Official thread

Best and Worst - Sales Manager

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Showdown...


On one side of the ring, we have an inspiring leader. The “*Michelle Obama” of Sales Managers. The ultimate coach. Confident and empathetic. Strives for value. Has a positive approach towards sales and life. Pushes you hard, when needed. Ready to take the bullet for you. Supports you throughout your career. Being around her is both fun and exciting.


On the other side, we have a run-of-the-mill feeder. The “Debby Downer” of Sales Management. The ultimate roach. Wicked and cruel. Strives for volume. Has an ancient approach to everything. Throws you under the bus, when needed. Ready to belittle you. Working for her is like trying to run a marathon with a ball & chain attached to your ankle.


As they prepare to face off, the tension is palpable. The winner is determined to defeat the villain and rid the sales world of vanity metrics, the need to create urgency all the time, and updating CRM after every 5 seconds. The fate of the world of sales hangs in the balance.


Who will emerge victorious in this epic battle of good versus evil? Michelle Obama or Debby Downer? Only time can tell.


But meanwhile, The War Room can tell us more...


What is your story of the Best and Worst Sales manager you’ve had?



-@Gasty



PS: Do check out other videos from this series:

1. Best and Worst - Cold Emails Received

2. Best and Worst - Sales Hire

🧢 Sales Management
🎤 Sahil
20
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
14
Sales Rep
HR "So you caused a person to get a panic attacked. And instead of saying sorry, you offer them drugs?"

VP: "What is your point?"
CuriousFox
WR Officer
6
🦊
What kind of drugs 👀
Sunbunny31
Politicker
3
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Asking the important questions here.
SaaSsy
Politicker
2
AE
Haha I’m now mad I had a dick manager cause multiple panic attacks and tears and never one single time offered drugs 🤔
Maximas
Tycoon
1
Senior Sales Executive
Hopefully you went away from his supervision!
GDO
Politicker
3
BDM
seems like a reaction Paddy would give
CuriousFox
WR Officer
2
🦊
🦐🍀
Nairobi
Politicker
9
AE
Ah man, I’ve been lucky to only have awful managers so far so let me see which story I should tell 🤔

My last awful manager threatened to fire me if I didn’t make the 250 cold calls per week. We had mandatory morning cold call blitzes. One Friday morning, I made 17 calls in 45 min. He put an hour long meeting on my calendar that Friday to tell me that 17 calls is shit, I’m lazy, he would never hire someone that makes few cold calls blah blah blah.

He was fired a couple of months later and nothing happened to me because I was always the top performer.
Gasty
Notable Contributor
8
War Room Community Manager
I've been there too. Where "let's make more calls" is the one and only strategy peddled across the team every single business day.
Nairobi
Politicker
3
AE
So dumb…
ThatNewAE
Big Shot
4
Account Executive - Mid enterprise
I have been in a company like that too. Even if 60% of the calls weren't picked up / hit the voicemail, there should be 60 dials per day no matter what! NO MATTER WHAT THE RUN RATE IS ! Or what the outcome is. I wonder what that manager is doing now.
coletrain
Politicker
4
Account Executive
The last company I was at the VP of Sales advocated for making 100 calls a day for AEs and 250 for BDRs on a dialer (now going to AEs in the new year). Now they also had the mandatory blitzes led by a director of trade association relations.

Said VP likened a dialer to a slot machine calling it enjoyable because you’re never sure what kind of company you’ll get.

For cybersecurity sales.
punishedlad
Tycoon
3
🧙‍♂️
I'm assuming there had to be some connections during that 45 minutes. Were they not accounting for that being a reason why there might be less?

Hilarious to me that some managers are more concerned with getting a bigger number of dials rather than a higher number of quality connects...
Nairobi
Politicker
3
AE
Yeah, but he didn't care. Tbh I could have made more, but it was 9 am on a Friday, and I had already hit my weekly goals, so I was chilling a bit
1
Administrator
This brings back terrible memories! I experienced something quite similar to you, girl I'm sorry you had to experience that. It can be really frustrating when you're putting your all and trying really hard just for someone to tell you that you're not. I had a manager do something like that, and I tried giving solutions to the problem and he ignored me, and they were brilliant ideas that would bring in so many sales. So I brought my ideas to the next manager and he actually listened to me. Come to find out my ideas were genius!
J.J.McLure
Politicker
5
Owner at *redacted*
This one hits home! Our VP causes so much stress that people are regularly going to have a cry in the bathroom or their car. She offers them weed (which is legal here) but she's also a part owner of the company and doesn't react well to criticism at all so nobody ever calls her out on her bs because it will affect your job and she won't be disciplined anytime soon.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Literally offering drugs! Yikes!
detectivegibbles
Politicker
5
Sales Director
"Here's a Xanax. Get out there and keep dialing" What the actual fuck hahaha.

