New as head of sales: what belongs in the first 100 days — and what does not
The first 100 days as head of sales decide whether the team follows. A plan in three phases: listen, set a rhythm, make the first changes — with conversation openers, typical mistakes and what German law says about commission and CRM.
The short answer
Anyone starting as head of sales, whether promoted from within the team or brought in from outside, has 100 days in which the team decides whether to follow them. In that time you do not win with big announcements but with three things in this order: listen, set a reliable rhythm, then visibly improve a few things. In more than twenty years in sales I have seen many new managers arrive. Most of those who failed did not have a bad plan. They had it too early.
The most common mistake: rebuilding the system in week two
A new head of sales wants to show that they are making a difference. So the first weeks bring a new CRM, new territories, new targets and sometimes a new commission plan. To the team it looks like this: someone who does not yet know our customers is telling us that everything was wrong.
The result is rarely open resistance. The result is that the best salespeople start looking around. Good people always have options, and they do not leave because of a bad month but because of a bad feeling about the direction. What they say beforehand is covered in Why good salespeople leave.
The rule I set myself: in the first 30 days, nothing that works gets abolished, and nothing gets introduced that I cannot explain.
Days 1 to 30: listen, ride along, read the numbers
The first phase has three tasks.
One-to-ones with every salesperson. Not in the team meeting but individually, 45 minutes, with the same questions for everyone:
“What works well here that I must not break under any circumstances?”
“What costs you time every week without helping a customer?”
“If you were in my position, what would you change first?”
Write the answers down and sort them into patterns. If seven out of ten name the same problem, that is the first thing to fix.
Ride along and listen in. At least one day with every field salesperson, several calls with every inside salesperson. Not to judge, but to see how selling actually happens. Skip this and you will end up leading by spreadsheet.
Read the numbers that already exist. Which metrics are recorded today, and are they discussed? Often everything is in the CRM but nobody looks at it. Which six numbers a head of sales should see every week is described in the article on sales metrics.
Promotion from within the team is a special case. Someone who was a colleague yesterday has to address the new role openly once, rather than pretending nothing has changed:
“Until last week I was one of you. From now on my job is for you to sell more, not for me to sell more. If I forget that, tell me.”
Days 31 to 60: set a rhythm before changing anything
Before changing anything, the team needs a fixed beat by which it recognises leadership. It is less spectacular than a strategy paper and works better. An example of a weekly rhythm:
| Meeting | Duration | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, team meeting | 30 minutes | Weekly target, two or three wins from last week, appointments for the week |
| Tuesday to Thursday, individual pipeline review | 20 minutes per person | The five most important opportunities, next step with a date |
| Friday, week close | 15 minutes | Weekly numbers against target, one lesson for everyone |
What matters is not the exact format but the reliability: same time, every week, even when the head of sales has a full diary. How to run the pipeline review so that it does not become a read-aloud session is explained in the article on the pipeline review as a leadership ritual.
This phase is also when targets are made transparent: which activity targets steer day-to-day work, and which outcome target applies for the quarter? The distinction is explained in the article on sales targets.
Days 61 to 100: few changes, well justified
Now change is allowed, but not everything at once. The one-to-ones and the numbers usually point to two or three issues. A team cannot absorb more than that in one quarter without sales suffering.
Every change gets three sentences: what changes, why, and how we will know in eight weeks whether it works. Where possible, mention which one-to-one the idea came from. Nothing convinces a team more than seeing that listening has consequences.
Two topics deserve caution because, besides acceptance, they also have a legal side in Germany:
- Commission and pay. A change in the first months is almost always read as a cut. Where there is a works council, it has co-determination rights over pay principles and performance-related pay under § 87(1) nos. 10 and 11 BetrVG (German Works Constitution Act). That is not an obstacle, but it is a reason to approach the topic with notice and sound calculations. Principles are set out in the article on commission plans that hold up.
- New CRM or tracking. Technical systems capable of monitoring employees’ behaviour or performance are also subject to co-determination under § 87(1) no. 6 BetrVG. A CRM with activity reporting generally falls under this.
What should be visible after 100 days
Revenue is a weak signal after 100 days, because the pipeline that is closing now usually still comes from the predecessor. These questions say more:
- Are the top performers still there, and do they say openly in one-to-ones what bothers them?
- Does every salesperson know their weekly numbers without looking them up?
- Does the pipeline review happen every week, including the week when things were tight?
- Can the team say in one sentence what has changed and why?
If you can answer yes to all four questions, you have a foundation on which growth becomes possible. At MEG AG the team later grew from 40 to 750 employees. That was not down to a big move at the start but to the fact that every new manager could take over the same rhythm.
Action list
- In the first two weeks, hold a one-to-one with every salesperson using the same three questions and sort the answers into patterns.
- Spend at least one day riding along with every field salesperson and listen in on calls with every inside salesperson.
- Review the existing metrics and decide which six numbers will be discussed weekly from now on.
- From day 31, introduce a fixed weekly rhythm of team meeting, individual pipeline review and week close, and keep it without exception.
- From day 61, implement no more than three changes, each with what, why and a success criterion.
- Do not rebuild commission or CRM tracking in the first 100 days; involve any works council early.
- On day 100, answer the four check questions honestly and discuss the result with the team.
FAQ
What should a new head of sales do in the first 100 days?
Listen in the first 30 days and speak to every salesperson individually, introduce a fixed leadership rhythm of weekly numbers and pipeline reviews between days 31 and 60, and only from day 61 make visible changes, for example to territories, targets or processes. The commission plan does not belong in this phase.
Should a new head of sales change the commission plan straight away?
No. A change to pay in the first weeks is almost always read by the team as a cut, even when it is not. In addition, where there is a works council, it has co-determination rights over pay principles and performance-related pay under § 87 BetrVG (German Works Constitution Act). Understand first, then calculate, then change with notice.
How do you know the first 100 days as head of sales went well?
The top performers have stayed, every salesperson knows their weekly numbers, the pipeline review takes place at the same time every week, and the team can say in one sentence what has changed and why. Whether revenue has already risen is a weaker signal after 100 days.