Building a sales team is a huge milestone. But leading one? That’s a different skill entirely. So, if you’re in the planning process of hiring salespeople, you also need to have a foundation for how to lead a sales team.
Assuming you’re a founder who’s done most of the selling yourself, you may already realize that what worked with your first customers won’t scale very well.
Even if you were a consistent closer and quickly built a large book of business, managing people is completely different from selling to them. Learning how to lead and motivate in a supportive and encouraging way is what makes you the kind of founder that a sales team wants to work for and perform well under.
Here’s how to lead a sales team effectively and successfully, even if you’ve never managed one before.
Knowing How to Lead a Sales Team Starts Before Hiring
Before you even need to know how to lead a sales team, you must understand the values and traits that will be most important during the hiring process.
If client relationships are important to you, you’ll want salespeople with specific soft skills that make consultative selling easier. These include:
- Having an abundant, motivated sales mindset,
- Being able to communicate effectively with prospects and each other,
- Knowing how to accept rejection, respond appropriately, and grow from the experience,
- Being open and able to follow a sales process,
- And tracking their progress so that they know how to improve.
Then, you have to decide how to measure their success. There are many different sales metrics that you can use for this. Some approaches are likely to have a significant impact (such as asking qualifying questions and making a specific number of calls per day). Others may do more harm than good (like focusing solely on their close rate).
However you measure productivity, there are certain things your sales team must do to hit quota and generate revenue. Understanding how to lead a sales team means ensuring they have the space and support they need to succeed.
Finding the balance between supportive coaching and micromanaging is not an easy task, especially when you’re trying to scale your business. But it’s not impossible if you know how to motivate your team.
When Motivation Doesn’t Work
“But wait, doesn’t their commission check motivate them to work harder?” you may be asking.
The truth is, money is not the all-encompassing motivator that founders and managers assume it is. Intrinsic motivation, such as
Sure, people work because they need to pay their bills, and money is undoubtedly one of the strongest motivators. But assuming that they’ll work themselves to the bone for you based entirely on money isn’t true for everybody. Plus, it insinuates (or is directly stated by some leaders) that if you don’t close enough deals, you’re fired.
Fear may be the most powerful motivator, but it can have the opposite effect, leading to poor performance and constant tension.
That kind of pressure creates an unhealthy work environment for everybody. A well-functioning workplace doesn’t operate on the principles of Battle Royale, where every person is for themselves.
Finding the true motivations of your team and not constantly holding their livelihood over their heads is how you ensure they sell with your processes and values in mind, bringing in the best clients possible.
How to Lead a Sales Team in Four Steps
You know you want to do it the right way the first time because a dysfunctional sales team could tank your business.
So, how do you lead a sales team that will learn, grow, and succeed with you and your business? Start with these four foundational principles.
Step 1: Stop Trying to Clone Yourself
Most founders make the same first mistake: they try to hire a “mini-me.” Someone who sounds like them, sells like them, and works like them.
But here’s the truth: you’re not building a one-person sales army; you’re building a team. That means you need diversity in strengths, thinking styles, and communication.
Instead of asking “How can I find someone like me?” ask:
“What kind of seller would complement my style and connect with markets I might miss?”
When building your team (or even after, as it’s never too late!), consider using tools like the DiSC Personality Assessment. But take one yourself first, if you haven’t already.
This simple test will highlight how your new or potential salespeople communicate, how they sell, how they make decisions, and what motivates and demotivates them.
Then, intentionally build a team around your gaps, rather than focusing on duplicates.
However, when reviewing the results with your team, always lead with positivity and refrain from discounting people’s abilities based on their assessment. There is no single right personality type for selling, and people from every DiSC style will bring their unique strengths and challenges to the table. Use it as a guide for better communication and management, not to disqualify candidates or employees.
Winning Tip: Get To Know Them!
Even if you choose not to utilize personality assessments, take the time to get to know your sales team and staff as individuals, not just employees.
If you want to be a founder that people are excited to work for, try things like:
- Checking in with their feelings and personal progress, not just their numbers.
- Have an open-door policy where staff feel comfortable coming to you with their needs, problems, concerns, AND successes.
- Socialize with them outside of work, such as during dinners, after-hours parties, team-building retreats, and conferences.
The more you know who they are, the better you’ll be able to understand them and support them when dealing with the struggles of the job.
