Lead and run the team
Sales Leadership
Hire, coach and lead a team of sellers, and answer for its number.
The job in plain terms
Sales leaders run teams of sellers. A first-line sales manager leads six to ten SDRs, AEs or account managers; directors and area vice presidents lead managers; heads of sales and vice presidents own a region, a segment or the whole number. The job is done through other people: hiring well, coaching on live deals, running the weekly forecast, setting priorities and keeping good sellers. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics describes sales managers as people who set sales goals, analyze data and develop training for representatives.
Where the week goes
- Hire sellers: write the profile, interview, check references and close candidates
- Coach on live deals and recorded calls, one to one and as a team
- Run the weekly forecast and pipeline reviews, and call the quarter to your own leadership
- Set priorities, territories and targets with operations and finance
- Manage performance, including the hard conversations when someone is not working out
- Join key deals as the senior voice and help negotiate the biggest ones
Three moments from the job
A deal review
One of your AEs has a large deal marked to close this month. In the review you ask who the economic buyer is and when they last spoke. The answer is vague, so you agree to move the deal to best case and plan a meeting with the buyer's CFO next week.
Hiring for a new territory
You have budget for two AEs in a new region. You write a profile that favors people who have built a territory before, interview twelve candidates, run a role-play with the finalists and call references who managed them, not only peers.
Coaching a struggling rep
A rep with good activity has a low win rate. You listen to five of their discovery calls, notice they demo before they understand the problem, and agree a plan: two weeks of discovery-only first calls with your review after each.
Who does well in it
Experienced sellers who get satisfaction from other people's wins, who are honest about numbers and who can hold a team to a standard. Most sales managers were strong individual sellers, but the best are often the ones who could explain why they won, not only the top performers.
You will probably like it if
- You enjoy coaching and see others improve because of it
- You are comfortable being measured on results you do not produce directly
- You can give direct feedback and act on performance problems
- You like planning, forecasting and making trade-offs with limited budget
Requirements on most postings
- Several years of quota-carrying success, usually in the same kind of seat you will manage
- Evidence of leadership: mentoring, onboarding new hires or running team projects
- A bachelor's degree is typical, though some employers accept experience instead
- For director and VP roles: prior experience managing managers
Skills managers hire for
How people get hired into it
- 1As a seller: ask to mentor new hires, run onboarding sessions or lead a team project before you apply for a manager role
- 2Learn to forecast: track your own deals with stage-based probabilities and compare your calls with what closed
- 3Prepare to explain your management approach with examples: how you would coach, hire and run a pipeline review
- 4Consider a team lead or player-coach role as a step between seller and manager
- 5Before taking a manager job, ask how many of the reps you would lead hit plan last year and how many seats are open
What outsiders get wrong
Myth: The best seller should become the manager.
Reality: Selling and managing are different jobs. Top sellers sometimes struggle to coach skills they never had to think about, and some of the best managers were solid but not top sellers.
Myth: Managers earn mostly from their own deals.
Reality: A first-line manager's variable is usually tied to the team's attainment. Your pay depends on the people you hire and coach, which is why the state of the team you inherit matters.
Myth: Leadership means less selling.
Reality: Managers sell differently: on the biggest deals, to senior buyers and internally for resources. Many VPs spend a large share of their time with customers.
Base, variable and OTE
Open sales leadership postings that publish their pay sit mostly in $175k–$450k/yr right now. The middle figure is $228k/yr, read across 375 openings with a stated range. Most US postings state the base; where a posting gives OTE as well, its role page shows both.
Questions candidates ask
How is a sales manager measured?
On the team's attainment against its combined quota, with forecast accuracy, hiring, ramp time of new reps and retention of good sellers behind it. A manager who misses the forecast loses trust even when the team hits the number, so forecasting honestly matters as much as the total.
How is sales leadership pay split?
Usually a larger base than the reps, with a variable tied to the team's number; at director and VP level, bonuses and equity grow in weight. Ask how many reps on the team hit plan last year, how many seats are vacant and whether the variable is paid on the team's total or on each rep's attainment. The OTE guide covers the plan mechanics.
What does the sales manager interview look like?
Expect a forecast or pipeline review exercise, a coaching role-play in which you give feedback on a recorded or acted call, a hiring plan for your first months and questions on how you have handled underperformance. The sales interview guide covers the manager loop.
How many sales manager jobs are there?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 650,100 sales manager jobs in 2025 and projects 4% growth from 2025 to 2035, with about 47,300 openings a year on average, mostly to replace managers who move on or retire - BLS. The board lists 816 sales leadership roles today.
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Own a book of existing customers: renew their contracts and sell them more.