When account managers go years without speaking to customers, it signifies a failure of leadership, not just the individual. This lack of oversight is framed as "malpractice" because it allows reps to avoid core relationship-building activities, directly endangering customer retention and revenue.

Companies mistakenly bundle management with authority, forcing top performers onto a management track to gain influence. Separate them. Define management's role as coordination and context-sharing, allowing senior individual contributors to drive decisions without managing people.

Frontline employees have the most information about customer needs, while leaders have all the authority. To deliver exceptional service, empower the people interacting with customers to make decisions in the moment. This closes the gap and allows the organization to be truly responsive.

Promoting top individual contributors into management often backfires. Their competitive nature, which drove individual success, makes it hard to share tips, empathize with struggling team members, or handle interpersonal issues, turning a perceived win-win into a lose-lose situation.

To enforce role clarity, the second-line manager should assess each rep's skills and co-create their development plan. Accountability is key: during a QBR, the CRO should question the second-line manager first about a struggling rep’s development plan, shifting their focus from pure forecasting to strategic talent growth.

Most sales teams function like golf or swim teams—a group of individuals pursuing personal commissions that are later aggregated. This is unlike interdependent teams like basketball. Leaders must recognize this structure to connect effectively, starting with the individual, not the group.

When revenue leaders offload hiring to HR, they lose control over the core attributes of their team. This creates inconsistent talent quality across the organization, weakening the entire sales function. The leader is responsible for the 'DNA' of their team, and abdicating this duty leads to poor performance.

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.

Leaders with an operations background often clash with the emotional, less-structured nature of sales. To succeed, they must actively study sales management to bridge this mindset gap, not just learn tactics. This prevents frustration and enables them to guide their sales team effectively instead of trying to force them into rigid processes.