Step 2: Lead With Clarity, Not Charisma
Salespeople don’t need you to hype them up—they need to know what success looks like.
That means defining:
- What a qualified lead is
- What each stage of the pipeline should look like
- What actions actually lead to outcomes (not just busywork)
- What kind of feedback and coaching they can expect
Founders often think, “I’ll just let them figure it out like I did.” But your role as a sales leader is different now. You’re not just a seller; you’re the guide.
Furthermore, your team can’t uphold the values you hold dear if you don’t communicate them clearly. Communicate the “why” about policies, decisions, values—everything. The more transparent you can be, the more they will trust your decisions and management.
Winning Tip: Lead By Example
Even more important than communicating values and expectations is exhibiting them yourself.
Most businesses start with a “why” or a mission and value statement. But management doesn’t always do a great job of upholding and reinforcing those values. And that’s where they fall apart.
For employees to fully buy into those values, they must be consistent from the top of the chain to the bottom. Everyone should know them inside and out and understand how they impact their role.
The clearer your values and expectations are, as evidenced by how you both communicate and display them, the faster your reps can succeed.
Step 3: Create Space to Practice
Here’s where most early sales teams fall apart:
✅ You bring someone in.
✅ They get basic training.
❌ You expect them to start closing.
Sales is a skill. And skills need reps.
If you want your team to succeed, you can’t just assign quotas—you need to build in time to practice by:
- Roleplaying new messaging before using it live
- Debriefing calls and talking through what worked (and what didn’t)
- Using peer feedback and shadowing to accelerate learning
Practice builds confidence. Confidence builds consistency. It’s not about perfection—it’s about getting better together.
Winning Tip: Outsource Your Coaching
While coaching and leading are often two sides of the same coin, they are still different skill sets. Even some of the most successful leaders and business owners don’t have both.
Plus, onboarding, training, and continuous coaching take up an enormous amount of time—time that a founder trying to scale their business may not have. However, these are incredibly important, as early and consistent interventions are crucial for guaranteeing the success of new salespeople.
So, if you don’t have the time and/or the expertise, consider investing in sales coaching.
(Adapted Growth offers coaching programs that help founders nail their messaging and business processes while providing ongoing coaching and practice for sales teams.)
Step 4: Coach the Person, Not Just the Pipeline
Too many founders inadvertently become micromanagers. They start managing deals instead of developing people.
That’s a fast way to burn out your team and yourself.
Knowing how to lead a sales team means paying attention to both performance and people.
- What’s their communication style under pressure?
- Are they motivated by numbers, relationships, or mastery?
- Do they need more structure or more flexibility?
One of the best ways to address issues with salespeople is by using open-ended questions to discuss poor performance or missed expectations. This enables them to participate in the solution, resulting in significantly better outcomes.
Additionally, you’re giving them the space to explain what’s going on, rather than just accusing them of not doing enough. This leadership style emphasizes the idea that salespeople are valuable members of the team, not disposable revenue generators.
When they feel like they belong, you’ll be able to lead them more effectively and retain them longer.
Winning Tip: Avoid “The Boss vs The Staff” Dynamic
As previously mentioned, leading by example is the best way to nurture a healthy, successful team.
That includes getting in the gutters with them. Show them you’ll make cold calls with them, especially during lean months, and attend conferences and trainings to continuously expand your knowledge and skills.
And while “we” statements are comforting during hard conversations, take it one step further by taking ownership of your own faults and missteps.
“I see you didn’t quite hit your call expectations last week, but I realize that I also tasked you with other projects that took up a lot of your time. Is there anything I can take off your plate to give you time to hit your goals this week?”
The more they trust you as a human, the more they’ll look up to you and follow you as a leader.
Learn How to Lead a Sales Team ASAP
If you’re wondering how to lead a sales team, here’s the simplest answer:
Don’t try to be the hero. Be the SHERPA who leads them up the mountain by climbing it with them.
Knowing how to lead a sales team doesn’t mean you have to make every sale or oversee every detail. It means forming and nurturing a group of people you trust to do the job well and help you build a successful business. And you do that by hiring with intention, not ego; defining what ‘good work’ looks like; practicing before performing; and coaching a team of people, not just metrics.
Do that, and you’ll build something that can take your business to new heights.
Are you interested in DiSC personality assessments for you and your team? Click here or send me a message on my contact page.
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