Why is the VP of Sales job different work from managing?
The VP job is made of different work, and the old work keeps asking for your time.
In a 2022 McKinsey survey, 706 middle managers said nearly half their time went to nonmanagerial work. The survey counted people below the C-suite who manage at least one person who manages others, which describes the VP of Sales seat. Individual-contributor work took more of their time than any other kind. Respondents rated their own time, across every function, and McKinsey sells consulting on the subject.
Promotion choices add risk. In 2019 research, Alan Benson, Danielle Li and Kelly Shue studied almost 40,000 sales workers at 131 firms. Firms promoted top sellers more readily. Among those promoted, managers who had sold twice as much added about 7.5% less to their teams' sales. The study covers the first step into management. It also found firms weigh sales results less when the manager's role carries more responsibility.
What should a new VP of Sales ask about their own week?
Six questions, and one that sits under all of them.
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Where does my week go now, and how much of it is still spent on deals?
Deals earned you the promotion, and they give fast feedback, so they tend to fill any open hour. In the McKinsey survey, individual-contributor work was the largest single block of time for managers of managers. Look back at a recent week and ask, for each deal you joined, who brought you in and what that manager took away from it. A bid you shape without the manager in the room is one the manager did not get to lead.
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Which of my managers could run their team without me for a month?
Your span of control now counts managers, and each one shapes a whole team. A manager who could run a month alone settles pricing exceptions and renewal terms without checking in, and their sellers know it. Listen for the decisions each manager still sends up to you and the reason behind each one. Some managers lack a skill, and some have learned that you always answer. Delegation answers the second. The first needs development.
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What do I own in the forecast that I did not build myself?
As a manager you knew every bid and renewal behind your number. As VP you sign a forecast built from several managers' judgment, and each one judges differently. In vendor research released in 2020, Gartner reported that 45% of sales leaders and sellers had high confidence in their organization's forecast accuracy. The release does not say how many people answered. Ask each manager what moved their number since you last looked, and listen for the evidence behind each change. Then ask yourself which manager's number you trust, and why.
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Who outside sales do I now need to work with every week?
Your peers now run finance and operations, and in a services business operations delivers everything you sell. Managing up to the CEO and CFO becomes part of the work as well. A 2007 study by Le Meunier-FitzHugh and Piercy in the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management found a direct, positive link between sales and marketing collaboration and business performance. Senior managers' attitudes toward working together were among the drivers it named, though it looked only at sales and marketing. Listen for whether operations hears about a large new agreement before it is signed, and for how the CFO describes your forecast.
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Which habit that made me a good manager should I stop?
Stepping into the hard deal and answering every question fast worked when you led sellers. Your managers now watch you and copy what they see. In a 2010 study across three levels of one Fortune 500 company, Son Lam, Florian Kraus and Michael Ahearne found that top managers act as role models for middle managers and expert peers, who then become role models for the front line. The study tracked market orientation, a focus on customers and markets, so test the pattern against your own team before you rely on it. Ask your managers which of your habits they have picked up, and listen for the ones you would not want passed on to their reps.
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Who on my team is ready to lead, and what am I basing that on?
Choosing managers is now part of your job, and the obvious pick is the top seller. Benson, Li and Shue found that teamwork experience predicted better managers, yet firms were no more likely to promote the people who had it. Listen to your own reasons for each candidate. If every reason is a sales result, you are judging them on the job they already have.
"If my managers ran this week without me, what would go wrong, and why?"
This one comes last because its answer pulls the others together. What would go wrong shows the decisions that still route to you and the relationships only you hold. The why shows whether the fix belongs to a manager or to you.
What are the signs a new VP of Sales has made the step up?
Good signs
- Managers bring you decisions they have already made, with their reasoning.
- You can name what each manager is working to get better at.
- Managers explain changes in their forecast without you asking about single deals.
- Sellers take problems to their own manager first.
- Finance and operations hear about large wins and lost renewals from sales first.
Warning signs
- Sellers still bring deals straight to you, and you still take them.
- A manager's forecast only makes sense after you review the deals yourself.
- Every manager you have promoted was your top seller, and nothing else was weighed.
- Operations learns about a large new agreement after it is signed.
- Your week looks the way it did before the promotion.
Case study Fictitious numbers
A PE-backed commercial roofing services company sells maintenance agreements and repair work. Its strongest front-line manager is promoted to VP of Sales over three managers, each leading nine sellers. One of the three is new, promoted from seller to take over the VP's old team.
Eight weeks in, the VP counts the deal decisions that reached them, mostly pricing exceptions and repair bid approvals. There were 40. The VP's old team sent 23 of them. The second team sent 11, and the third sent 6.
The old team still brought its decisions to the VP, and the VP answered anyway.
Most of the 23 came straight from sellers the VP used to manage. They skipped their new manager, and the VP answered anyway. The new manager often learned the outcome afterward.
The VP's next questions turn to a personal habit. They ask whether the old team has heard that pricing exceptions now belong to their manager, and what that manager needs to decide them well.
The low counts from the other two teams prove nothing yet. One manager may decide well alone. The other may be avoiding decisions altogether. The VP still has to see what each one decides without them, and how those decisions hold up.
FAQ
What is the difference between a sales manager and a VP of Sales?
A sales manager leads sellers and is judged on their team's number. A VP of Sales leads the managers, and the number arrives through them. The VP chooses and develops those managers and signs a forecast built from their judgment. The VP also works with finance and operations as a peer. Titles vary with company size, and in a small company one person may do both jobs.
Should a VP of Sales still work deals?
Some, with a clear reason each time. A large renewal or a strategic bid can benefit from a senior voice, and buyers at that level may expect one. The question is whose deal it remains. When the VP steps in, the manager stays in the room and owns the next step. A VP who takes over deals by default teaches managers to hand the hard ones up.
What is the difference between a VP of Sales and a CRO?
Titles vary by company. A chief revenue officer usually owns more than the selling team, often including marketing and renewals, and reports to the CEO. A VP of Sales usually owns the selling team and may report to a CRO or straight to the CEO. In a smaller services company, one leader may carry either title and do much the same job.
Why do strong sales managers struggle when they become VP of Sales?
The job changes faster than the habits. A strong manager wins by staying close to deals and answering fast, and both pull a VP back into the managers' work. Research on sales promotions points the same way at the first step up. Benson, Li and Shue found firms promote on current sales results, while teamwork experience better predicted who would manage well. Results in one job can be a weak guide to the next.
Sources
- Stop wasting your most precious resource: Middle managers (McKinsey, 10 Mar 2023) checked 10 Oct 2026
- Promotions and the Peter Principle (Benson, Li and Shue, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2019) checked 10 Oct 2026
- Promotions and the Peter Principle (VoxEU column, 24 Apr 2019) checked 10 Oct 2026
- Gartner Says Less Than 50% of Sales Leaders and Sellers Have High Confidence in Forecasting Accuracy (Gartner, 12 Feb 2020) checked 10 Oct 2026
- The Diffusion of Market Orientation Throughout the Organization (Lam, Kraus and Ahearne, Journal of Marketing, 2010) checked 10 Oct 2026
- Does Collaboration Between Sales and Marketing Affect Business Performance? (Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 2007) checked 10 Oct 2026