Empathetic Management
4 Sales Manager Types Explained: Strengths, Skill Gaps, and Growth Tips
Most sales managers never got formal training. They were great reps, promoted for crushing quota, and then… handed a team.
Sound familiar?
Managing people requires a whole new set of skills. And when you’re juggling forecasts, pipeline reviews, and never-ending fire drills all before lunch, it’s easy to default to what you think good management looks like.
That’s why I created the Sales Manager Quiz. It’ll help you identify your natural leadership style and see what’s working and where you can level up.
In this deep dive, we’re breaking down the four manager types (Powerhouse, Cheerleader, Quarterback, and BFF) and…
- What each type nails
- Where they struggle
- And exactly how to level up
This isn’t a personality quiz just for fun (though it is fun). It’s a growth tool to help you lead more effectively, feel more in control, and build the kind of team that actually hits their number.
The Powerhouse Manager
You’re the engine of the team. Powerhouses get stuff done, no excuses, no delays, no loose ends. Your standards are sky-high, your work ethic is unmatched, and your team probably describes you as intense, but fair. You’re the person people trust when they need results fast.
But here’s the tradeoff: That pressure you thrive under? It can overwhelm your team. When everything is urgent and nothing falls through the cracks, reps can struggle to keep up or feel like they’re always letting you down. You may find yourself stepping in to fix things, juggling too much, or skipping coaching because it feels slower than just doing it yourself. Sound familiar?
If you’re a Powerhouse, your next level of leadership isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing less and leading smarter.
Traits:
High achiever, results driver, flawless executer, pressure lover, chronic improver, priority juggler
Strengths:
- Creates a high-performance culture
- Work gets done on time (and done right)
- Team focuses on the right things
- Solves problems quickly
- Leads by example
- Pushes team to deliver results
Areas for Growth:
- Risks burnout — both for self and team
- Micromanages instead of developing independence
- Prioritizes task reviews over real coaching
- May miss signs of team fatigue or lack of collaboration
How to Level Up:
- Block time for dedicated skill coaching
- Use a standard coaching form: 3 wins + 1 area to improve
- Set one clear priority at a time
- Assign ownership to reps (even if you’d do it faster)
- Add team-led training sessions to build collaboration
Resources:
- Download: The Eisenhower Matrix – Use this worksheet to prioritize what actually moves the needle and stop wasting time on low-impact tasks that drain your day.
- Course to Take: Own Your Day – The go-to course for managing priorities, time, and team expectations without burning out.
The Cheerleader Manager
You’re the hype squad, heart, and hope of your team. Cheerleaders are natural motivators who lead with positivity, praise, and a deep belief in their people. Your reps feel seen, supported, and genuinely like coming to work. You’re the one reminding them they’ve got this, because they usually do.
But high morale doesn’t always equal high performance. If you’re not careful, you might avoid giving hard feedback, hesitate to push underperformers, or focus so much on celebrating strengths that you miss the growing skill gaps.
Being a Cheerleader means balancing the pep with a plan. Confidence is the fuel, but your reps still need a clear destination and a map to get there.
Traits:
Confidence builder, esteem booster, strength finder, encourager, positivity spreader, inspirer of self-directed improvement
Strengths:
- Builds confident, high-performing teams
- Creates a safe, engaging team culture
- Reinforces wins to accelerate growth
- Boosts rep loyalty and retention
Areas for Growth:
- Hesitant to give tough feedback
- May avoid holding reps accountable
- Over-focuses on strengths, under-focuses on gaps
- Team may not be improving skills or results
- Lacks systems to track progress
- Risks getting blindsided on forecasts
How to Level Up:
- Set clear, measurable skill and results goals
- Use a balanced meeting framework (coaching + accountability)
- Start peer mentoring to scale support
- Schedule recurring team trainings to improve skills (not just confidence)
Resources:
- Download: The COACHN Model – Use this framework to run more effective 1:1s, coaching sessions, and performance conversations that actually drive action.
- Course to Take: Having Difficult Conversations – helps managers deliver honest feedback with empathy and clarity.
