From Top Closer to Team Leader

Kevin hosts a weekly sales leadership podcast in Seattle and interviews Nicole, a sales director, about her steep transition into management.

From Top Closer to Team Leader

True or false?

Nicole is the sales director at Apex Cloud Solutions in Seattle.

• True
• False

During her first month, Nicole easily resisted the urge to jump on calls.

• True
• False

Nicole was forced to step back for two weeks because she caught the flu.

• True
• False

Her worst quarter as a manager was the one where she closed nothing herself.

• True
• False

Nicole learned that she needed to sell through others rather than acting as the hero.

• True
• False

Listen again and complete the sentences

• Kevin: Welcome back to Sales Leadership Weekly, broadcasting from Seattle. I'm your host, Kevin. Today we're talking about the steep transition from being a top seller to stepping into a ____ with our guest, Nicole, sales director at Apex Cloud Solutions.
• Kevin: Nicole, you've had a massive year. You went from being our number one enterprise rep closing seven-figure deals to leading a team of eight. Let's talk about ____ . What hit you first?
• Nicole: Oh, the urge to jump on calls was just overwhelming. During my first month, I couldn't resist the urge. Whenever a rep struggled with a client objection, I'd practically push them aside and ____ myself.
• Nicole: Exactly. I thought leadership identity meant being the hero. But my manager mindset was completely wrong. I wasn't letting my team find their feet. Instead of establishing a proper ____ and doing pipeline inspections, I was just firefighting.
• Nicole: Precisely. Because I wasn't there to interfere, the reps had to step up, delegate deals among themselves, and trust their own skills. That was my wake-up call to move towards ____ and truly sell through others.

Sources: photo by Alpha En on Pexels