I'll be honest with you. When I first moved into a leadership role, I thought I had it figured out.

I pictured a team of hungry, motivated reps looking to me for direction. I'd lay out the game plan, show them how to execute, and we'd all make money and get promoted. Simple, right?

It was a lot harder than that.

I've spent over a decade in software sales and the past few years in leadership.

In that time, I've come to believe that the frontline sales leader role is the hardest job on the sales side of any organization. Not because the work itself is complicated, but because of how quickly you can lose focus on what actually matters.

That's what I want to talk about here. The reality of the frontline sales leader role, what it takes to do it well, and the three things you need to protect above everything else.

What the role actually looks like

When you're a rep, your world is focused. You're working your pipeline, closing deals, and prospecting. It's hard work, but it's simple because your goal is clear.

You need to be selfish with your time because that focus is precisely what the company hired you for.

Then you move into leadership, and suddenly everyone wants a piece of you.

You've got reps to manage and coach. You've got other departments pulling you into collaboration sessions and strategy meetings. You've got reporting requests landing in your inbox. Before you know it, your day is full, and you haven't done a single thing that actually helps your team sell better.

I've experienced this almost every time I've stepped into a new leadership role. You get overwhelmed, you spread yourself thin, and you end up becoming a master of none. It's a real problem, and it catches many new managers off guard.

The shift from rep to leader requires an entirely different relationship with your time. And the sooner you accept that, the better.

Act like the boss you are

One of the first things you need to get comfortable with as a new sales leader is saying no. Specifically, saying no to busy work.

If someone asks you for a report and you've already built a dashboard in Salesforce or your BI platform, point them there. Just like a rep can say no to things that don't drive revenue, you can say no to things that don't directly help you coach your team to success.

The key is to build the infrastructure up front so you're not constantly reinventing the wheel.

When I take over a new team, one of the first things I do is build individual and team dashboards for everyone I manage, covering all the key performance indicators and metrics I want to track.

Once those are built, any time someone asks me for information, I can point them to the dashboard and move on with my day.

It sounds simple. But it frees up an enormous amount of time that would otherwise get swallowed by ad hoc requests.

The goal is to protect your time for the things that actually move the needle. And that brings me to the three most important parts of the frontline sales leader job.

What often happens is sales leaders get overwhelmed. You go from being a rep, where your sole focus is driving revenue, closing deals, working your pipeline and prospecting, day in and day out.

The three things that matter most

Everything else in your role as a frontline sales leader is either ancillary or should fit under these three. Get these right, and you're 90% of the way there.

1. Regular team meetings

Team meetings get a bad reputation, and honestly, that's usually because they're run poorly. Done well, they're one of the most powerful tools you have as a leader.

Here's what a good team meeting should include:

  • Performance updates. This doesn't have to take long. You can use asynchronous tools like Slack or Volley to share updates without eating up meeting time, but some level of visibility into performance as a group keeps everyone aligned.
  • Group forecasting. This is where you ask the whole team for their numbers. It creates accountability and gives you a read on where things stand across the board.
  • Wins, losses, and challenge deals. This is one of my favorite parts of a team meeting. Give people the space to share what's working, what isn't, and where they need help. It fosters collaboration, brings more eyes to difficult deals, and, if you're paying attention, shows you who the future leaders on your team might be.