Nobody warns you.

You get promoted because you were brilliant at the job you're about to stop doing. Then you're handed a team, a number, and a title, and expected to figure the rest out yourself.

I've coached enough tech sales managers now to know this isn't the exception. Unfortunately it's the pattern and it has left a wake of new Managers at breaking point.

The Gap I Keep Seeing

Here's what surprises me every time, even after years of doing this work. Across virtually every tech company I've engaged with, not one has a dedicated enablement program for the AE-to-Manager transition.

Onboarding for reps? Built out in detail. Sales methodology training? Comprehensive. But the moment someone crosses from carrying a quota to leading a team (arguably the highest-stakes transition in the sales career path) the support disappears. The assumption seems to be that if you were good enough to get promoted, you'll figure the rest out.

Some people do. Many don't. And the ones who don't often don't fail loudly - they just quietly burn out, or default to habits that stunt their team's growth for years before anyone names the problem.

The Trap Nobody Names

Left without a system, most new managers do the only thing they know how to do. They keep being the rep. They jump on customer calls. They take over deals. They "show the team how it's done." It is so common it has it's own name - "super repping".

It feels like leadership. It's actually just individual contribution with extra steps and a slower path to burnout.

Underneath it is a harder truth. Managing people isn't a bigger version of selling, it's a different motion entirely. Reading what each person on your team actually needs from you; running a rhythm of one-on-ones and deal reviews that build people up instead of just checking boxes; having the conversation you've been avoiding, because avoiding it is starting to cost you more than having it would.

Nobody trains you how to do this. So you improvise, and the habits you improvise under pressure are rarely the ones that scale.

Why I Built This Course

I created the New Sales Manager Transition course because I kept watching talented reps get promoted into management and quietly struggle - not for lack of ability, but for lack of a system. They were given a title and a quota, and left to reverse-engineer what leadership actually requires, because their company never built the bridge for them.

This course is that bridge. It's six modules, delivered fortnightly over twelve weeks, each grounded in a real problem I see new managers face.

Inside the Program Itself

• Module 1 - Your Leadership Operating Model. The difference between directing, guiding, and coaching, and how to read which mode a given rep needs from you in the moment. You'll leave with a working map of where you're currently over-functioning as a "rescuer," and a first-pass segmentation of your team based on what each person actually needs from you.

• Module 2 - Designing Your One-on-Ones. A practical framework for structuring one-on-ones so they don't collapse into operational reviews. You'll build a repeatable format that separates performance conversations from development conversations, so both get the attention they need.

• Module 3 - Forecasting and Deal Reviews That Add Value. An evidence-based approach to forecasting that gives your reps something useful, not just a status update for you. You'll rebuild your deal review process so it becomes a genuine coaching opportunity rather than a checkbox exercise.

• Module 4 - From Telling to Guiding. The skills to uncover what's actually blocking a rep's performance, rather than just presenting the data and hoping it drives change. You'll practice the questioning technique that gets underneath the numbers, and build comfort guiding rather than directing or rescuing.

• Module 5 - Leading Across Tenure. Frameworks for leading ramping and tenured reps side by side - how to adapt team meetings, coaching cadence, and individual attention so nobody's coasting and nobody's neglected. You'll also work through how to motivate prospecting activity without it feeling like top-down pressure.

• Module 6 - Sustainable Leadership and Your Leadership Brand. What a sustainable week actually looks like for you, and how to protect your energy as the demands on your time grow. You'll get specific about how you want to be perceived as a leader (ie: in deal reviews, in forecasting, and in your reporting line) so the reputation you build is a deliberate one, not an accidental one.

Alongside the six core sessions, you get short just-in-time support sessions between modules to help apply what you're learning in real time, plus ongoing email support for questions and reflection as they come up.

On completion of all six modules you will receive a Growth Getters Certificate of Completion for the New Sales Manager Transition course, recognising the competency areas covered and supporting your internal career progression documentation.

What This Isn't

This isn't another set of slides telling you to "empower your team." It's practical - every module gives you something to run in your next one-on-one, your next deal review, your next team meeting. You leave with tools, not theory.

A Note on Cost

Several new managers have already used their company's education reimbursement allowance to cover the cost of this course. If your company offers one, it's worth checking with your L&D or HR team as there's a good chance this doesn't need to come out of your own pocket.

If This Is You

If you've just stepped into a sales manager role, or you're a leader who wants to hand your new managers something better than "figure it out," I'd love to talk. You can schedule an initial discussion with me here.