5 Ways Sales Leaders Fail Their Teams (And How to Create the Culture They Deserve
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Here's something that might surprise you: the biggest threat to your sales team's success sometimes isn't the competition, market conditions, or even bad delivery. Sometimes it’s their sales manager.
In the past 10 years of running Pitch Lab, I've watched countless well-intentioned sales leaders hurt their teams through misguided kindness, conflict avoidance, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what good leadership actually looks like.
Here's the truth about sales leadership: it's defined by outcomes achieved.
The most successful sales managers I've worked with focus on two key metrics: achieving results and retaining top talent. Everything else is just noise.
Here are the five most common ways sales leaders fail their teams—and how to fix them.
1. The Need to Be Liked
I see this everywhere. Heck, I personally identify with this one. Sales managers who were hurt in the past by bad managers and now treat their role like a popularity contest instead of building a winning team.
These managers let their people choose their own level of engagement—work when they feel like it, follow process when convenient, operate under their own rules.
Here's the truth: you don't want to be liked for letting people slide. You want to be respected for helping each person become the salesperson they didn't know they could be.
The fix: Start requiring the work that matters, even when your team resists it. Focus on being respected for developing people, not liked for being easy on them.
2. Conflict Avoidance
Picture this: you've got a salesperson who's clearly struggling. Their numbers are down, they're avoiding hard work, and their toxic attitude is starting to affect the whole team.
What does the conflict-averse manager do? Nothing.
They hope the problem will magically fix itself.
Every week you don't address poor performance is another week that salesperson slides further from success and takes team morale with them.
The fix: Schedule that uncomfortable conversation this week. Address performance issues immediately, not after they've infected your team culture.
3. Low Standards for Sales Activity
In my experience, this is where most sales teams fail. Managers accept minimal effort across the entire sales process with a shrug. "Well, at least Abby made some calls this week." Or "Rick had a few meetings, that's something."
No. Just no.
Your standards for every sales activity should be as non-negotiable as your revenue targets—consistent prospecting, thorough discovery preparation, compelling presentations, disciplined follow-up. (And this is especially true in a hot market where being an order-taker seems like enough to get by.)
Through Pitch Lab’s consulting work, we see talented teams that never reach potential because nobody held them accountable to excellence across all activities.
The fix: Set specific, measurable standards for every critical sales activity and track them weekly. Make excellence in execution as important as hitting revenue numbers.
4. Lack of Accountability
Constantly holding salespeople accountable is exhausting. You've got bigger fish to fry, but when targets are missed, you can't just sit back and hope.
Accountability isn't about punishment though. It's about driving improvement and results.
I see managers who rely on the honor system for everything from process adherence to call activity to CRM updates. Then they wonder why their forecasts are always wrong and their pipeline is a mystery.
Accountability frameworks that actually work include:
Weekly one-on-ones focused on activity metrics, not just results
Clear documentation of commitments and follow-through
Consistent consequences for lack of adherence
The fix: Implement systematic accountability with clear documentation and consistent consequences. Autonomy only works when balanced with structured follow-through.
5. No Sales Training or Development Plan
This might be the most frustrating failure I see: sales managers who hire people and then expect them to magically know how to sell effectively.
"They've got experience" isn't a development plan. "They'll figure it out" isn't training. And hoping they'll learn by watching others (especially when working remote) isn't a strategy.
Your sales team needs ongoing skill development:
Regular training on value-based selling techniques (not just product features)
Individual rep coaching based on specific gaps
Structured feedback on real sales interactions
The best salespeople I've worked with never stop learning and improving. But that only happens when leaders create a culture that prioritizes development.
The fix: Create structured development plans with regular training and individual coaching. Continuous improvement must be systematic, not accidental.
The Bottom Line: Leadership, Not Friendship
Great sales leaders understand this truth: your job isn't to make everyone comfortable. Your job is to help people become better than they thought possible.
This doesn't mean being harsh—it means caring enough about your team's success to set high standards, have difficult conversations, and create systems that support excellence.
The managers who make the biggest difference aren't the ones who go easy on people. They're the ones who believe in their potential and refuse to accept anything less than their best effort.
Sometimes the best thing you can do for your sales team is get serious about their development.
