Sales Manager Readiness: Why Companies Should Prepare Prior to Promotion

Introduction

From 1989 to 1995 I worked for a Fortune 50 company that invested heavily in manager training. Somewhere between 1992 and 1993, I was instrumental in developing a branch sales manager certification program for this employer at the time, which prepared hi-po employees over 18 months (ending with a true certification event) before promoting them into sales management roles. 

Early in my corporate career, back in the late eighties and early nineties, structured leadership development seemed like a business imperative.  

General Electric’s legendary Crotonville academy and rotational programs at multiple levels set the bar for preparing high-potential employees to lead, long before they assumed formal management roles. It worked, and it was widely recognized for that success.  

Today, things look different. 

Many companies promote top-performing salespeople into frontline sales manager roles without formal preparation. In some cases, these new managers don’t even receive development after stepping into the role. That approach introduces serious risk, including the potential for higher turnover, stalled performance, missed revenue goals, and poor team morale.  

Employees don’t leave companies. They leave bad managers.

• A recent Gartner study found that only 19% of organizations believe their frontline managers are ready for leadership responsibilities.  
• McKinsey research supports this, reporting that companies without structured leadership development see 35% lower employee engagement and 20% slower revenue growth compared to their peers.  
• Seven in 10 U.S. workers say they would leave a job if they had a bad manager, according to the recent findings of LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence survey. This sentiment rings most true for younger employees – 75% of Gen Z workers and 77% of millennials say a bad boss would motivate them to look for a new job, compared to 68% of Gen Xers and 61% of baby boomers. 

This leadership gap isn’t just an operational oversight. It’s a strategic vulnerability. 

It’s time to change that. 

In this article, I’ll explore the consequences of promoting without preparation, introduce the 3 Ps framework – “Prepare Prior to Promotion” – and walk through practical, scalable solutions. We’ll also highlight the structure of Sales Management Foundations, a new program designed to support this exact shift. 

The Decline of Structured Sales Leadership Development

The Cost of Unprepared Sales Managers

Let’s break this down into three core business risks: people, performance, and profit.

High Turnover and Employee Dissatisfaction

• 45% of first-year managers consider leaving due to inadequate training and support (Forrester). 
• Teams led by underprepared managers report 30% lower engagement (McKinsey). 

New managers often feel like they’ve been set up to fail. Their teams pick up on that quickly, which leads to a ripple effect of disengagement and turnover. 

Lower Sales Team Performance

• Companies without structured sales leadership development see 27% lower quota attainment (Gartner). 
• Inconsistent or ineffective coaching from untrained managers often stalls pipeline progression (CSO Insights). 

Frontline sales managers are the primary lever for team performance. When they aren’t equipped to coach, guide, and support their team, results falter across the board. 

Revenue Loss and Leadership Failure

• McKinsey reports that organizations lacking leadership development see 20% slower revenue growth. 
• Deloitte research shows that poor forecasting and weak deal management from untrained leaders lead directly to missed revenue targets. 

Unprepared managers can’t deliver predictable results. That affects forecasting accuracy, pipeline health, revenue plan attainment, and overall execution of sales strategy. 

The takeaway is clear: promoting without preparation puts both your people and your revenue at risk. 

The 3 Ps Framework: Prepare Prior to Promotion

 
To fix this, we need a proactive approach that builds manager readiness before a promotion takes place. That’s where the 3 Ps framework comes in. 

Prepare Prior to Promotion means that companies invest in training, coaching, experience, and support well in advance of handing someone the reins. 

Structured Pre-Promotion Training

Before a rep is promoted, they should complete a program designed specifically for future frontline leaders. That program should go beyond soft skills and focus on: 

• Managing people, setting expectations, and holding team members accountable 
• Coaching effectively and consistently 
• Making decisions with team performance and business impact in mind 
• Simulating real-world challenges and working through solutions 
• Learning through mentorship from experienced leaders who can model strong leadership 

Practical Leadership Readiness

Theory and concepts are critical, but practice makes the difference. That’s why practical exposure should be part of any leadership prep program. 

• Shadowing top-performing sales managers to learn from observation (with checklists, rather than random observation – think: structured on-the-job training) 
• Leading parts of team meetings or pipeline reviews with coaching, while being observed and coached afterward 
• Taking on a temporary leadership role through a relief assignment (more on this shortly) 
• Receiving feedback and debriefing with senior leaders 

These experiences provide the confidence, context, and clarity that reps need before taking on the full responsibilities of a manager. 

