FROM THE PRACTITIONER'S DESK · COLUMNFIRST 30 DAYS

Why I ask new managers to change nothing in week one

A new manager is expected to show results fast. The fastest way to lose the team is to change the process before you know why it looks the way it does.

In the first week you do not yet know which rules protect a deal and which only protect a habit. Both look the same from the outside. A weekly meeting that feels too long may be the only place where two sellers share what they know about a big account. A CRM field nobody fills in may be the one the owner reads every Friday.

So in week one, collect facts. Sit in on calls. Ask each seller where their deals stall and what they would change if it were up to them. Write the answers down without arguing with them. Talk to the owner about what should be true on day 30 and on day 90.

Three stacks of index cards with tabs for 30, 60 and 90 days
Day 30, day 60, day 90. Decide what goes in each stack after week one, not before

What changes in week two

By then you can name one thing that costs the team deals, and you know who will resist the fix and why. Change that one thing. Leave the rest for the 30-day review.

PLANKnow why each rule exists before you touch it
FACTIn my experience, many new managers change things in the first days
NEXT STEP ON MONDAYAsk every seller where deals stall. Write it down
The “Fact” above is the author's observation, not a measured statistic.

All answers and guides

GUIDE The sales manager’s report: answer with numbers, not impressionsStart with five numbers, keep the definitions fixed and end every weekly review with a decision, an owner and a due date. 6 MIN READ ANSWER How long should a one-to-one be?Start with 30 minutes, once a week, at the same time for each seller. Once a seller is settled, or the team grows past eight, meet every second week. Each one-to-one ends with one action the seller finishes before the next. 3 MIN READ ANSWER How long until a new seller is productive?Plan for the learning time plus one full sales cycle. A new seller’s first own deal cannot close faster than your deals usually do. Write down what productive means and check it at days 30, 60 and 90. 3 MIN READ ANSWER How many deals should you review in a pipeline review?Review only the stuck deals: no next step, a step with no date or an overdue one, a passed decision date, or two weeks without a reply from the customer. In a 45-minute review, start with a cap of seven deals at about five minutes each, and test the cap on your own team. 3 MIN READ ANSWER How to answer “too expensive” without a discountBefore you answer, ask: “Compared with what?” Answer the comparison the customer names and cut scope before you cut price. A concession follows a written rule, and the customer gives something back for it. Every price conversation ends with a next step and the customer's decision date. 3 MIN READ ANSWER How to forecast next month's sales in a small teamBuild the forecast up from the deals and show the gap to the target openly. Clean the pipeline first. List the active deals that have an amount and a decision date next month, and sort them into three versions: cautious, base and good. Check the result against win rate and pipeline coverage, then send it to the owner with the assumptions written out. 4 MIN READ ANSWER How to plan a new seller’s first weekGive the first week a written plan with one goal per day, a named mentor and a check on Friday. By the end of the week the new seller knows the product, the deal stages and the next-step rule, and has listened to real conversations. 3 MIN READ ANSWER How to split leads between sellersChoose the simplest assignment rule that matches how inquiries arrive: by channel, by region, by turn or by deal size. A lead has one owner at a time, and each seller has a backup named by first name. Once a week, a CRM list of leads with no owner or no contact shows where the rule leaks. 3 MIN READ ANSWER What a new sales manager does in the first weekIn the first week, collect facts and change nothing. Listen to real calls and ask each seller where deals stall. Follow three live deals and agree with the owner what should be true on day 30 and day 90. 3 MIN READ ANSWER What is a good lead response time?A good response time is one your team keeps every working day. Start from your own median for the last two weeks and set a standard per channel. Treat any faster target as a hypothesis and test it against your conversion. 3 MIN READ ANSWER What goes on a weekly sales meeting agenda?Keep it to 30 minutes in a fixed order: numbers for five minutes, stuck deals for fifteen, decisions and owners for ten. Read the same seven numbers, decide on the deals stuck longest, then check last week's decisions and write the new ones with an owner and a date. 3 MIN READ ANSWER What to write in a first reply policyA first reply policy fits on one page. Each channel gets its working hours, its reply time, the person who replies, the backup and the after-hours rule. Below that you write what counts as a reply and what the first message contains, and how the team checks the policy every week. 3 MIN READ ANSWER Which sales numbers should you check every week?Check seven numbers the team can change this week: new inquiries, reply on time, conversations and meetings, proposals, deals with a step and a date, sales and overdue. Write one definition for each, agree how a sale counts, and read them on the same day every week. 3 MIN READ GUIDE How to measure a small sales team’s performanceTrack seven numbers every week and three more once a month, each with a one-sentence definition and a fixed cut-off time. Compare each seller with their own past weeks, show how many deals every rate rests on, and drop any number nobody acts on. 6 MIN READ GUIDE How to run a pipeline review in 45 minutesBring only the stuck deals and ask the same three questions about each. Every deal leaves with one decision: move it, fix it or close it. Write each decision as one line with an owner and a date, and open that list first next week. 7 MIN READ GUIDE How to set up a weekly sales rhythmStart with one 30-minute weekly meeting, a short set of numbers with written definitions and a list of decisions with owners and dates. Keep exactly that for four weeks. One-to-ones come in the second month, and anything else after them. 6 MIN READ GUIDE How to write a sales onboarding planWrite the plan before the seller arrives: one goal each for days 30, 60 and 90, a named mentor for every skill and three dated checkpoints where you look at real calls and deals. Judge progress by what the seller can now do alone, and leave invented quotas out of it. 7 MIN READ
THE 14-DAY EMAIL SERIES

Seven practical emails for your first weeks

We send the planner (or your result) to this address. We never sell or share your email.

Related

HANDBOOK I · CHAPTER 1What to learn before you change anything FREEFirst 30 days planner FREEFirst-week talk with the owner