My best manager oversaw our entire sales for the company. The company culture was established on principles of putting their employees and customers first. Both he and company president were willing to jump in a call/meeting to help at any time.

We were never met with resistance when it came to ideas or failures. Ambition and risk was encouraged.

My worst manager may be my current position. Long story for another thread. A lot of finger pointing with minimal accountability for decisions made in his 9 months of being in leadership.

Wild to see play out.
SaaSsy
Politicker
5
AE
Best: Smart, funny, worked in the trenches with us and protected his reps like a true Mama Bear. Also, recommended us for promotions and helped us prepare. It’s so easy, it’s sad there are barely any good sales leaders.

Worst: VP told us that if we didn’t have 6 meetings set every single week (with a territory of 100 named accounts), we were “spiders in a toilet and would be flushed fast”. Then would quote the Bible. 🥵🔫
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
That's ... unsettling.
Justatitle
Big Shot
4
Account Executive
Don’t know if I’d consider Ellen degeneres a good example of a good manager considering the stories that have come out about her but I get your point.
Gasty
Notable Contributor
3
War Room Community Manager
You have a fair point! Let me make a quick edit ;)
cap
Opinionated
1
Enterprise Sales
Knew someone that worked on the show and have heard she’s a nightmare
Justatitle
Big Shot
0
Account Executive
It’s not surprising at all
fcmf
Valued Contributor
3
RSM
“You get surprised to the kind of people who gets promoted as sales manager “ or something like that. Loved that part.
Irishman
Catalyst
3
Business Consultant
Had a manager that was way out of his depth, never had been in sales and was a yes man for any madness thought up without due thought to practical aspects of the customers in mind. Very quickly felt threatened anytime he received feedback from us and me in particular. Finally left after trying to manage me out (he successfully got rid of some of our better reps replacing them with yes men). New incoming manager was warned about me and told to get rid of me quickly but he realised I had the best interests of the company and court customers at heart (even to my own detriment at times). He ended up begging me to stay and he saw me as an honest source of customer feedback. Side note - the ereps the crap manager hired had to be fired as they were consistently well below quota and one actually was rumoured to have another job as he was never available for team meetings and any in person meet ups - finally got caught out lying about being in hospital when the new manager tried to send him a care basket...ha! What a mess the original guy left
idixon907
Executive
3
Senior Account Manager
Me: In the hospital towards the end of the month as my wife is having our first baby.

Manager: You know you still have a quota this month right?
Gasty
Notable Contributor
0
War Room Community Manager
Wow
TennisandSales
Politicker
2
Head Of Sales
"you would be surprised on who gets promoted to leadership positions in sales"

AINT THAT THE FUCKING TRUTH!!!

sometimes when i think about going into any sort of leadership i just think about the terrible manager/leaders out there and think "if they did it, I can 100% do it!"
Gasty
Notable Contributor
3
War Room Community Manager
Or. You can become the Manager you always wanted for yourself
TennisandSales
Politicker
2
Head Of Sales
that exactly what ive been thinking more and more about!!
finboi
Notorious Answer
2
Fi-nance
Had a director when I was a manager who demanded I do 30-45 min 1-on-1’s with my entire team of 13 direct reports every week. When I told him my team and I both don’t want to spend our time in WEEKLY “coaching” he told the VP (his boss) that I’m clearly unchallenged?
Gasty
Notable Contributor
4
War Room Community Manager
I'm still stuck at 13 direct reports. 13?
finboi
Notorious Answer
1
Fi-nance
Yea we were a startup growing fast
Angusmacg
Valued Contributor
0
Territory Account Mgr.
It seems to me that choosing Michelle Obama as the “nice” manager is a bit ironic. She comes across as more of the Debby Downer. Not sure Michelle could ever be satisfied.
5

Worst advice from a sales manager?

Question
6
7

Incoming new manager: Best and worst

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9
14

Best and Worst - Sales Hire

Official
18