Foundation 19 of 20 · Keep
What Is Sales Management? How to Manage a Salesperson
Hiring a Salesperson Does Not Hand Off the Problem. It Hands Off the Job, If You Show Them How.
"I hired help so I could stop selling. Now I'm doing both." A new salesperson who was given a number and nothing else will chase that number, even when it hurts the business. Learning how to manage a salesperson comes down to five things in order: hire well, train them in your way of selling, pick the number that matters, pay for it, and look at it every week.
Last Updated: 11/02/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
The Short Answer
What Is Sales Management?
Textbook Definition
Sales management is the planning, training, measurement, and pay design an owner or manager uses to direct the people who sell on the business's behalf, so their results match the business's goals.
In Plain English
It is how you make sure the people selling for you sell the way you would. Knowing how to manage a salesperson means teaching them what you offer and who it is for, choosing a number that shows sales that actually stuck, paying for that number, and checking it with them every week.
Why It Matters
Why Does a New Salesperson Make More Work, Not Less?
Most owners hire a first salesperson, hand over a target, and hope. Hiring feels like passing the problem across the table. But a new hire with no training and a pay plan aimed at the wrong result will do exactly what the pay asks. That is not bad behavior. They are following the only instruction they were given.
Good sales management starts with the middle steps owners skip: training and choosing the number that matters. A sale that gets refunded next week is not a sale. Pay for the ones that stay sold, and your salesperson's best week starts to look like yours.
Signs you have this problem:
- Your salesperson's numbers look great, but refunds and complaints are rising.
- Customers arrive expecting things you do not offer.
- You or someone in the office is up late undoing sales that should not have been made.
- The only instruction your salesperson got was a target.
- Pay is based on sales closed, with no link to sales kept.
- You never sit down with your salesperson to read the numbers together.
What It Looks Like
What It Looks Like When the Only Instruction Is a Number
From the Fabled Forest · Chapter 19
Commander Colt runs Forest Trails and Tours. He hires an eager hare off the morning ferry, tells him bookings are what matter, and pays him a coin per booking. Three weeks later, the ridge tour that holds twenty-four has thirty-five people waiting, and a family of nineteen hedgehogs is asking where the ice cream is. Colt is at the trailhead handing back coins while his office manager, Greta, stays up past midnight sorting refunds.
Greta's ledger tells the real story: forty bookings in a week, nineteen refunded, twenty-one kept. The hare is not dishonest, he was just never told what the tours are, who they are for, or what to ask. Doctor Owl lays out five steps and points out that Colt did the first and skipped the middle. Greta spends one afternoon teaching the hare the three tours, the questions, a plain close, the written agreement, and how to say thank you when nothing fits. Then the pay changes: a steady weekly wage plus a coin for each booking that is kept, with no penalty for a refund that had a fair reason.
Every Monday the three of them read a new column on the board called Kept. By month's end the hare is booking twenty-two a week instead of forty. Refunds fall from nineteen to two, and kept bookings hold at twenty. His pay is nearly the same, but now it rewards the right customers. Greta gets home by nine again, and two of the hedgehogs come back for the creek tour.
Colt's story is Chapter 19 of Sales for Small Businesses, Book 5 of Dr. Paul's Fabled Forest Business School Series.
The Talon Way: Pay for Closes
Pay the salesperson for every close, because closers close.
The board fills up fast. Closes are simple to count and simple to pay, and the total climbs every week.
Sales get closed that never should have been, and you pay commission on every one that comes back. The number that rose was not the one that mattered.
The Fix
How to Manage a Salesperson in 4 Steps
No complicated plans and no software required. Clear instructions, the right number, and a standing weekly meeting.
Write down what you sell before you hire.
List each offer, the customer it suits, and the customer it does not suit. A new person can only learn what you can put on paper. Then use it to choose well, the way hiring the right employee starts with knowing the job.
Train them in your own steps.
Walk through the questions, the quote, the close, and the agreement, in order. Plan on a single afternoon side by side to get them going. If your steps are not written yet, build a sales process first so there is something to teach.
Pick one number that shows a sale stuck, and pay for it.
A kept booking, a paid invoice, or a customer who bought again. Pair it with a steady base wage while they learn. Pay for that number, never punish a refund that had a fair reason, and go over the reasons together.
Read the number together every week.
Same day, same time, ten minutes. Look at the kept column, the refunds, and why each one happened. Track open deals the same way on your sales pipeline so nothing surprises you on Saturday.
Dr. Paul's Insight
The mistake Dr. Paul sees most is paying for the sale and never checking what happens after it. That setup quietly pays commission on returns. Salespeople who are trained in your methods and rewarded for lasting sales often book less and keep more. If you need help setting up pay, targets, and a weekly review, a fractional COO can build that structure with you.
Watch
Watch: Pay, Performance, and Profit
Two videos from Dr. Paul: one on whether high employee pay really means low profits, and a short tip on performance evaluation. Together they cover the pay and the weekly review side of managing a salesperson.
QBP #2 , High Employee Pay = Low Profits… Or does it?
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA. (10:54)
Business Plan Writer's Tip #99 for Businesses near Baton Rouge, LA.: Performance Evaluation
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA. (3:29)
From the Book
Read a Passage From Chapter 19
Chapter 19 · Sales Management
Forty Bookings, Nineteen Surprises: A Horse’s Salesman
She taught him the close. She taught him to say it plain, and then to stop: “Would either of those suit you? The ridge, or the creek?” She taught him to put the answer on the page, the one-page agreement, now on every booking, with the number and the date and the line for the signature. She taught him what to do when the answer was neither. “Thank you,” said Greta. “That is all you say.”
“That’s all?”
“That is all.”
“But then I haven’t booked them.”
“No,” said Greta. “You haven’t sold them something that wasn’t for them.”
Read how the new pay plan changes the hare's month in Sales for Small Businesses, Book 5 of Dr. Paul's Fabled Forest Business School Series.
Get the Book on Amazon →FAQ
Sales Management Questions Owners Ask
How to manage a salesperson when you have never managed one before?
Should I pay my salesperson commission on every sale?
What if my salesperson earns less under the new pay plan?
How often should I review sales numbers with my team?
Keep Going
Related Foundations
Managing a salesperson works best when the sale itself is clear. These pages fill in the rest. New to a term on this page? Every one is in the sales glossary.
What Is a Sales Pipeline?
Write every possible sale down by how far along it is.
What Is Overselling?
Why promising more than you can deliver loses customers.
What Should a Sales Agreement Include?
The one-page record that keeps both sides honest.
How to Qualify a Sales Lead
Decide whether a customer is a fit before you sell.
Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, business consultant and author of Dr. Paul's Fabled Forest Business School Series. Want help setting up sales pay, targets, and a weekly review for your team? See growth plan and consulting options.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, or other professional advice. Dollar figures are illustrations. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.