Sovereign #15: How to Get the Most Out of Your Salespeople

Welcome to Issue #15 of The Sovereign Seller. A weekly email with practical tips on how to use inbound + outbound marketing to generate leads, and get the attention of, and appointments with … your most in-demand prospects.

Sunday

December 14th, 2025

7:11 AM

Indianapolis, IN

I have always been a sales leader.

Everywhere I’ve sold, I’ve hit my goals, won awards, and led the pack.

And because of this, I wanted to be treated “differently” … than those who did not perform.

Sales leaders should be treated differently than under-performers.

But rarely was this the case.

Even after demonstrating my competence, all of my employers subjected me to the same weekly propaganda meetings + micro-managing tasks … like call reports, and CRM stupidity.

Essentially punishing - and wasting valuable time of - the people who were hitting their goals and driving revenue and new business for the company.

The people who didn’t need the constant “attention”, to be babysat.

This is not how you want to treat - or attract - thoroughbred sales talent.

Good management does segregate the good talent from the bad.

When the pandemic hit, I was overseeing corporate sponsorship for a D1 NCAA program.

In an instant, I lost half of my sponsors.

I also lost my coordinator, and my seller.

Most of the athletics department left too, including our athletics director.

The next season I had to figure something out.

I was alone, working remotely, needing to bring back 50+ sponsors, PLUS six-figures in new business.

My employer offered nothing but weekly rah-rah sales meetings.

They were supportive, and there to listen, and they offered plenty of “resources” and “education”.

But what I needed were leads.

NOT constant corporate propaganda from people who weren’t in the field.

So I built my own.

I developed what became my Cold 2 Warm Outbound Prospecting System (subscribers can read Sovereign #4 detailing this system in the archive).

Then I created my Bridge Inbound Lead Generation System (subscribers can read Sovereign #5 detailing this system in the archive).

I generated my own pipeline. Hit every goal. Won awards. Maximized my bonus.

All while working alone from my home office.

The best salespeople don’t need micromanagement.

They need two things:

1. The freedom to build systems that work (if leadership won’t provide - a common scenario)
2. Leadership that gets out of their way

They need to be treated like a sovereign nation.

Sovereignty Requires Autonomy

I’ve always hated group sales meetings.

To me, they’re relics of the past … inefficient, unproductive, and rarely helpful.

I’m not against the occasional group event or call … they can be culture-building, inspirational, educational.

What I’m talking about are the weekly micromanaging, self-serving, time-wasting rituals that don’t help anyone sell more.

You know the meetings I’m talking about:

1. The owner or president isn’t happy because revenue and targets aren’t “pacing”.
2. They yell at the director of sales.
3. The director of sales yells at the sales manager.
4. The sales manager conveys this pressure to the sales team in the form of a “sales meeting”.

BUT - rarely (if ever) offering any other solution than “to make more calls.”

Here’s what that meeting should actually address:

“What barriers can we remove so you can sell more?”

“How many leads have you converted?”

“What admin work is wasting your time?”

Legacy sales organization leaders - those without a new business strategy - should focus the blame inward.

A lack of predictable growth is a result of having no lead generation strategies for your sales team.

Top performers don’t need motivation. They need support.

You know who loves sales meetings? Sales Managers.

When sales managers leave the field, they get tethered to a desk.

So they fill their calendars with meetings (and travel) to feel productive.

Now here’s the thing: sales meetings could be great.

Sovereignty Requires Peer Alliance

The “mastermind” concept is one of the key drivers in Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich.

It’s defined as a peer group sharing ideas, solving problems, and pushing each other forward.

But that only works when people feel safe to be honest.

And no one’s being fully transparent with their boss in the room, or on the call.

Want productive group meetings?

Encourage your top performers to form their own mastermind groups.

Without management in the room.

That’s where real problem-solving happens. Where reps share what’s actually working. Where vulnerability exists because there’s no performance review implications.

Management’s role?

Stay out of it. Just ask, “What came out of your mastermind this week? What do you need from me?”

How to Manage Top Performers: The Sovereign Seller Approach

At the end of the day, the job is to sell more.

And that means protecting your reps’ time ... not adding busywork.

The best managers treat top salespeople like a sovereign nation. They’ve earned autonomy through results.

Here’s how:

1. Protect Their Territory (Time)

• No mandatory meetings unless urgent
• No busywork, call reports, or CRM theater
• If it doesn’t directly lead to revenue, eliminate it

Your top performers’ time is your most valuable asset. Stop wasting it.

2. Provide Resources (Leads & Systems)

• Give them qualified opportunities
• Invest in tools that generate pipeline
• Ask: “What would help you sell more?”

The only things good salespeople want to hear from leadership are:

3. Clear the Path (Remove Barriers)

• Handle administrative headaches
• Be their advocate to corporate
• Fight for what they need

Your job as a manager is to remove obstacles, not create them.

4. Trust & Verify (One-on-Ones)

• Weekly 1-on-1s focused on their agenda
• Real-time responsiveness when they need you
• Results-based accountability, not activity metrics

One-on-one meetings > group meetings. Every time.

The deal is simple:

They deliver results. You deliver freedom.

Hire good people. Let them do their job.

Give them incentives to win. Get out of their way.

That’s sovereignty.

Thank you for reading Sovereign #15.

To your success,

Shane

P.S. Elon Musk Hates Sales Meetings Too!

In 2018 an email leaked from Elon Musk to every Tesla employee.

It pissed a lot of people off.

Because it called out exactly what’s killing their companies.

He laid out 6 rules his company would follow, 3 of them dealt with meetings.

#1 “Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies.”

#2 “Walk out of a meeting as soon as it’s obvious you aren’t adding value.”

#3 “Get rid of frequent meetings unless you’re dealing with something urgent.”