This morning I attended the APAC B2B Marketing Leaders Forum at Doltone House in Sydney. I was one of only a handful of sales leaders in the room which, in itself, tells you something.

During the panel I spoke on (”B2B Tech ABX: Making Buyers Feel Something - at Scale”), I asked the audience who was in sales. A few tentative hands were raised. I pushed back suggesting that everyone in that room works for a company that exists to generate revenue. We’re all in sales. The silence that followed was deafening.

Here’s what else I took away.

AI is being dramatically undersold

Speaker after speaker talked about using AI to automate the mundane. Free up the team. Take the boring stuff off their plate. Don’t get me wrong - I get it, but this framing fundamentally undersells what’s in front of us.

AI isn’t just a productivity hack for process-heavy work. It’s a transformation lever for the entire marketing function. It can help rethink how you understand buyers, how you create and distribute insight, how you influence purchase decisions before a prospect ever raises their hand. If your AI ambition stops at “automate the admin,” you’re bringing a calculator to a chess match.

The relay race is broken - and customers have already left the track

Here’s the metaphor that kept coming back to me today. Marketing and Sales are running a relay race. Marketing runs its leg, passes the baton to the SDR, who books the meeting and passes it to Sales, who takes it home. When revenue doesn’t follow, Sales blames the quality of the baton. Marketing blames Sales for dropping it. And the SDR (often the most junior, least experienced person on the team) is left holding responsibility for the most consequential handoff in the entire revenue cycle.

Meanwhile, the customer has already finished the race without us.

The harsh reality is that most buyers today, empowered by their own research and increasingly by AI, arrive at a vendor shortlist before they engage with any vendor. They’re not waiting for your nurture sequence. They’re not responding to your MQL-triggering whitepaper download. By the time your SDR makes contact, the shortlist may already be set. And yet we handed that first human impression, often with a senior enterprise buyer, to an early-career SDR armed with a script and a sequence tool.

We don’t need to run the relay better. We need a different race format entirely.

The new battleground - Answer Engine Optimisation

If buyers are forming their shortlist before they ever talk to you, the question becomes how are they forming it, and where are you showing up?

Increasingly, the answer is AI. Buyers are typing their problems into ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini and getting back synthesised vendor recommendations. This is before they’ve visited your website, read your content, or spoken to your SDR. This is Answer Engine Optimisation, and most B2B marketing teams don’t have a playbook for it yet.

SEO was about getting found in search. AEO is about being recommended by AI. The rules are different. The content that wins isn’t keyword-optimised landing pages. Instead it’s authoritative, substantive, genuinely useful material that AI models learn to trust and reference. If your brand isn’t showing up in the answers your buyers are getting from AI, you’re not losing at the bottom of the funnel. You’re not in the race at all.

This is where I’d be placing serious bets if I were running a marketing function today.

The metrics misalignment is costing everyone

Marketing teams in that room today are being measured on MQLs, impressions, hand raises, and downloads. These are activity metrics. They measure motion, not momentum.

If Marketing and Sales don’t share accountability for pipeline and revenue, they are on different teams. The inevitable result is the blame cycle I described above.

Here’s a simple question for you - is your Marketing team in the room when Sales reviews pipeline? In most organisations I’ve seen, the answer is no. That’s not a relationship problem. That’s a design and cultural problem.

Buying groups are nothing new, but finally getting real attention

There was significant discussion today on buying groups. I’ll be honest though - the concept surprised no one. Buying groups have always existed. What is changing is the recognition that each member of that group needs a differentiated message, calibrated to their role they play in the buying decision. The CFO, the end user, the champion, IT, the blocker - they’re not reading the same playbook, and neither should you.

The agent question nobody can answer

There’s real anxiety in the room about fully agentic marketing. The idea that AI agents will eventually handle the entire buying process with no human in the loop. I don’t think anyone has a clean answer yet. But the question itself is clarifying. If a human isn’t in the loop, what uniquely human value were they adding in the first place? That’s the harder conversation.

One thing I’d do differently

I shared this on stage today and I’ll say it again here. If I had my time over as MD, I would have invested far more in uplevelling the SDR function.

We handed the responsibility of first human contact with a prospective customer (often an enterprise account) to the most junior, least tenured, least experienced person on the team. Then we wondered why the customer experience at the top of funnel didn’t match our brand promise.

That’s not a people problem. That’s a strategic misalignment between where we invested and what we said we valued.

In summary

The B2B buying journey is being rewritten. The question isn’t whether Marketing and Sales need to change. It’s whether they’ll do it together, or keep blaming each other for the gap.

I know which approach will move faster

Here’s my controversial opinion:

Most sales leaders aren’t bad at accountability, they were simply never taught how to drive it properly.

How come?

We promote our best sellers into leadership positions

We hand them a CRM, a forecast call, and a sales quota

Then we act surprised when performance becomes inconsistent and unpredictable

The truth is, many sales leaders have never been trained in a repeatable accountability operating system.

That’s where RPA comes in - Results, Pipeline, Activity. A framework popularised by Mike Weinberg that quietly exposes one of the biggest gaps in modern sales leadership. I came across this very late in my sales career having been handed Mike’s book “Sales Management Simplified” as a precursor to a discussion at HubSpot on driving greater sales accountability. I only wish I had come across this sooner - it could have made a massive impact.

Why Sales Leadership Feels Harder Than It Should

Look at most sales organisations and you’ll see the same patterns emerge:

• Endless CRM reports and dashboards providing little clarity

• Forecast calls that feel like negotiations with Reps and Managers to deliver more revenue than they are forecasting

• 1:1s that drift between therapy and tactics

• Sales activity celebrated while sales outcomes disappoint

This isn’t incompetence. Most leaders were taught what to inspect — not the order in which to inspect it. The truth is that sequence matters.

Results: The Starting Point Leaders Rarely Start With

RPA insists that every conversation begins with results. Not effort; not intent; not context. Just sales results - pure and simple.

This alone is confronting for many leaders. Not because it’s harsh, but because they were never taught to anchor conversations this way.

