How These Roles Evolve and Converge as Companies Grow

Sales leadership and sales management are often misunderstood as being synonymous, but they are distinct skills that require different approaches.

Many business owners start out in the sales seat, driving the company’s early growth and leading the charge in securing initial customers. As the company expands, they naturally take on the responsibility of leading their first few salespeople, relying on their experience and enthusiasm to guide the team.

However, this approach often leads to a common challenge: the assumption that being a great sales leader also makes someone an effective sales manager.

While a sales leader focuses on inspiring, motivating, and setting the vision for the team, a sales manager is more concerned with execution, rigor, control, process, and the discipline needed to consistently hit sales targets. These are two different skill sets, and recognizing this distinction is crucial for a company's growth.

The Initial Separation of Roles

In the early stages of a business, it’s not unusual for the business owner to take on both leadership and management roles within the sales team. However, as the company grows, the demands of these roles can become overwhelming. The sales team may start to require more structure, more consistent processes, and greater accountability; areas that fall under the purview of sales management.

This is where business owners often face a critical decision: continue trying to juggle both leadership and management or bring in someone with strong sales management capabilities.

Initially, it may be beneficial to separate these roles. The owner, who is often the best person to lead the team due to their deep understanding of the company’s mission and vision, can focus on providing inspiration and strategic direction.

Meanwhile, a dedicated sales manager can establish the necessary rigor, processes, and metrics to drive consistent performance.

However, it's important to note that while sales managers are often equipped to execute on defined processes and metrics, they may struggle to create them. This is where the balance between sales leadership and management becomes critical. A sales leader, with the broader business requirements in mind, ensures that the processes incorporate the necessary cross-functional collaboration, such as involving technical resources for accurate scoping and pricing of solutions. A sales manager might lack this holistic view, which underscores the importance of having a sales leader to bridge these gaps.

The Evolution Towards Convergence

As the company matures, however, the dynamics of these roles often begin to shift. The structure and processes implemented by the sales manager will provide the foundation for a well-oiled sales operation.

Over time, as the team becomes more seasoned and the company’s sales strategies become more refined, the need for distinct roles may start to diminish.

In our experience, this evolution naturally leads to a convergence of sales leadership and sales management. A mature company, with a well-established sales team, often finds that these two roles can be effectively combined into one. As part of growing your sales manager through coaching, accumulating experience, and professional development, they can potentially wear both hats.

Enter the Growth Leader; the individual who takes on this converged role is someone who not only understands the strategic vision of the company but also has the operational expertise to manage the sales process efficiently.

This person is equipped to inspire the team while simultaneously ensuring that the necessary processes and disciplines are in place. They can balance the need for high-level vision with the demands of day-to-day management, driving both the strategic and tactical aspects of the sales function.

What About Marketing?

Another variable that often defines the difference between sales management and leadership is the relationship with the marketing function. While marketing might report directly to the sales or growth leader, it typically only collaborates with the sales manager. This distinction is crucial because the sales leader ensures that marketing communications align with the sales messaging and, importantly, with service delivery. The sales manager, focused on the execution within the sales team, rarely has the full perspective needed to oversee this alignment, which highlights the strategic importance of the sales leader's role in the broader business context.

The Ideal Outcome: A Unified Role

The ideal outcome for a growing company is to have a unified leader who can embody both sales leadership and sales management. The convergence of these roles can lead to a more streamlined, efficient, and effective sales organization. Yet, it’s crucial to recognize that not every sales manager will naturally evolve into a sales leader. Sometimes, as I've experienced, a sales manager may aspire to move into leadership but lacks the aptitude to make that leap.

The timeline will vary depending on where you are in the evolution of the business, but this convergence allows for more cohesive leadership, where the person at the helm not only inspires and motivates but also ensures that the team adheres to a structured process, tracks performance, continuously improves, and ultimately delivers on the targets.

There is no one-size-fits-all here, know your business and consider that you may be the ceiling on its growth.

Lead well.

Have fun.