Our sales director is our top revenue producer, but because they are constantly out closing deals, they have zero time to actually manage and lead the sales team. How do we know if we should hire a sales manager to act as their number two, and how do we structure this without destroying their commission drive?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When your sales director is also your top rainmaker, they are running two distinct roles: individual producer and team leader. If they are constantly out closing deals, their leadership, management, and accountability responsibilities will always take a backseat. This is a classic capacity issue on your Accountability Chart. To resolve this, you must separate the roles. Do not just hire a random assistant and hope it helps. First, map out the functions. One seat is the Rainmaker, which requires deep relationship management and active selling. The other seat is the Sales Manager, which requires daily coaching, running sales meetings, and holding the team accountable to their metrics. Ask your director if they truly get, want, and have the capacity for both seats. Usually, they want to sell but feel obligated to manage. If they prefer selling, hire a dedicated sales manager to run the team. This new manager will own the LMA seat, while your rainmaker focuses purely on closing deals. If they insist on leading, they must step back from client accounts. You cannot allow your top producer to bottleneck the growth of the entire sales team because they do not have the time to lead.