However when results are clear:

• Emotions decrease

• Arguments disappear

• Conversations speed up

If results are strong, great - reinforce this with the rep and move on. If they’re not, the framework tells you exactly where to go next. Pipeline.

Pipeline: The Missing Skill in Most Leadership Toolkits

Here’s the uncomfortable reality:

Most sales leaders were never trained to properly inspect pipeline quality.

Sur they can review a dashboard. Sure they can run a forecast call. But they struggle to answer:

• Is this pipeline genuine?

• Is it enough to make/exceed sales quota?

• Is it progressing in the right manner?

• Will it convert in the timelines required?

RPA makes pipeline inspection unavoidable - and it turns “future risk” into something visible weeks or months earlier.

That’s not micromanagement. That’s leadership.

Activity: Why It’s Misused Everywhere

Because leaders lack a structured model, activity becomes the default lever.

Number of calls; number of emails sent; number of customer meetings held.

RPA flips this on its head. Activity is discussed only when results and pipeline demand it.

This single shift eliminates:

• Micromanagement

• Defensive reps

• Busywork disguised as productivity

It also teaches leaders how to coach behaviour with precision - not guesswork.

The Real Gap in Sales Leadership

The biggest issue in sales leadership today isn’t mindset. It’s method.

Most sales leaders:

• Were never taught how to run effective accountability conversations

• Inherited poor models from their own managers

• Confuse coaching with clarity

• Confuse empathy with structure

RPA fills that gap with a simple, teachable operating rhythm. And once sales leaders see it, they rarely go back.

A Provocation for Sales Leaders

Ask yourself:

• Could I clearly explain my accountability model to my team?

• Do my 1:1s follow a consistent structure each time?

• Do I know early when a month/quarter is at risk?

• Was I ever formally trained to run these conversations? Or did I just figure it out?

If you were never taught this, you’re not alone. But now you know it exists.

Sales leadership doesn’t break down because leaders don’t care. It breaks down because no one ever taught them a better system.

At Growth Getters, I work with VPs , Sales Directors and Managers who want to professionalise and operationalise sales leadership, not just motivate sales teams. I help leaders:

• Install a clear accountability operating system (including RPA)

• Upgrade 1:1s, pipeline reviews and forecast discipline

• Reduce surprises, noise and emotion in sales conversations

• Build leadership capability that scales beyond individual talent

If you’re running a sales team and were never formally taught how to run accountability conversations - you’re exactly who I work with. Message me directly at dan@growthgetters.com.au for an initial confidential discussion.

In technology sales, everything revolves around the number. Monthly targets, weekly forecasts, regular pipeline councils, deal reviews — sales leaders live in a cycle of pressure and performance expectations.

But here’s the paradox: while sales leaders spend most of their time coaching others, very few have someone coaching them. The result? Burnout, stalled growth, lower motivation, and leaders who hit the wall just when their teams need them most.

The truth is simple: if you’re a tech sales leader, you need a coach just as much as, if not more than, your reps do!

The Hidden Pressure of Tech Sales Leadership

Every tech sales leader knows that quota pressure doesn’t disappear when you get promoted — it just changes form.

• Sales Managers are expected to drive performance through their sales reps while constantly balancing hiring, new rep onboarding, pipeline reviews, and performance management.

• Directors face the dual challenge of managing managers while delivering consistent growth across teams.

• VPs and Heads of Sales carry the responsibility for predictable revenue at scale — often under the scrutiny of CRO’s, CEO’s, boards and investors.

Each step up the ladder magnifies the expectations. Leaders are asked to be visionaries, motivators, strategists, and number-crushers all at once. Unlike frontline reps, however, sales leaders rarely get structured development and support. Many sales leaders operate in isolation, without an outlet to test ideas, discuss challenges, or sharpen their leadership craft.

This isolation is dangerous. Over time, it can erode decision-making, fuel stress, and ultimately impact the team’s performance.

Why Leaders Rarely Get Coached

Despite these pressures, many tech sales leaders don’t actively seek coaching. Why?

1. The stigma of coaching. Coaching is often perceived as remedial — targeted at under-performers rather than high achievers.

2. Focus on “managing down.” Companies invest heavily in training reps but rarely extend that investment upward to Managers and beyond.

3. Lack of time. Sales leaders are so consumed with their team hitting the number that their own personal development falls to the bottom of the list.

4. Ego and pride. Sales leaders may feel they “should” have all the answers by now. Asking for help can feel like admitting weakness.

The irony is that the very people responsible for developing others often neglect their own growth.

The ROI of Coaching for Tech Sales Leaders

Coaching is not a “nice to have” — it’s a driver for growth. The best tech companies in the world recognise that leadership coaching pays dividends across the organisation.

• Higher team performance. Studies consistently show that leaders who receive coaching are better at driving quota attainment across their teams. A stronger leader means stronger reps - it’s that simple!

• Strategic clarity. Coaching helps leaders shift from tactical firefighting to long-term strategic thinking — essential for scaling tech organisations.

• Improved retention. The old adage is true - sales reps don’t leave companies, they leave Managers. Leaders who are supported and self-aware create environments where sales talent thrives.

• Culture multiplier. Coached leaders model growth and a growth mindset, setting the tone for the entire sales culture.

Investing in leadership coaching doesn’t just benefit the sales leader — it cascades down through the entire revenue organisation.

From Quota to Coaching – The Mindset Shift

Making the leap from “quota-obsessed leader” to “coached leader” requires a shift in mindset.

Instead of seeing coaching as remedial, high-performing tech sales leaders understand it’s really about growth. Coaching provides:

• Perspective. A trusted sounding board who has been in the trenches and can help separate noise from signal.

• Accountability. Someone who challenges you to stick to your commitments and sharpen your decision-making.

• Clarity. A structured space to step back from the whirlwind and focus on what truly moves the needle.

• Confidence. With coaching, leaders don’t just execute strategies — they own them with conviction.

The leaders who embrace coaching don’t just hit the number — they build systems, people, and cultures that deliver consistent growth.

