The 7 Biggest Challenges Facing Sales Managers Today

Leading a sales team today is tougher than ever. Between buyer resistance, team burnout, and tech overload, the pressure is real.

Here is a summary of the 7 biggest performance blockers I see sales managers battling right now:

1.    Buyers are harder to reach — Digital-first habits and bigger buying committees mean less access and longer cycles.

2.    Inconsistent execution — Even with playbooks and tools, reps often take different approaches. Consistency is elusive.

3.    Short-term pressure — Constant push for this month’s number kills time for coaching and long-term pipeline planning.

4.    Too little coaching — Many managers are overloaded and undertrained to truly coach. Admin and forecasting eat up their week.

5.    Tool fatigue — CRMs, enablement, BI programs, dashboards… But data doesn’t drive action without clarity.

6.    Sales-Marketing misalignment — Reps lack the buyer insights and messaging needed to lead with value early.

7.    Talent turnover — Great reps are hard to find, harder to keep when average tenure is 2.5 years, falling to just 2 years. And onboarding is often rushed.

Sales managers today face a complex mix of challenges in driving high performance through their teams.

Let me expand on each of the seven major issues:

1. Low Buyer Engagement & Access

• Buyers are harder to reach: With digital-first preferences, many B2B buyers avoid sales calls altogether as they are doing their own research.

• Decision-making is more complex: Buying committees are larger, cycles are longer, and individual influence is diluted.

Impact: Reps struggle to have meaningful conversations, let alone drive consensus when selling to buyers.

2. Inconsistent Sales Execution

• Skills and discipline vary widely across teams, especially in hybrid or dispersed environments.

• Playbooks are underused or not tailored to real buyer needs, leading to inconsistent messaging and missed opportunities.

Impact: Too much is left to chance, and top performers carry the weight.

3. Pressure for Short-Term Results

• Intense focus on monthly/quarterly targets often crowds out time for strategic coaching, pipeline curation, and long-term planning.

• Reps focus on closing the fastest opportunities, not always the most valuable.

Impact: Pipeline quality suffers, and burnout risk increases.

4. Lack of Coaching Time & Capability to Develop Salespeople

• Many managers are former reps promoted without coaching training.

• Admin, forecasting, and internal reporting consume time that could be better spent developing the team.

Impact: Skill growth stalls and underperformance persists.

5. Tech Stack Overload

• Teams juggle too many tools (CRM, enablement, Business Intelligence, analytics), but usage is shallow or fragmented.

• Sales managers struggle to interpret data meaningfully to guide performance.

Impact: Data without insight = no action.

6. Misalignment with Marketing & Product

• Sales often lacks good, actionable insights from marketing or customer feedback loops.

• Value propositions are not well-conceived, nor delivered.

• Messaging may not reflect real buyer pain or competitive shifts.

Impact: Reps struggle to lead with insight and create value in early conversations.

7. Recruitment & Retention Challenges

• Top talent is scarce, and turnover is high, especially among younger sellers seeking purpose and development.

• Onboarding is often rushed or ineffective.

Impact: Ramp times increase, and team morale suffers.

If you are a sales leader, which of these issues are you seeing in your team right now and what are you doing about it?

Drop your #1 challenge in the comments — and let’s welcome others to assist with ideas on solutions.

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