The Quarterback Manager
You’ve been in the trenches. You’ve carried the bag. You know exactly what it takes to win a deal, because you’ve done it a hundred times. As a Quarterback, your team relies on you for play-by-play guidance, deal-saving advice, and that one perfect story that closes the deal. You’re sharp, strategic, and always ready to jump in and move things forward.
But here’s the catch: if you’re always calling the plays, your reps never learn to run them. That creates a team of highs and lows, some stars, some stragglers, and a lot of dependence. You may find yourself rescuing deals instead of coaching skills, or relying more on stories than questions.
To level up, it’s time to trade the helmet for the headset. Coach the rep, not the deal.
Traits:
Leader of deals, experienced pro, knows how to win, storyteller, answer man, saver of deals
Strengths:
- Deep sales expertise and sharp instincts
- Knows how to map the path to success
- Offers tactical, deal-specific advice
- Leads confidently from experience
- Earns quick trust from the team
Areas for Growth:
- Inconsistent team performance (highs and lows)
- Focuses too much on deals, not enough on rep development
- Struggles to let reps fail and learn
- Doesn’t block enough time for skill coaching
- Leans on telling stories instead of asking questions
- May unintentionally build a team of “mini-me” clones
How to Level Up:
- Run win-loss sessions (game tape style) to break down deals
- Take a manager coaching course to shift focus to skill-building
- Share personal failures to normalize mistakes
- Establish a regular cadence of 1:1s, team meetings, and reviews
- Appoint peer experts to foster independence and collaboration
Resources:
- Download: Tasks to Start vs. Stop Doing – Use this guide to shift out of “super rep” mode by focusing on high-impact leadership tasks and leaving the old rep responsibilities behind.
- Course to Take: The COACHN℠ Model – helps you coach reps more consistently and shift from fixer to developer.
The BFF Manager
You’re the safe space. The one your reps vent to. You know their pets’ names, their partner’s promotion status, and who’s on the verge of burnout (because they told you, not their therapist). As a BFF manager, your superpower is trust. Your team feels supported, understood, and motivated—and in today’s world, that’s no small thing.
But emotional intelligence isn’t a substitute for leadership. When you’re too close to your team, it gets harder to hold the line. Performance conversations get postponed. Boundaries blur. And the reps you care most about? They may end up stuck, because no one’s pushing them to grow.
Being a great manager isn’t about being liked. It’s about being respected and effective. You already have the heart. Now it’s time to build the structure.
Traits:
Empathetic, emotionally attuned, deeply connected, personal motivator, team nurturer
Strengths:
- Builds strong morale through personal connection
- Creates psychological safety and trust
- Reads emotional cues and team dynamics well
- Motivates with recognition and empathy
- Fosters collaboration and peer support
Areas for Growth:
- Too patient with underperformance
- Avoids hard conversations to preserve relationships
- Lacks clear performance metrics and expectations
- Risks playing favorites
- Inconsistent accountability
- Needs a more structured roadmap for team development
How to Level Up:
- Implement a standard meeting framework with clear expectations
- Get comfortable setting (and sticking to) deadlines
- Schedule recurring performance reviews with every team member
- Set (and keep) professional boundaries (save the lunch dates for Fridays)
Resources:
- Download: Coaching Frequency Guide – Use this to categorize your reps by skill vs. will, so you know who needs your time, who’s coasting, and where to focus your coaching energy.
- Course to Take: Driving Performance With Goals – gives you tools to set clear expectations and build accountability without sacrificing team trust.
Knowing your type is step one. The real magic happens when you use that insight to grow.
The best sales managers aren’t stuck in one style, they flex. They coach intentionally, delegate purposefully, and lead with both heart and structure. Whether you’re a Powerhouse learning to let go, a Cheerleader learning to lean in, a Quarterback trading the playbook for coaching time, or a BFF building boundaries, there’s always a next level.
Better managers build better teams. Let’s get to work! Take the quiz here.