Practical Next Steps for SaaS Leaders

If you’re leading a sales team today, here are a few ways to start shifting from quota to coaching:

1. Acknowledge the need. Recognise that coaching is a strength, not a weakness. The best athletes in the world have coaches — why wouldn’t the best sales leaders?

2. Explore options. Internal mentors, external executive coaches, peer groups — each offers different value. The key is finding someone who understands the tech sales motion that can partner with you on your development.

3. Choose experience over theory. Look for a coach with proven experience scaling tech sales teams. Generic leadership advice won’t cut it when you’re navigating high growth expectations, go-to-market complexity, and a changing technology landscape.

4. Start small. You don’t necessarily need a six-month program to see impact. Even a short focused coaching session can unlock an insight that shifts performance immediately.

5. Commit to growth. Block time for coaching and treat it as non-negotiable. Your future self (and your team) will thank you.

Conclusion

Quota will always matter in tech sales leadership. But the leaders who thrive in the long run understand that hitting the number is only part of the job. Leading with clarity, developing future leaders, and building resilient, high-performing teams requires support.

That’s where coaching comes in. And that is the reason why I created Growth Getters - to help tech sales leaders accelerate growth through coaching.

If you’re a tech sales leader ready to explore what coaching could look like for you, I’d love to talk.

Stepping into a sales manager role in technology is both exciting and daunting at the same time. You’re no longer just responsible for your own quota — now you carry the weight of your team. Targets are higher, the pressure is relentless, and expectations from leadership never slow down.

The best tech sales managers know how to balance hitting the number with building a strong, scalable team. But many fall into the same traps that stall performance and frustrate their reps.

Here are the five most common mistakes tech sales managers make — and, more importantly, how to address them.

Mistake 1: Acting Like a Super Rep

Many first-time managers were top-performing reps. It’s tempting to step in, take over deals, and show the team “how it’s done.” The problem? This creates dependency, stifles growth, lowers rep motivation and frankly, leaves you exhausted.

Fix: Shift from doing to coaching.

• Instead of jumping into calls to close deals yourself, sit in to provide feedback.

• Leverage role plays and call reviews to sharpen your reps skills.

• Celebrate team wins over personal heroics.

Great managers create environments where reps succeed on their own - not because the manager bailed them out.

Mistake 2: Managing Metrics, Not People

Dashboards, forecasts, pipeline reports — data is everywhere in tech. Many managers obsess over numbers at the expense of the humans behind them. This often breeds resentment and disengagement.

Fix: Balance metrics with motivation.

• Metrics matter, but they’re outputs. Focus on the inputs: activity quality, skill development and importantly, rep mindset.

• Have regular 1:1s that go beyond pipeline metrics — ask about challenges, career goals, home life and personal wins.

• Show that you value reps as people, not just as quota-carrying machines.

When reps feel seen and supported, the numbers typically follow.

Mistake 3: Avoiding Tough Conversations

Sales managers often avoid difficult conversations to keep morale high, hoping to prevent destabilising their relationships with their reps. In doing this, underperformance lingers, bad habits spread, and high performers lose patience.

Fix: Lead with candour and care.

• Address issues early, directly, and with respect. I am a big fan of Brenee Brown‘s mantra - “Clear Is Kind. Unclear Is Unkind”.

• Use frameworks like “Situation → Impact → Expectation” to keep feedback clear and actionable.

• Make it a dialogue, not a monologue - listen as much as you talk.

Strong managers don’t shy away from conflict. They handle it constructively so their team can grow.

Mistake 4: Neglecting Coaching

Many managers confuse “managing” with “coaching.” They run meetings, conduct deal reviews, review pipelines, and send action reminders — but don’t invest in skill development. Over time, teams plateau.

Fix: Make coaching a non-negotiable.

• Block weekly coaching time into your calendar.

• Focus on 2–3 high-leverage skills (e.g. discovery, objection handling, closing).

• Use recorded calls to give specific, practical feedback.

The best tech managers are remembered not for their spreadsheets, but for how they developed their people.

Mistake 5: Failing to Think Strategically

Under pressure, managers often get stuck in the weeds: chasing deals, updating forecasts, putting out fires. This short-term focus prevents them from building systems that scale.

Fix: Carve out time for strategy.

• Dedicate at least 10–20% of your week to longer-term thinking.

• Ask: “What’s broken in our sales process? Where are we consistently losing deals? How can I help my reps get 10% better?”

• Build repeatable frameworks so your team isn’t reinventing the wheel every month.

Great managers don’t just react - they anticipate.

Bringing It All Together

Becoming a great tech sales manager isn’t about being the best closer in the room. It’s about empowering others, balancing people with performance, and building scalable systems for growth.

Avoiding these five mistakes won’t just improve your team’s numbers - it will also set you apart as a leader worth following.

Call to Action

If you’re a tech sales manager struggling with these challenges, you’re not alone. Almost every tech sales manager I’ve worked with has faced at least one of them.

The good news? With the right coaching, you too can develop the skills and mindset to avoid these pitfalls and lead with confidence. It’s why I created Growth Getters - to help tech sales leaders drive growth through effective coaching.

Artificial intelligence isn’t coming - it’s already here. From pipeline scoring to call analysis, AI is reshaping how tech sales leaders sell, forecast, and coach.

But while much of the conversation focuses on automation and productivity, the real story here is leadership. AI is transforming the skills and mindset that define great sales leaders.

The future of tech sales won’t belong to those who resist AI - it will belong to those who learn to lead with it.

The New Reality: AI Is Eating Sales Process, Not Sales Leadership

AI is already changing how tech sales teams operate day-to-day:

• Prospecting is automated through AI-driven lead research and outreach tools.

• Forecasting is powered by predictive analytics that spot risk long before humans do.

• Enablement tools surface tailored learning paths and deal insights instantly.

But here’s the catch: AI can’t replace judgment, trust, or culture.

Great leaders don’t fear AI replacing them - they use it to elevate their impact. They see AI as an assistant that handles the repetitive tasks, freeing them to focus on what only humans can do: build belief, drive accountability, and inspire performance.

Key takeaway: AI can handle process. Leadership remains human, always.

