A good seller ≠ a good manager

…or, how to avoid the “Peter Principle” on your sales team. [Nutshell]( Hi {NAME}, You’ve heard of the [Peter Principle,]( right? Basically, it’s... “...the paradoxical idea that competent employees will continue to be promoted, but at some point will be promoted into positions for which they are incompetent, and then remain in those positions because they do not demonstrate any further competence that would get them recognized for additional promotion.” The phrase was coined by educational scholar and sociologist [Dr. Laurence J. Peter,]( who put it in simpler terms: “the cream rises until it sours.” One reason for this phenomenon is that company leaders tend to promote the team members who are crushing it as contributors—the sales rep who’s always on top of the leaderboard gets cherry-picked to replace their manager, for example—instead of identifying and developing the team members who have a genuine aptitude for leadership. Nutshell staff writer Melinda Burris recently published a fantastic article called [How to Identify Which of Your Sales Reps Would Be Effective Managers,]( which lays out... - How an effective sales manager impacts your company’s profitability, beyond just setting the quotas and [running the meetings]( - The similar (but different!) characteristics that are evident in great managers and great sellers - Six things effective managers do well, from making data-driven decisions to focusing on culture - 15 interview questions to help you find the next potential manager in your existing pool of sales reps [Read the full article here,]( and with a little luck you’ll be able to avoid the Peter Principle on your own sales team. In other news… Nutshell’s next [BOUNDLESS]( virtual conference is coming together quite nicely. [Put your name down on this snazzy page]( if you’d like to be alerted when free registration opens up. Also, our friends at [Whitespark]( are hosting a three-day virtual conference to help you master the #1 most important lead generation tactic for service-based businesses: local search. [Go here to register for live access to the Local Search Summit,]( which kicks off tomorrow, September 15th. As always, I will respond to any reply to this newsletter within 30 minutes, or your pizza is free. [Ben]( Ben Goldstein Editor in Chief, Sell to Win [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( [YouTube]( Nutshell | 206 E. Huron Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Getting too many emails from Nutshell? Change your subscription settings [here](.