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What Type of Sales Manager Are You? (& How to Make It Your Superpower) [Webinar Recording]
What Type of Sales Manager Are You? (& How to Make It Your Superpower)
[Video Recording]
Your Sales Manager Survival Kit [Cheat Sheets]
Your Sales Manager Survival Kit
[Free Resources & Cheat Sheets]
The Ultimate Sales Rep + Manager Relationship [“Sales Shot” Workshop]
The Ultimate Sales Rep + Manager Relationship
[“Sales Shot” Workshop]
How to Show Empathy in Sales During COVID-19
Everyone’s talking about selling with empathy right now, but truth be told I’m not seeing it executed extremely well. Here are some quick tips I’ve pulled from our Expert Listening and Questioning courses to help.
Quick note: If you’re not seeing activity from your team right now, you have a training gap. They may know what you want, but feel uncomfortable in doing it. Talk with them 1:1 and do a training session on what you want, how it sounds, and help them practice to build confidence.
Empathy in sales works wonders when we’re evoking a true connection with our client or prospect. That means by the end of the conversation, we understand where they are AND how they are feeling about it. We won’t get that with just one question.
Just like how “normal pitches” are especially gross right now, “rote empathy” is too. Rote empathy is the single question before the pitch or sales process. It likely doesn’t include a follow-up question and may even skip waiting for an answer. Some examples I’ve received in the past week:
“Hi LB, trust all is fine with you in these crazy times. I’m writing to tell you about…”
“Hi LB, is all OK with you and yours?” Glad to hear it, I’m calling because…”
“Hi LB. How are you? It’s the new normal! Tell me, what is your team doing about…”
True empathetic selling comes from showing the speaker we care about them and their answers enough to dig another level or two deeper, internalize the answer, and then share in return. Try follow-up questions like:
“So, how are you coping this week?”
“How has your reaction changed over the past few weeks?”
“Tell me more about how your team is adapting”
“What are you and your colleagues focused on most during this crisis?”
“Describe the impact on your business. Your team. Your life.”
“What’s it like working from home?” “Are you also managing little ones or homeschooling?”
Even as I type these examples, it’s nearly impossible not to type 4 questions on each line as my second, third, fourth question. Empathy is in the follow-up.
Try this rule of thumb: Ask until you get something you can connect to. If you’re getting surface-level answers, ask about what’s been great or what’s been the toughest. Then be ready to share your own experience. Empathetic connection is a two-way street.
Remember, empathy is about being able to see life from the speaker’s point of view. It’s a walk in their shoes. Sympathy is feeling sorry for them, empathy is understanding and dare-say connecting with them.
Great empathetic exchanges follow questions with statements. “Catching phrases” that show you heard and even understand.
“That sounds like a real challenge.”
“You seem so resilient.”
“That must be hard.”
“I’d feel so frustrated in your shoes.”
It’s an active listening technique that builds some feeling into your response. Conversely, sympathy is more like:
“I’m so sorry for your struggles.”
“I’m really feeling for you right now.”
A business colleague only wants sympathy if they’ve lost a loved one, folks. Don’t feel sorry for them, try to understand how they are feeling and let them know you heard it.
Empathetic selling is also about timing. Right now we need to slow the sales cycle. If you normally got 10 pieces of information, a follow-up meeting, and a quote on call one, set that goal for call three or four. Let’s all agree to make call one about understanding and building empathy. Then let’s shoot for understanding their situation and challenges today. Not only will this prevent you from being in the “rote empathy” bucket, it will help show you the path to sell your solution – be it immediate or down the road.
Leaders, two last pieces of advice:
Dig into this with your teams. Invest in some training to build these skills so you’re not hurting your brand and future pipeline. (Need some help with this? We’ve added new courses to The Sales Bar focused on empathy and selling during COVID-19. Click here to request info.)
Secondly, take a look at changing some call goals with your teams. It could be your pressure that’s helping the team come off as insensitive right now.
Want to hear a REAL example of using empathy in sales?
Fill out the form below to access the call recording.
Tips for Sales Managers to Coach Their Reps in Empathetic Selling [Cheat Sheet]
Tips for Sales Managers to Coach Their Reps in Empathetic Selling
[Cheat Sheet]