The Next Evolution: AI-Driven BDRs and SDRs

The traditional BDR/SDR function is being quietly transformed by AI. CRM apps such as HubSpot can already:

• Research prospects in seconds.

• Write hyper-personalised outreach at scale.

• Score intent data with near-human nuance.

In addition, AI-driven SDRs are now capable of conducting initial prospect conversations - qualifying interest, scheduling meetings, even handling objections - with remarkable personalisation and accuracy.

Does that mean humans are out of the picture? Not at all. It means human BDRs must evolve - focusing less on repetitive outreach, and more on strategic engagement, narrative development, and account intelligence.

For leaders, the challenge is rethinking the BDR-to-AE model and resourcing ratios. AI will take over the volume, while humans take over the value.

Key takeaway: The future of pipeline generation will be human-directed but AI-powered.

The Rise of the Augmented Seller

For account reps, AI is the new multiplier.

Administrative tasks like CRM updates, prospect research, and proposal drafting are being automated. But the next big leap is the AI-driven solution engineer (SE) - virtual copilots that can join customer meetings, demo products, and surface technical answers in real time.

Imagine every sales rep having a digital SE who:

• Summarises a client’s tech stack before a meeting.

• Auto-generates tailored ROI models mid-call.

• Provides live recommendations on functional and technical objection handling.

That’s not science fiction - it’s happening now.

Leaders who embrace these tools will see their sellers achieve 2–3x productivity gains. The key isn’t replacing humans, it’s multiplying their capability through AI augmentation.

Key takeaway: The leaders who empower “AI-augmented reps” will outscale those who try to hire their way to growth.

Coaching in the Age of AI

If there’s one area where AI is already reshaping sales leadership, it’s coaching.

Modern call intelligence tools can analyse hundreds of hours of conversations, surface key themes, and even flag coaching moments. They tell you which reps talk too much, who asks great discovery questions, and where deals get stuck in the sales funnel.

But data on it’s own isn’t enough. A coach can use AI to see where a rep struggles, but only a human can help them change. Empathy, context, and encouragement can’t be automated.

The best tech leaders will use AI insights to personalise their coaching - giving each sales rep feedback that’s data-informed but emotionally intelligent.

Key takeaway: AI gives you information. Leadership turns it into transformation.

AI Role-Playing: The New Frontier in Sales Leadership Development

One of the most exciting frontiers is AI-powered role-playing for sales leaders. AI can now simulate realistic sales scenarios - from tense boardroom reviews to high-stakes customer negotiations - allowing leaders to practise critical conversations in a safe environment.

Examples include:

• Running simulated one-on-ones with an AI “rep” who pushes back on feedback.

• Practising difficult conversations with under performing reps.

• Navigating budget or pricing objections with AI “customers.”

This changes leadership development entirely. Instead of waiting for real-world challenges, leaders can train like athletes - practising, refining, and improving decision-making under pressure.

Key takeaway: The future of sales leadership training will be interactive, personalised, and powered by AI simulation.

The End of Guesswork: Forecasting Gets Predictive

Forecasting has always been a blend of art and science - part intuition, part spreadsheet, part bottoms up deal forecasting. AI is changing that.

Predictive systems now analyse thousands of data points across the funnel to identify which deals are truly likely to close. They detect early risk signals, weighting human behaviour (like email cadence and response times) alongside deal stage progression.

For leaders, this means two things:

1. Sales forecasts will become far more accurate.

2. Excuses will disappear.

But AI forecasting doesn’t absolve leaders of responsibility - it raises the bar. The new skill isn’t guessing the number; it’s interpreting why the model says what it does and taking steps to remedy it.

Key takeaway: The best leaders won’t blindly trust AI predictions — they’ll challenge them with insight and context.

The Human Advantage: What AI Can’t Replace

For all its sophistication, AI lacks one thing that defines great sales leadership: emotional intelligence.

AI can’t read the energy in a room, sense hesitation on a call, or inspire belief when a sales quarter goes sideways. It can’t build culture, handle conflict, or mentor someone through a career inflection point.

As AI takes over the mechanics of selling, the most valuable skills in sales leadership will be distinctly human:

• Empathy and trust-building.

• Clear and direct communication.

• Creative problem-solving.

• Decision-making under uncertainty.

• The ability to motivate and inspire others to perform.

In other words, the more technology advances, the more human great leaders must become.

Key takeaway: AI can’t replace authenticity, empathy, or trust - and those are the foundations of great sales leadership.

What Great Leaders Are Doing Now

Forward-thinking tech sales leaders aren’t waiting for AI to “arrive” -they’re already adapting. Here’s what they’re doing differently:

1. Up Skilling in AI literacy. Understanding the tools, limits, and benefits of AI in sales.

2. Redefining KPIs. Focusing on quality outcomes and customer value, not just activity.

3. Experimenting intentionally. Running internal pilots for AI-driven SDRs, solution engineers, and coaching assistants.

4. Coaching with AI insights. Combining analytics with empathy.

5. Building future-ready teams. Preparing reps to work with AI, not compete against it.

6. Investing in their own development. Using AI-powered simulations and leadership coaching to refine judgment and presence.

Key takeaway: The best leaders aren’t threatened by AI - they’re leading the transformation.

The Next Era of Tech Sales

AI won’t replace sales leaders. But sales leaders who ignore AI will absolutely be replaced — by those who use it well.

The next generation of tech sales leadership will combine technology fluency with emotional intelligence. AI will handle the data; leaders will handle the meaning.

Those who learn to harness both will build stronger teams, make smarter decisions, and scale faster - not because of AI, but because of what it allows them to focus on: coaching, strategy, and culture.

The leap from Sales Manager to Sales Director is one of the toughest transitions in tech. As a Manager, you’re responsible for coaching reps and hitting a number. As a Director, the game changes: you’re now managing managers, aligning multiple teams, and driving predictable growth under the scrutiny of a range of internal executives.

It’s no longer about running a team - it’s about scaling a sales organisation. And that requires a new playbook altogether!

The New Pressures of Sales Directorship

When you step into a director role, you quickly discover that the challenges shift dramatically:

• Managing managers. Instead of coaching reps, you’re coaching leaders who each have their own leadership maturity, style, strengths, and blind spots.

