When I first stepped into sales leadership, the pressure felt even heavier than being an individual contributor.
Now it wasn’t just my number.
It was everyone’s number.
More calls.
More pipeline.
More pressure from the top.
And like most new managers, I thought the answer was pushing harder.
But I learned something over time:
👉 You don’t build great teams by pushing people.
👉 You build them by serving people.
That’s exactly what Joel Smith and I unpacked on a recent episode of the Authentic Sales Manager Podcast.
We talked about what it really means to lead with authenticity, and why putting people first isn’t soft, and it’s actually the strongest strategy you have.
If you’re leading a sales team (or about to), this one hits home.
Authentic Leadership Starts with Being Yourself
A lot of new managers get this wrong.
They step into leadership and try to become someone else:
More authoritative
More “corporate”
More like what they think a leader should be
Joel said it best:
Authenticity is about being yourself and caring more about others than yourself.
Simple. But definitely not easy.
Real leadership isn’t about image.
It’s about intention.
When your team feels that you genuinely care about them, not just their numbers, they respond differently.
Trust builds.
Walls come down.
Performance follows.
Your Team Will Mirror You
One of my favorite parts of the conversation was Joel’s sports analogy.
He talked about how teams take on the personality of their coach:
Loud coach → loud team
Negative coach → negative team
Empathetic coach → empathetic team
Sales teams are no different.
👉 If you lead with pressure, they operate in fear.
👉 If you lead with trust, they perform with confidence.
As a manager, whether you realize it or not
You set the tone for everything.
Individuals on the team are not motivated the same.
Here’s where most managers fall short.
They assume everyone is driven by the same thing:
💰 Money
But Joel broke it down in a way every leader needs to hear:
Someone in their 20s? Likely building financially
Someone in their 40s–50s? Balancing family and stability
Someone nearing retirement? Thinking legacy and security
Same team.
Completely different motivations.
That’s why real leadership starts with one simple question:
👉 “What’s important to you?”
And then actually listening.
Relationships Drive Performance
If you want better results, start with better relationships.
It means:
Asking about their life outside of work
Remembering what matters to them
Showing up for them consistently
Joel shared something powerful:
Sometimes your one-on-one shouldn’t be about numbers at all.
That’s a shift.
Because when someone is off, struggling, or distracted
It’s rarely just about sales.
When you take time to understand the person, you unlock performance in a way metrics alone never will.
A lot of managers think trust comes from what they say.
But in reality?
👉 Trust comes from what you do behind the scenes.
Fighting for your team.
Advocating for better tools.
Pushing for changes that help them win.
Even when you don’t win those battles, Your team sees the effort.
And that matters.
Joel shared a moment where his team stood up and applauded him after he received an award because they knew he had their back.
That’s leadership.
There’s a dangerous trap in sales leadership:
👉 Becoming the “superstar closer”
Jumping into deals.
Saving the day.
Doing it for your reps.
It feels helpful.
But it actually holds your team back.
Joel made it clear:
90% of leadership should be coaching.
Your job isn’t to close deals.
Your job is to:
Teach your team how to think
Help them develop their skills
Build future leaders
Because a dependent team is a weak team.
An empowered team?
That’s where growth happens.
Control What You Can Control
Sales will always have variables:
Pricing
Products
Market conditions
Customer decisions
You can’t control those.
But you can control:
Your attitude
Your activity
And as a leader, your job is to reinforce that daily.
Final Thought: Check Your Ego at the Door
If there’s one piece of advice Joel left us with, it’s this:
👉 Ego has no place in leadership.
It’s not about:
Your title
Your authority
Your success
It’s about your people.
When you help them win,
You win.
Every time.
Being an authentic sales manager isn’t about being perfect.
It’s about being real, being present, and being committed to your team’s success.
What’s one thing you’re doing right now to build trust with your team?
If you haven’t yet, catch the full episode with Joel Smith for more real-world insights on leadership, empathy, and building teams that actually want to perform.
🎧 Link in the comments.
#AuthenticLeadership #SalesManagement #PeopleFirst #SalesLeadership #CoachingCulture #SellingWithDignity