The short answer
It depends on the size of the team.
| Reps you manage | Should you sell? | Rough share of your week on your own deals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | Yes, usually. There isn't enough management work to fill a week, and the business needs your deals | Half or more |
| 4 to 6 | A little, with rules. Keep a few key accounts, hand the rest over | A quarter at most |
| 7 or more | Mostly no. Coaching, hiring and the pipeline are a full-time job | Very little, beyond joining reps' calls |
Treat these as starting points. A founder-led team selling large deals may want the manager on every big pitch. A team of juniors may need you coaching full time at five reps. But the direction holds. The more reps you have, the less your own selling is worth compared with making each of them better.
Here's the maths behind it. If you have six reps and help each one close one extra deal a month, that's six deals. You're unlikely to close six extra deals a month yourself while also managing.
The player-coach trap
The player-coach, a manager who also carries a quota, sounds efficient. You keep your best seller selling and get a manager at the same time.
What usually happens:
- Your own deals always feel more urgent than a 1:1. The 1:1s slip first.
- When a rep's deal wobbles, you step in and close it. The rep learns that hard deals go to you.
- You keep the best leads, because you're the best closer. Reps notice.
- Your number hides the team's. The team hits target because you had a big month, and nobody sees that four of six reps are behind.
- You end up doing two jobs in one week, and both get done badly.
The trap isn't selling. It's selling without limits, so your own deals quietly take over the week.
Rules if you do carry a number
If your team is small, or the founder needs your deals, set rules before the week sets them for you. Write them down and share them with the team.
- Never take a rep's deal. If a rep needs help, you join the call as support, and it stays their deal and their commission. Prep with them before and debrief after.
- Cap your share of the week. Decide the number, say two days out of five, and put it in the calendar. The rest belongs to the team.
- Keep your own accounts separate. A short, named list of accounts you own. New leads go to the reps.
- Report your number separately. Show the team's number without your deals, so you and the founder can see how the reps are really doing.
- Protect the management slots first. 1:1s, the weekly meeting and pipeline review go in the calendar before your own calls, and they don't move for your deals.
- Look at the rules again each quarter. As the team grows, your share should shrink.
Coaching vs managing covers how to split the time you keep for the team.
Selling less only works if you can still see the team's week. With ActivityTracker, your reps log calls in one tap, and you see who's gone quiet, read their Friday check-ins and prep each 1:1, for a team of 5 or 30.
How to hand accounts over
Most managers who stop selling get stuck on this step. Your clients know you. Handing them to a rep feels risky, and some of them will say so.
A handover that keeps the client:
- Choose the rep for each account on fit, not just on who has room. A detail-minded client gets your most organised rep.
- Brief the rep properly. Write down the history, the people, what they care about, open promises and the next step, before anyone speaks to the client.
- Introduce the rep in person or on a call, because an email feels like being passed along. Say why you picked them.
- Stay on the first meeting or two, and let the rep lead them.
- Stay reachable, and say so. "If anything goes wrong, I'm still here" reassures the client and rarely gets used.
- Tell the client what's changing and what isn't. Same terms, same service, a person with more time for them.
Hi [client], I wanted to tell you myself: from next month, [rep] will look after your account day to day. I picked [rep] because [a specific reason: knows your industry, is great with the detail you care about]. I'll join our next meeting on [date] so we can all go through where things stand, and I'm still here whenever you need me.
Hand accounts over a few at a time. The ones that need you least go first, and the two or three most complex ones go last.
What to tell the founder
In a small business, the pressure to keep selling usually comes from the founder. You were the top rep, and they don't want to lose those deals.
Argue it with the team's numbers, and leave principles out of it:
- Show the team's number with and without your deals for the last three months.
- Show what the reps are doing now: calls, meetings, win rate, for each rep.
- Name the gap coaching would close. "If Sam's win rate matched Priya's, that's two more deals a month."
- Propose a transition with dates: which accounts move when, and how your selling share shrinks each quarter.
- Agree what you'll report each week so the founder can see it working.
The founder's worry is revenue dropping while you step back. A plan with dates and a weekly check answers it better than an argument about what managers should do.
Made-up example: Dana manages five reps at a company selling software to dental clinics. She still carries about 40% of the team's revenue.
Monday: she writes her rules. Selling on Tuesdays and Thursdays only. Six named accounts stay with her. Everything else goes to the reps, and she never takes a rep's deal.
Tuesday: a rep asks her to "just take" a wobbly deal. She says no, preps him for 15 minutes instead, and joins the call on mute. He closes it on Friday.
Wednesday: she runs all five 1:1s back to back, the first week in two months she hasn't cancelled one.
Thursday: she calls the founder with the team's number without her deals. The reps are at 62% of target. The founder hadn't seen that before. They agree she hands over four more accounts over the next quarter.
Friday: she introduces a rep to her largest client on a call. The client asks one question, whether the terms change, and seems relieved when they don't.
What to do first
- Count how many hours you spent on your own deals last week, and how many on the team.
- Look at the table above and decide your target share for your team size.
- Write your rules, including "never take a rep's deal", and share them.
- List the accounts you'll keep and the ones you'll hand over, with dates.
- Show the founder the team's number without your deals, and agree the plan.
For the management side of the week, how to manage a sales team sets out the weekly rhythm, and the 1 on 1 meeting template keeps each session short.