• Scaling consistency. You’re accountable for making sure process, pipeline discipline, and forecasting accuracy don’t just exist - they work consistently across multiple teams or regions.

• Driving culture at scale. Motivation and engagement become harder to maintain as the organisation grows. You’re responsible for setting the tone that filters through all layers of leadership.

• Increased visibility. Directors are closer to executive leadership. Your results, strategy, and presence are under constant evaluation.

It’s a role that demands both operational rigour and leadership finesse. Without the right approach, directors risk becoming stretched thin, reactive, or overly reliant on a few “hero” managers.

Pillar 1: Build Sales Leadership Capacity

Your success as a director depends less on your personal ability to close deals and more on the strength of the managers reporting to you.

Key actions:

• Coach your managers like you once coached reps. Help them improve their own 1:1s, pipeline councils, deal reviews and coaching sessions.

• Develop future leaders. Identify high-potential reps and managers early, and invest in their development.

• Set clear expectations. Managers need clarity on what “good” leadership looks like - from coaching reps to driving the right sales culture.

Think of yourself as the architect of leadership capacity. Your role is to create sales leaders who can lead without you in the room.

Pillar 2: Scale Consistency

One of the biggest risks at the director level is inconsistency. Different teams, segments or regions may operate with different processes, forecasting approaches, or coaching standards. This makes growth unpredictable.

Key actions:

• Standardise core processes. Ensure pipeline reviews, forecasting, and deal inspections follow a consistent framework. Develop a common sales language to drive clarity.

• Invest in enablement. Align with internal enablement teams to provide managers with the tools and training they need, particularly those that are new in role.

• Create visibility. Use dashboards and scorecards not just to track performance, but to highlight where the process is breaking down. Drive consistent adoption across teams.

Consistency doesn’t mean rigidity. It means creating scalable sales systems that deliver predictability.

Pillar 3: Drive Sales Culture at Scale

Sales culture becomes both more fragile and more important as teams grow. What you tolerate as a Director will define the behaviours of your Managers — and by extension, their sales reps.

Key actions:

• Model values. If you want transparency, coach-ability, and accountability in your teams, you must embody those qualities yourself.

• Communicate often. Don’t rely solely on your managers to cascade messages. Show up in all-hands, QBRs, and important team meetings.

• Recognise wins. Celebrate not only big deals but also behaviours that align with your desired culture. Make sure to reward teams, not just hero sales reps.

As a Director, you are the culture multiplier. Your ability to set the tone and direction will determine whether teams thrive or fracture.

Pitfalls to Avoid

Even seasoned sales leaders stumble when stepping into Director roles. Here are common pitfalls to watch out for:

• Micromanaging managers. If you’re constantly in their deals or second-guessing their decisions, you’re undermining their authority, making them feel disempowered and minimising their impact.

• Short-term focus. Directors who obsess only over this month or this quarter’s sales target miss the chance to build systems that drive sustainable growth. Always have an eye to the future and plan for it accordingly.

• Neglecting personal growth. Directors are often so focused on their managers and teams that they neglect their own development. Your growth mindset doesn’t stop when you reach Director level. Make sure you are getting access to sales leadership coaching too.

How Coaching Supports Directors

Directors sit in a lonely middle ground: too senior to have peers in their immediate circle, but not quite at the executive level. Coaching provides the support and perspective Directors often lack.

Benefits of coaching at the director level:

• Strategic clarity. Step back from the noise and focus on what truly drives growth.

• Leadership presence. Develop the confidence and effective communication style needed to influence executives and board decision making.

• Accountability. A coach challenges you to stay disciplined on both strategic initiatives and leadership behaviours.

• Scalable impact. By improving how you coach managers, you multiply your impact across the entire sales organisation.

Conclusion

Becoming a Sales Director in tech is one of the most rewarding - and challenging - roles in the business. It requires you to evolve from a player-coach into a true organisational leader.

The playbook for success is clear:

• Build leadership capacity.

• Scale consistency.

• Drive sales culture.

Avoid the pitfalls of micromanagement and short-term thinking, and you’ll not only hit the number — you’ll create a sales organisation that can thrive without you in the room.

There’s a distinct moment that every scaling tech company hits.

The product is strong. The market is responding. Revenue’s growing - but it’s getting harder, not easier.

And then sales forecasts start to wobble. Deals start to slip. Sales and Marketing start pointing fingers at each other. And before long, the Founder is back in the deals they thought they’d left behind.

The instinctive reaction? “We need a CRO or Head of Sales.”

But here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Most scaling tech companies don’t actually need a full-time CRO. They need a mature go-to-market system.

The Real Problem Isn’t People- It’s the System

Hiring a CRO too early is like hiring a Formula 1 driver before you’ve built the car.

Even the best CRO will struggle without alignment, rhythm, and process behind the wheel.

When I’m brought into scaling tech businesses through Growth Getters, the same issues appear again and again:

• No unified revenue plan across Marketing, Sales, CS, and Partnerships

• Forecasts built on gut feel instead of data

• Sales processes that depend on heroics, not systems

• Sales reps that aren’t skilled or enabled to navigate complex enterprise deals

• Founders that are spending too much time trying to close deals

• Sales meetings that generate activity - not accountability

• No understanding of the opportunity cost of chasing revenue that is not strategic

A single executive hire can’t fix that. But a Fractional CRO can.

What a Fractional CRO Really Does

A Fractional Chief Revenue Officer provides senior-level commercial leadership - but fractionally.

They embed into the business, align the GTM engine, and install the cadence, process, and leadership rhythm that make growth predictable.

It’s less about titles and more about building the system that future revenue leaders can scale.

The best Fractional CROs focus on four things:

1️⃣ Alignment – Creating one clear revenue plan across all go-to-market teams.

2️⃣ Cadence – Establishing a consistent operating rhythm for pipeline and forecasting.

3️⃣ Scalability – Designing repeatable, data-driven sales motions that outgrow founder-led selling.

4️⃣ Capability – Coaching GTM leaders to perform at the next level.

