Sales Hangover
The Sales Hangover podcast is an ongoing discussion among sales professionals, managers, and trainers focused on helping new sales professionals navigate the ups and downs of the sales profession and limit the adverse effects of the infamous Sales Hangover. What's a Sales Hangover, you ask?
Sales Hangover (n): The unfortunate aftereffect of exceeding your quota, closing a large deal, or experiencing a surge in sales activity, followed by a notable decline in sales performance. Symptoms include extreme aversion to cold calls, nausea when looking at their pipeline, and aversion to follow-up emails.
Sales Hangover
Managing Your Sales Manager
In this episode of The Sales Hangover Podcast, hosts Abby, Anna, Eric, and Neil welcome back Bob Usselman, Regional Sales Manager at Solventum, for a conversation centered on managing your sales manager—otherwise known as managing up.
The group breaks down what it really means to take ownership of your relationship with your leader, emphasizing that effective management is always a two-way street. Managing up requires accountability, clear communication, and the willingness to own your outcomes rather than wait for direction.
Key themes include:
- Communicating openly and clearly—no surprises
- Being candid about weaknesses and roadblocks
- Protecting your manager’s time by bringing solutions, not just problems
- Staying coachable by taking feedback, asking thoughtful questions, and pushing back respectfully when needed
At its core, managing up isn't just task execution—it’s building mutual trust and transparency. When that foundation exists, leadership becomes more productive, more collaborative, and more human.