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Dear Quota Team
I'm an SDR at a small-ish company. The sales team is pretty small. It's me, 3 other salespeople, and our sales manager.
The pay is good. Our product is straightforward and easy to sell. But my sales manager is always stepping on my toes. He was a top seller himself who got recruited to hire and lead the sales team at our company. He doesn't necessarily micromanage me, but he considers himself a "closer" (he mentions this often) and ALWAYS insists on joining me on sales calls with prospects I've already qualified to help me "close the deal." What ends up happening is that he joins my meetings at the later stages of the deal and takes over the room. I end up just kind of sitting there awkwardly like a little kid who brought his dad to work to handle the "serious business.” He does close a lot of these deals, and I still do get credit for making the sale, but it's frustrating for me.
I feel like he doesn't trust me enough to close deals myself. I really do enjoy sales and I imagine it will be my long-term career. I feel like I won't be able to grow as a salesperson if I can't run deals myself from start to finish. How can I get him to trust me and let me fully own my own deals?
Frustrated in Illinois
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Dear Frustrated,
It sounds like it's time to have a candid conversation with your sales manager. You're coming from a good place, you just want to take on more responsibility and grow professionally, so it's likely your manager may see a bit of himself in you and give you more autonomy as long as you keep the conversation on a positive note. You don't want to come off as a complainer or as someone who is overly cocky. Talk about your aspirations and how you want to improve as a salesperson. Mention how much you've learned from him watching him closely, and ask if he'd be willing to give you a bit more freedom to run deals yourself for a while to prove that you're also a closer. He'll most likely respect your drive and ambition and give you a chance.
If he still keeps butting in and wants to be involved in the sales calls, there's not much else you can do. For what it's worth, it sounds like you have a pretty good job and you're happy there aside from this one hiccup. If you leave, you risk running into even worse problems at another company. No job is perfect, so try to appreciate the good parts and show up every day ready to prove yourself when opportunities arise. Good luck!