In short, they turn chaos into cadence.

Why the Model Works

Instead of a $600K+ full-time hire (and months of onboarding), a fractional engagement gives founders access to:

✅ Proven CRO experience at leading tech companies

✅ Strategic clarity, fast

✅ Embedded leadership without long-term overhead

And because the engagement is focused on systems, not symptoms, the impact lasts well beyond the engagement itself.

At Growth Getters, our Fractional CRO model is built around one goal - helping founders and investors build predictable, investor-grade revenue engines that scale sustainably.

The Founder Reality Check

If your GTM is running on heroics instead of habit… If your forecast feels more like fiction than data… If your leadership meetings are reactive, not rhythmic… If you are spending too much of your time closing deals...

You probably don’t need another sales hire. You need a system.

And that’s exactly what a Fractional CRO delivers.

One of the most common debates in tech sales is: Who owns sales pipeline?

Ask ten people, and you’ll get ten different answers. Some point to Marketing - “We need more leads!” Others blame BDRs - “They’re not generating enough quality meetings.” And a few shrug and hope their channel partners come to the rescue.

But here’s the simple truth: 👉 Every sales rep owns their own pipeline.

Marketing, BDRs, and partners are contributors. They’re not owners.

If you carry a quota, you own the number - and by extension, you own the pipeline that drives it.

The Pipeline Ownership Mindset

In my experience , the best performing reps don’t wait for pipeline to appear. They build it. What’s more they treat their sales pipeline like a personal asset - something to be created, nurtured, and grown through multiple channels:

• Marketing: by collaborating on campaigns, not complaining about lead quality.

• Outbound: by outbound prospecting daily, not just when the calendar is empty.

• BDRs: by treating them as partners, not feeders.

• Channel: by leveraging ecosystem opportunities and co-selling smartly.

Average sales reps blame. Great sales reps own and are accountable to themselves.

Pipeline health is a reflection of discipline, creativity, and accountability - not just demand gen budgets.

What This Means for Tech Sales Leaders

If you lead a tech sales team, your job is to make pipeline ownership non-negotiable. Here’s how:

1️⃣ Set clear expectations early. Make it explicit that while marketing and BDRs support pipeline creation, your sales reps are accountable for owning it. No grey areas.

2️⃣ Inspect, don’t accept. Build pipeline reviews into your rhythm. Ask:

• “What new opportunities did you personally source this week?”

• “Where are you collaborating with Marketing, BDRs or Partners to help you?

• “What’s your plan to fill the gaps without pointing fingers at anyone else?”

3️⃣ Coach mindset, not just metrics. Pipeline issues are rarely math problems — they’re mindset problems. Coach your sales reps to think proactively about how they generate demand and take responsibility for it.

4️⃣ Celebrate ownership. Recognise and reward sales reps who create their own opportunities - not just those who close the leads that are handed to them.

What About Marketing’s Role?

Marketing’s role is vital — but it’s enablement, not accountability.

In my experience, great Marketing teams partner with Sales to:

• Define Ideal Customer Profiles (ICP) and aligned messaging.

• Run targeted marketing campaigns.

• Deliver content and air cover to fuel prospect conversations.

But the best sales reps don’t sit back waiting for Marketing. They collaborate, co-create, and feed insights to Marketing from the field.

Pipeline is a team sport - but it’s a sales-owned scoreboard.

The Bottom Line

When a sales rep says, “My pipeline is light because Marketing/BDRs/Partners didn’t deliver,” what they’re really saying is, “I’ve surrendered control.”

At the end of the day, pipeline isn’t something you wait for - it’s something you create.

Great tech sales leaders build teams that own it, grow it, and never outsource responsibility for their success.

I’ve been thinking deeply about how AI will reshape the SaaS industry. Two theories have been bouncing around my head - and I decided to test them by asking ChatGPT itself what it thought.

Theory 1: AI will permanently disrupt SaaS. In the future, the primary user interface won’t be Salesforce, HubSpot, or Asana. It will be AI chat platforms, like ChatGPT, orchestrating work across multiple agents. SaaS applications will recede into the background, serving merely as data stores for enterprise data.

Theory 2: Code is no longer a moat. If anyone can build production-ready software using natural language and AI code generation, then product and engineering cease being barriers to entry. What remains is the ability to design, position, and scale your go-to-market strategy - that’s where real competitive advantage will lie.

Then I Asked ChatGPT What It Thought

AI didn’t just agree - it developed the idea even further. It predicted that the SaaS stack will collapse into three layers:

💬 Interface: Conversational AI and agents that own the user relationship

🧠 Infrastructure: Data stores and APIs that own the context

🚀 GTM Engine: Brand, trust, and ecosystem that own the market

In that future, SaaS companies no longer win by building more features. They win by owning the narrative, orchestrating the ecosystem, and executing faster on customer outcomes.

From Software to Scaling

For the past two decades, SaaS success was defined by engineering excellence. Build a better product, ship it faster, iterate endlessly based on customer feedback and the market would follow.

That era is quickly ending.

AI is flattening the product layer. Every startup now has the tools to build beautiful, functional products in days, not months. The bottleneck is no longer building the product, it’s scaling it.

Which means the real moat shifts from what you make to how you take it to market.

GTM Becomes the New Competitive Advantage

In an AI-driven world, go-to-market mastery will matter more than code. The winners will be those who can:

• Craft a distinct narrative that cuts through the noise.

• Build trust and brand authority faster than competitors.

• Orchestrate distribution channels and ecosystems that amplify reach.

• Turn data into predictable revenue outcomes.

Engineering will always matter - but it will no longer differentiate. Commercial execution will.

The Provocation

Most SaaS companies are still over-investing in product and under-investing in go-to-market. That strategy worked in the pre-AI world - but in this new landscape, it’s a dangerous bet.

If AI commoditises code, your GTM becomes your source of competitive advantage. Your brand becomes the interface. Your ecosystem becomes the product. And your speed of execution becomes the moat.

The Question

So, what happens when the software we sell becomes invisible - and the only thing that matters is how we tell the story, deliver outcomes, and scale trust?

