The Myth of the ‘Best Performer’ Promotion
We’ve all seen it. The sales rep who closes deals like nobody’s business. The one whose numbers look like a rocket taking off. Naturally, we promote them. They deserve it, right? They’re the best, so they should lead the rest.
I’m going to tell you something that might sting, especially if you just promoted your star player last month: You might have just sabotaged your team, your new manager, and your best revenue generator.
This is the trap of the Accidental Boss. It happens constantly in sales organizations. We mistake individual achievement for leadership capacity. And honestly, it’s lazy management.
Selling is a Solo Sport; Management is an Orchestra
Think about what makes a killer salesperson. They are disciplined, resilient, fiercely autonomous, and often, highly competitive. They thrive on their own pipeline, their own wins, and their own closing rhythm. Their focus is laser-sharp: My quota.
Now, what does a great sales manager do? They aren’t closing deals (or shouldn’t be). They are teaching, coaching, removing roadblocks, managing territory conflicts, and, most crucially, developing the skills of other people. Their focus shifts from “My Quota” to “Our Collective Success.”
It’s a complete identity shift. It’s like asking Usain Bolt to stop running the 100-meter dash and instead become the world’s greatest track and field coach. Different skill set entirely.
The Friction Points I See Most Often:
- The Micromanagement Spiral: The new manager still thinks they know the ‘right way’ to handle every objection, so they hover over their team’s calls, stripping them of autonomy. They’re trying to sell through other people, which never works long-term.
- Resentment Over Time: The top salesperson misses the thrill of closing. They start feeling burdened by administrative tasks and the slow pace of team development. They resent having to spend hours coaching someone who, in their mind, *should* just be able to do what they did.
- The ‘Just Do It My Way’ Trap: Why spend an hour dissecting a prospect’s hesitancy when you could just jump on the call and close it yourself in ten minutes? This solves the immediate problem but kills the learning curve for the team member.
Shifting the Success Metric: From Dollar Signs to Development
If you promote a top performer, you have to fundamentally change how you measure their success. Stop grading them on their personal P&L. Start grading them on their team’s growth.
This requires serious commitment from both the new manager and HR/Leadership.
1. Mandatory Leadership Training (No Exceptions)
Don’t just give them a title and a laptop. Give them training on situational leadership, conflict resolution, and effective feedback models. Treat management as a specialized trade, not a default next step. We need to teach them how to manage the messy human element.
2. Define the ‘Stop Doing’ List
This is the hardest part. The new manager must explicitly agree to stop being the ‘Hero Closer.’ We need to create a clear separation between their legacy activities and their new responsibilities. Maybe they get a small residual bonus on certain mega-deals, but their primary focus must be future-proofing the pipeline through coaching.
3. The Power of the Peer Mentor
Pair your newly minted manager with an established, highly effective manager from another department—maybe even someone in operations or product development. They need a confidential sounding board who understands the politics but isn’t immediately threatened by their success.
Look, high performers are invaluable. But we must stop treating the top salesperson role and the sales management role as the same job with a different title. One requires closing skills; the other requires coaching empathy.
If you don’t commit to training your star closer on how to manage people, you’re not rewarding their past success; you’re gambling with your future revenue.
