Let’s get one thing out of the way: culture is still a commodity. You can slap whatever buzzwords you want on your company’s careers page, but if the day-to-day feels like a pressure cooker mixed with a Hunger Games arena, guess what? People will burn out. And when they do, so will your number. 😰
It’s tempting in tough markets to go heads-down and focus on just pushing pipeline. Micromanage harder. Cancel the SPIFs. Postpone team development until “after Q2.” But if you’re not consistently, obsessively, surfacing wins, you’re leaving money on the table and morale in the gutter.
Because here’s the thing: wins are fuel ⛽️. In a tough economy, when reps are grinding through a sea of no-shows and tighter-than-ever budgets, they need to know their work matters. Not just the closed-won moments, but the lead sourced from nothing, the great call review, the extra coaching they gave a teammate. Sales is survival and recognition is oxygen.
Middle managers: this is where you shine. You’re the front line. The buffer between your reps and the never-ending cascade of fire drills. But more than that, you’re the spotlight 🔦. If your reps are doing great work and it isn’t being seen, it’s your job to make it seen.
Stop waiting for leadership to magically recognize who’s making things happen behind the scenes. They won’t. They’re too busy staring at dashboards. You need to be loud. You need to be strategic. And you need to be consistent.
Sales leadership is visibility leadership. The scoreboard doesn’t tell the full story. If someone’s mentoring new hires, fixing process gaps, or just showing up and grinding every single day, you should shout that from the rooftops. Brag in meetings. Brag in Slack. Brag to your boss’s boss. (I mean, in addition to real-time slack alerts…) Because if you don’t, you’re leaving your team’s momentum, and motivation, up to chance.
And if you want to build future leaders? Start by showing your reps how to lead through recognition. Andrew Froning at Coach’s Corner has a smart framework for this: team leads manage 3–4 reps while still carrying a number. It’s leadership with training wheels—real-time coaching, development, prioritization—all while staying in the trenches. The beauty? It helps reps figure out if leadership is really for them before you give them a title and a team.
It’s not glamorous 💅. It takes effort. But it works. And it creates a culture of visibility and shared responsibility where everyone’s success matters, not just the person who closed the biggest deal last week.
Speaking of effort—yes, the economy is rough, but rough markets aren’t a reason to pull back on recognition. They’re a reason to lean all the way in. You don’t need confetti cannons and gift cards. You need visibility. You need a system to show your team what’s working, and let them see the impact they’re having. Because when people see progress, they keep going. When they don’t? They disengage.
And no, AI won’t solve this for you. It’s a tool, not a strategy 🤖. Yes, it can help you write outreach faster or automate a few tasks, but it won’t replace coaching. It won’t tell you who just booked three meetings after a brutal day of rejections. It won’t pull your quiet high performer into the spotlight.
That’s still your job. And it’s one of the most important parts of it.
Sales leaders are not just here to hit a number. You’re here to create clarity, celebrate progress, and help your team stay in the fight. That doesn’t mean endless praise. It means meaningful recognition, tied to real effort and real results.
If you’re doing that now? In this market? With this pressure? You’re killing it.