Are you ready for the post-SaaS era?

Last week, I sat across from a senior sales leader who had just resigned from his JAPAC sales leadership role. On paper, he had everything: a prestigious position, strong earnings, and a track record of delivering results. In reality, he was exhausted, physically depleted, and at serious risk to his mental health.

He’s the primary income earner for his family. Two children in private schools; a substantial home mortgage; and a lifestyle built around his earning capacity. Despite knowing he needed to step back and address his burn out, the financial realities meant he felt compelled to find another equally demanding role, and quickly.

His story isn’t unique - because it was also my own.

As a JAPAC sales leader at HubSpot, Salesforce, and DocuSign, I lived this reality for much of my tenure. At times I was traveling half of every year, and when I was home, I was chained to Zoom from 6 AM to 10 PM, often without a break. I was physically present with my family, but not actually present - I was always distracted. On my phone, always checking in and thinking about the next deal.

I struggled to make it work, and like the leader I met last week, eventually had to make a difficult choice about what was sustainable and how I wanted to live my life.

This is the trap many JAPAC sales leaders find themselves in - and it will end up costing us some of our best leadership talent.

Why JAPAC Leadership Is Different

Leading sales teams across JAPAC, presents unique challenges that many outside the region don’t fully appreciate.

The geography spans multiple time zones, meaning calls that work for EMEA or USA often fall at 10 PM or 6 AM for JAPAC leaders. The travel demands are relentless - Tokyo one week, Singapore the next, USA headquarters the week after. Cultural complexity requires different approaches across markets, adding cognitive load to already full days. And the expectation to be available for both local teams during business hours and global leadership outside them, creates an impossible 16-hour workday.

During my time leading JAPAC teams, I regularly took calls at midnight, then woke at 5 AM to prepare for the next day’s forecast and internal meetings. Dinner with my family on a weeknight became a rarity, not the norm. It’s not sustainable.

The Financial Golden Handcuffs

Here’s what makes this particularly insidious: success in these roles creates financial commitments that become very difficult to walk away from. As earnings increase, so do lifestyle choices - private school fees, housing in expensive cities, lifestyle expectations including expensive overseas holidays. What starts as enjoying the fruits of hard work becomes a financial burden that requires maintaining that income level at any cost.

The result? Leaders stay in roles that are destroying them because they can’t see a path that protects their financial obligations while focusing on their health.

Strategies for Breaking the Cycle

After experiencing this myself and working with dozens of senior sales leaders facing similar challenges, I’ve seen several strategies that actually work:

Ruthlessly audit your time commitments. That standing weekly call at 11 PM your local time? Challenge whether you actually need to attend live, or whether you can contribute asynchronously. Map out one week of meetings and calls, then identify which ones truly require your presence versus which are habitual. I’ve seen leaders reclaim 5-8 hours per week through this exercise alone.

Block out personal time and treat it as sacred. This was the game-changer I wish I’d implemented earlier. Put family dinners, exercise, kids’ events, and even “buffer time” in your calendar as immovable appointments. Treat these blocks with the same respect you’d give a customer meeting or a board presentation. When someone tries to schedule over them, you’re “unavailable” - full stop. The reality is that if you don’t protect this time, no one else will. Your calendar reflects your priorities, and if personal time isn’t visible there, it won’t exist.

Negotiate flexibility from the start. If you’re considering a new role, establish boundaries during the interview process, not after you’ve accepted. “I’m available for global calls between 7 AM and 9 PM my local time, with advance notice for exceptions” is a reasonable parameter. Any organisation that won’t accept this isn’t one that will support your long-term success.

Build financial runway before you’re desperate. This is the most important long-term strategy. If you’re currently in a high-earning role, resist lifestyle inflation. Create a financial buffer that gives you options when you need them. Work with a financial advisor to understand what your actual minimum income requirement is versus what you think it is.

Redefine what equivalent means. An “equivalent role” doesn’t have to mean equivalent pay if it means equivalent quality of life. A role earning 70% of your current income but requiring 50% less travel and stress may actually be a better financial decision when you factor in health costs, family impact, and career longevity.

Consider portfolio approaches. Some of the happiest former corporate sales leaders I know have moved to consulting, advisory work, or fractional leadership roles. Three clients at 30-40% time each can generate comparable income with dramatically more control over your schedule and travel. I myself am doing this and have never felt happier nor healthier.

For Organisations: Stop Burning Out Your Best People

If you’re leading sales organisations with JAPAC teams, recognise that you’re likely contributing to this problem:

Record those late-night global calls and make them optional to attend live. Rotate meeting times so the burden isn’t always on JAPAC teams. Budget properly for regional leadership so one person isn’t covering impossible geography. Create explicit expectations around response times that respect local working hours. And measure leadership effectiveness by team results and retention, not by who’s on every call.

Moving Forward

The leader I met with last week is now looking for his next role. He’s talented, experienced, and has a proven track record of success. He’s also exhausted and will likely carry that exhaustion into whatever he does next because he feels he has no choice.

I understand that feeling because I lived it. The transition away from that unsustainable model wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. Today, working as a Fractional CRO and leadership coach, I have the opportunity to help build more sustainable work models while maintaining the work I love without sacrificing my health and family. It was entirely my choice.

We can do better though. As individual leaders, we can make different choices. As organisations, we can design roles that are actually sustainable. And as an industry, we can stop celebrating the “always on” culture that’s burning out our best people.

Because here’s the truth: if your top performers can only succeed by damaging their health and family relationships, you haven’t built a successful sales organisation. You’ve built an unsustainable one.

Last week, I watched a talented professional deliver the presentation of his career -confident, strategic, grounded in deep operational knowledge. He’d worked tirelessly on short notice to articulate his vision for the role he’d essentially been performing unofficially for months. The panel thanked him warmly highlighting the depth of thinking and structure he provided. A week later, he received a brief phone call: they’d “gone in a different direction.” No feedback. No development conversation. Just a polite dismissal.

