You Still Close Every Big Deal. That's the Problem.

Watch your next big deal. Your rep runs the first call, sends the quote, books the follow-up. Then the buyer goes quiet, or pushes on price, and the rep is at your door asking you to jump on the call. You do. You save it. You usually do.

That is the trap. If a deal stops being winnable the second you step out of it, you do not have a sales team. You have one seat that closes, and everyone else feeds it.

What it costs you

It costs you twice. Your reps stay stuck at the same level, because the part of selling that makes them better, asking for the business when it is hard, is the part you keep taking off them. And you never get a clean week. The revenue is tied to your diary, and your diary is full. Try to take five days off and you can feel the month wobble.

What a sales manager does about it

The answer is not you closing faster. It is moving the close onto the rep on purpose, deal by deal, and coaching them through it instead of covering for them. A few things make that work.

• Keep the deal with the rep who started it. Simple rule, and it is the first one owners break. Sit in if you want. Brief them before, debrief after. But the rep runs the call and the rep asks for the order. The second you take the phone it is your deal again, and they have learned nothing.
• Plan the hard call before it happens. Most reps freeze at the same two moments: the price push and the stall. Sit down first and work out what the buyer is really worried about, and the words the rep will say when it lands. A rep who has rehearsed the answer stops reaching for you.
• Go with them, then get out of the way. On the first few big ones you sit in and keep quiet, even when you want to jump in. Afterwards you pick one thing to fix, not ten. A handful of reps later, they close the next one without you and tell you about it after.

I have sat with owners who swore only they could close their top accounts. The first month off the phone is uncomfortable. Then a rep lands one the owner was sure they would have lost, and you watch the ceiling move.

What good looks like

You see it in small things first. A deal closes and your name is nowhere on it. A rep stops forwarding you the awkward calls. You look at the week ahead and you are not booked into every big meeting. The month still lands when you are out for a few days. That is the job done.

Keep reading: your sales team has no manager, and it shows, or see more from the GoStartr blog.