
Agree the scope with the owner
The owner decides which decisions stay with the owner, such as discounts, hiring and pay. Managers then know where their authority starts and stops.
- 3
Train on the team's own records
Sessions use your open deals, your call samples and your target sheet. Managers leave each session with the filled template, not a slide deck.
- 4
Manager runs it, trainer observes
The manager leads a real review and a real one-to-one while the trainer watches. Written observations name what to keep and what to change.
- 5
Repeat on the next cycle
The next review shows whether the questions got sharper and the close dates more honest. Gaps go back into practice before the routine is handed over.
Before you hire anyone
Do this first yourself.
Look at how your manager runs the team for one cycle before paying for any training.
- Sit in on one pipeline review and count how many open deals get a question about the buyer, not just the stage.
- Pick three open quotations and ask the manager who approves each and what the dated next step is.
- Read two recent one-to-one notes, if any exist, and check whether they name a behaviour or only a target.
- Ask each rep for the last piece of feedback received and what they did differently afterwards.
- Check whether each rep's target lists both the work they control and the result expected.
Judge any provider
What to ask any provider of this service.
Useful whoever you choose, including us.
- Will the training use our own deals, calls and target sheet, or generic examples?
- What does each manager leave with after a session: a filled template or a presentation?
- Who watches the manager run a real review, and how is that observation written up?
- How do you handle underperformance and dismissal, and what do you leave to our employment adviser?
- Where does your scope stop and sales coaching of reps or senior leadership work begin?
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
This work sits inside sales management. A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3 · you are here
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Should I train my manager or coach my reps?
How is this different from leadership development?
Do my managers need a CRM first?
Will you advise on dismissing or disciplining a salesperson?
Can a manager in a clinic or school team use this?
What does it cost, and how do we begin?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
By industry
Sales manager training, written for your industry.
Related services
Often bought with this, or instead of it.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.