Post-Promotion Support and Ongoing Development

Even when preparation is solid, new managers benefit from continued support. Ongoing development should include: 

• Regular check-ins to assess leadership effectiveness 
• Deeper training on coaching, tailored to real-world challenges 
• Peer discussions and facilitated feedback 
• Executive mentorship to broaden perspective and accelerate growth 

This structure – training, practice, coaching, and support – sets new managers up to succeed, not struggle. 

Sales Management Foundations: A Practical Pathway

To help companies implement the 3 Ps, I am creating a program called Sales Management Foundations. This training is built specifically for first-time or early-career sales managers, and it’s designed to be used either before or at the point of promotion. (Although, I do believe many seasoned managers could benefit from the course, too, especially if they did not receive training prior to or post-promotion.) 

The structure follows a virtual hybrid model, making it both scalable and practical. Whether or not you invest in my program, I’ll share some of the design thinking, which you can model. Here’s what it looks like. 

The Virtual Hybrid Model: A Modern, Scalable Solution

Traditional classroom training has value, but it doesn’t scale easily. It’s costly, time-consuming, and often disconnected from day-to-day sales realities. 

That’s why Sales Management Foundations combines asynchronous learning with live interaction in a virtual hybrid model. It gives learners what they need in a way they can manage and allows them to absorb and apply the learning over time. Despite the fact that it’s often ignored, we know this is how humans learn.  

Key Elements of the Learning Design

• Self-paced eLearning delivers core knowledge in a flexible format. (7 video modules) 
• Content Summaries make reviewing and reinforcing learning easy. There’s a content summary for each module.  
• Worksheets help learners prepare to apply what they’re learning to real scenarios. There are one or more worksheets per module.  
• Assignments give learners a chance to prepare for workshops or meet with their manager.  
• Live Virtual Workshops allow for peer discussion, Q&A (both ways), skill-building, exercises, and role plays. 
• Real-world Application brings the learning full circle. 

Most importantly, as you can see from the above, the training strategically involves the learner’s current manager. Several of the assignments direct the learner to meet with their manager to discuss certain concepts, seek clarity on how they apply at their company, and cement expectations and foster alignment. We also encourage the leader to take the course, so they can speak the same language and coach appropriately. But even when that’s not possible, the Content Summaries and Worksheets provide the content for the leader, as well.  

The Role of the Manager/Leader in the Learning Process

That manager involvement is a critical part of this program and should be a part of yours. The training prompts structured touchpoints between the learner and their manager, including: 

• Setting clear expectations and goals 
• Having open Q&A conversations to connect training to real-world challenges 
• Reviewing assignments together to reinforce learning 
• Ensuring the learner knows how the content applies in their company and to their role 
• Providing coaching and feedback throughout the program 

When leaders take an active role in the new or upcoming manager’s training, the entire process becomes more relevant, more applied, and more sustainable. It also allows the leader to coach the new manager more effectively.  

Relief Assignments: Testing Readiness in the Real World

One of the most effective tools in the preparation toolkit is the relief assignment. This is not built-into my course because it may not apply universally but relief assignments can be bolted on very easily. This is when a high-potential rep steps into a manager role temporarily. It’s often while their manager or another is on vacation (hence the term “relief assignment”) but can also occur when the normal manager is there and observing to provide feedback and coaching.  

How Relief Assignments Work

• They run team meetings, manage the pipeline, approve deals, and address team issues. 
• A high-potential employee takes on the responsibilities of their manager for a defined period. 
• When the manager returns (or observes), they debrief the experience and provide detailed feedback. 

Why Relief Assignments Are Valuable

• They provide hands-on experience with real consequences and decisions. 
• The temporary nature allows for learning and correction without long-term risk. 
• Managers get a direct view into the employee’s readiness and mindset. 

Relief assignments allow companies to see how someone performs in the seat before putting them there permanently. That insight is invaluable. 

Closing Thoughts: The Case for Sales Manager Readiness 

The costs of promoting without preparation are clear. So are the benefits of doing it right. Organizations that invest in pre-promotion training and practical experience see: 

• Higher retention and lower first-year manager turnover 
• Increased team engagement and performance 
• Better forecasting and more accurate pipelines 
• Faster ramp-up and improved time-to-effectiveness 
• More consistent revenue results 

The 3 Ps framework – Prepare Prior to Promotion – is a straightforward, proven way to reduce failure risk and build a strong, sustainable leadership pipeline. 

Sales Management Foundations is one way to put this framework into action. It was built for exactly this purpose: to prepare rising sales leaders for success before they step into management roles. 

If you’re tired of rolling the dice with unprepared managers and want to set your sales organization up for consistent performance, now is the time to act. Prepared managers build stronger teams. Stronger teams produce better results. And better results mean a healthier, more resilient business.  

This post was originally published as a LinkedIn newsletter, which you can find here.