Use one-on-one breakout meetings to gather intel you can't get in a group setting. Ask directly about competitors, pricing, and evaluation status. The private, trusted environment makes stakeholders more likely to share candid details, effectively turning them into your internal informant on the deal.

To move beyond status updates in one-on-one meetings, managers should open up about their own challenges. Asking a team member for their perspective on a decision the manager is making fosters trust, shows respect, and can uncover valuable insights you hadn't considered.

Leaders often expect reps to drive one-on-ones, but the best leaders prepare beforehand with a clear point of view and desired outcomes, treating their reps like internal customers who deserve preparation.

Many sales leaders run pipeline reviews solely to extract information for their forecast. The meeting's primary purpose should be to help the rep understand what to do next. Effective coaching leads to closed deals, which in turn creates an accurate forecast naturally.

Some CEOs encourage tension between sales and marketing. A more effective model is for the CRO and CMO to build enough trust to handle all disagreements—like lead quality or follow-up—behind closed doors. This prevents a culture of finger-pointing and presents a united front to leadership.

Ineffective leaders use Quarterly Business Reviews to demonstrate their power by grilling reps. Great leaders use a single deal review as a live coaching session for the entire sales floor, knowing one person's mistake is likely a problem for hundreds of others.

Instead of reps giving meandering updates, the manager reads the deal's CRM data (stage, amount, close date) and asks, "Is this accurate?" This forces reps to own their data, corrects inaccuracies in real-time, and allows for rapid review of the entire pipeline, not just one or two deals.

Salespeople often worry about being annoying during follow-up because they frame it as a transactional attempt to close a deal. To overcome this, reframe follow-up as an opportunity to build and enhance the relationship. By consistently providing value—sharing insights, making introductions, or offering resources—the interaction becomes helpful rather than pestering.

Many leaders mistakenly manage their team as a single entity, delivering one-size-fits-all messages in team meetings. This fails because each person is unique. True connection and performance improvement begin by understanding and connecting with each salesperson on a one-on-one basis first.