Back-to-school season gives us permission to revisit something we think we already know.
For an inside sales leader, that might be how you run your 1:1s. How you coach. How you create accountability. How you talk about the pipeline.
Or even how well you know each salesperson on your team.
Experience gives us shortcuts. We recognize patterns faster. We know what questions to ask. We’ve seen versions of the same sales and people problems before.
That experience is valuable.
It can also make it easy to stop examining how we are leading.
What have you stopped examining because you’ve been doing it for a long time?
The risk is that we start doing these important leadership activities from memory instead of with intention.
What worked last year might not be what your team needs today. What felt effective six months ago might no longer match where your salespeople are now.
Small Shifts Create Big Results
Going back to leadership fundamentals with a learner’s mindset can help you lead with more clarity, have better conversations, and get greater results from the same tools you already have.
Four Areas to Put Back in Learning Mode
1. One-to-One Conversations
Are you asking the questions that make both you and the salesperson reconsider what’s happening, or are you running through a familiar script and not paying attention?
2. Coaching
How much time in your week is spent with your coaching hat on? Are you balancing support and challenge in a way that helps each salesperson grow?
3. Accountability
Is what happens after sales meetings and individual conversations clear, consistent, and tied to next steps? Are you “inspecting what you expect” once the expectations are clear?
4. Pipeline Conversations
Are you looking at the real story behind the opportunities, or just accepting what you’re told?
These aren’t new concepts. They’re powerful practices. And they’re always worth a fresh look.
Put It Into Practice
Choose one leadership habit to revisit this month.
Ask yourself what you might see if you approached it with a beginner’s mind.
Make one small change in how you do it.
Notice the difference it makes in your conversations and results.
Small shifts. Stronger teams.
Here’s to a September filled with curiosity, progress, and continued impact,
Still learning along with you,
Lynn
P.S. Know another inside sales leader who could use a little leadership inspiration? Feel free to forward this newsletter.