The harsh reality was that he was never going to get the job. The real decision had been made well before the interview was even scheduled.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Here’s what I think actually happened: A business leader had already identified their preferred candidate. HR insisted on a “process” to ensure fairness and compliance. So several qualified internal candidates were invited to participate in what amounted to organisational theatre - complete with panel interviews, presentations prepared in unrealistic timelines, and the carefully orchestrated appearance of equal and fair consideration.

The preferred candidate? Given additional time to prepare, additional coaching and access to information others didn’t receive.

Meanwhile, my client - who genuinely believed merit would prevail, had invested emotional energy, personal time, and professional capital into a competition that had already been decided.

Why Do We Do This?

I understand the impulse. HR teams are trying to protect organisations from claims of favouritism, nepotism, or discrimination. They’re mitigating legal risk. They’re ensuring documented decision-making processes.

These are absolutely not trivial concerns.

But let’s be honest about what actually happens when we mandate process for process’s sake:

We waste people’s time. Internal candidates invest hours preparing for promotion opportunities that don’t actually exist. Hiring managers sit through interviews they don’t need. HR coordinates logistics for a predetermined outcome. As a result, employees are left feeling disengaged and of lesser value to the organisation.

We damage trust. Smart people can sense when they’re being managed rather than genuinely evaluated. The charade doesn’t fool anyone - it just creates cynicism and in turn, negatively impacts organisational culture.

We create false hope. There’s something particularly cruel about making someone believe they have a genuine shot at advancement when the decision has already been made.

We undermine genuine development. Instead of honest conversations about growth paths and readiness gaps, we offer polite rejections and radio silence. No clear path forward for the candidate.

The Alternative Isn’t Arbitrary Promotion

I’m not arguing for unchecked nepotism or eliminating accountability in hiring decisions. But there’s a middle path between “appoint whomever you want without oversight” and “subject everyone to elaborate performative processes.”

What if we were simply more transparent about how internal promotions actually work?

If a leader has a preferred candidate, they should be required to articulate why - in writing, with specific justification tied to business needs and candidate capabilities. This documentation serves the same protective function as a staged interview process, but without the insulting pretence.

If we’re going to run a genuine competitive process, then make it genuinely competitive. Same preparation time, same access to information, same coaching resources. Real feedback to unsuccessful candidates that helps them understand the gaps and how to close them.

And if a role is essentially a promotion-in-place for someone already doing the work? Just acknowledge it. “Steve has been performing this function effectively for eight months and has demonstrated the capability to lead this team. We’re formalising his position.” Done.

The Cost of Theatre

Every time we run one of these charades, we tell our people that process matters more than substance, that optics matter more than honesty. That we’d rather waste everyone’s time than have a potentially uncomfortable but direct conversation.

The best people in your organisation, the ones you can’t afford to lose, notice this. They remember being made to jump through hoops for roles that were never really available. They watch their colleagues invest in presentations that were never seriously considered. And they adjust their trust in leadership and the organisation itself accordingly.

A Challenge for HR and Business Leaders

The next time you’re tempted to run an internal selection process while already knowing the outcome, ask yourself: What would happen if we were just honest?

Yes, you might have an uncomfortable conversation with someone who feels overlooked. Yes, you might need to clearly articulate your reasoning in a way that stands up to scrutiny. Yes, you might need to provide genuine developmental feedback to people who don’t get the role.

But you’ll also preserve trust, respect people’s time, role model integrity and potentially avoid burning out high performers who gave everything to an opportunity that was never really theirs to win.

The appearance of fairness is not the same as actual fairness. And increasingly, our people know the difference.

Let’s say the quiet part out loud.

Coaching won’t get you promoted. Mentoring won’t put your name on the list. And hard work alone won’t break your orgnisation’s structural inertia.

Only sponsorship does.

Here’s the distinction most leaders tend to avoid because it’s uncomfortable:

• Coaching develops capability

• Mentoring transfers knowledge

• Sponsorship transfers power

And power is what actually moves careers.

Now the part many people don’t want to hear:

👉 You cannot ask for a sponsor. If you do, you’ve already misunderstood the role entirely.

Sponsors find you. They watch how you operate, how fast you learn, how you behave under pressure - and then they decide whether you’re worth risking their reputation on.

My own lesson in sponsorship came early

In my early 20s, I was working at PwC. I gravitated toward an emerging internal technology practice run by a senior partner in Melbourne, Mike James.

This was the mid-90s. Personal computers were just taking off. The world was moving from DOS to Windows. I was young enough - and curious enough - to teach myself how it all worked.

Mike noticed. Not because I asked him to - because of what he saw.

He gave me significant responsibility far earlier than was sensible or safe. At one point, he asked me to lead a major technology transformation across New Zealand and Singapore.

I told him, honestly, that I didn’t think I was ready. His response changed my career:

“I’m deliberately throwing you in the deep end because I know you can swim. And I’ll be standing by the pool the whole time - in case you need a life raft. Somehow though, I doubt you will need me.”

That is sponsorship.

Not protection. Not comfort. Belief paired with risk.

That single decision created the foundation for my career trajectory at PwC. With Mike’s sponsorship, I became the youngest Senior Director the firm had seen at the time.

I didn’t earn that alone. Someone backed me. And I’ve carried that lesson ever since.

Throughout my career, I’ve intentionally looked for emerging talent to sponsor - often female, often vastly underestimated - and done for them what Mike did for me. That’s how you pay it forward.

So how do you know if someone is truly your sponsor?

They will:

• Put your name forward before you feel ready

• Advocate for you when you’re not in the room

• Give you stretch roles, not safe ones

• Attach their reputation to your success

• Tell you the hard truths because failure reflects on them too

If none of that is happening, you don’t have a sponsor - you have supporters.

And if you’re a senior leader reading this, ask yourself something uncomfortable:

Whose reputation are you currently willing to stake your own on?

Because careers aren’t defined by potential. They’re defined by who is willing to stand beside the pool and say “Jump. I’ve got you.”

If you’re a senior leader who believes sponsorship is a responsibility, not a privilege, this is the work I care most about. Through Growth Getters, I help leaders build the confidence, capability, and courage to step into bigger roles - and help organisations create more sponsors, not just mentors.