Coaching Frontline Managers To The Next Level | Sales Leader @ Webflow

I help new and first-time sales managers become great, faster.

After leading 5 SaaS sales teams across SMB to Enterprise, I’ve seen the same pattern over and over again:

👉 talented reps get promoted to management
👉 manager enablement is minimal to non existent
👉 performance stalls (or they burnout)

I believe manager enablement is one of the biggest gaps in SaaS, and it’s the fastest way to unlock predictable revenue and healthier teams.

What I believe in:

• Building cultures rooted in growth and accountability
• Knowing the numbers and forecasting with confidence
• Developing high-performing teams that break records
• Coaching people to be better, professionally AND personally
• Using health and wellness as a performance advantage

What I’ve done:

• Helped scale SaaS teams up to 10× revenue (Outreach, Webflow)
• Hired and trained 100+ AEs and 20+ managers
• Built and led onboarding & enablement programs specifically for managers
• Led teams across SMB, Mid-Market, and Enterprise

If you’re a new sales manager who wants to:
✔️ coach with confidence
✔️ run tighter forecasts
✔️ build a team people actually want to be on

Let’s connect.

Sean Gentry

I switched to Claude last week.

holy moly

This is truly what got me (after using GPT for months) 

I'm not outsourcing thinking anymore. I'm amplifying it.

Here's what I mean. Real use case - 

I dumped our entire open pipeline into Claude (SFDC CSV). Over a hundred opportunities across my segment. Raw data. No framing.

Then I asked it to find the patterns I'm missing.

Within minutes, it surfaced something I'd been blind to: my team was sending 15 emails for every 1 call.

Industry standard is 5 to 1. Yeesh. 

We weren't losing deals because of discovery. We weren't losing because of positioning. We were losing because we were typing instead of dialing.

That insight didn't come from me running reports. It came from me working with the tool to see what I couldn't see alone.

ChatGPT felt like a nice chat on a Saturday. Claude feels like partnership.

One was automating my work. The other automates my blindspots.

The crazy part is that I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface!

Helping Sales Managers Build High-Performing Teams & Predictable Revenue || Director of Sales, Docebo

I worked my butt off for this. 

To be able to come up to the mountains for thr weekend with my family. Be in the snow. Make a fire. Slow down. 

Feels damn good to be here. 

WFC complete. 

Work. From. Cabin. Tell me a better place to prep for the week… I’ll wait. 

For those of you grinding for something, keep going.

No alternative text description for this image

I've interviewed over 1,000 sales candidates.

I've gotten to the point where I no longer care about your close rate, your president's club, or your quota attainment.

I care about one thing: 

what do you do the moment after you get feedback?

I had a candidate bomb their mock discovery call in a final round interview. Not a disaster, but rough.

We gave them feedback. I pointed out what they missed.

They looked at me and said: "Can I do it again?"

I'd never heard that before. 

Not once. In a thousand interviews.

They didn't get defensive. Didn't explain why the format was unfair. Didn't wait to apply the feedback in some future job.

They wanted to apply it in the next five minutes.

That rep is one of the best hires I've ever made.

I've learned thet skills are transferable. Being coachable is rare. 


Take it from me... A former bartender.

Ok I need y’all’s opinion…

I’ve been using ChatGPT for about a year, paid and upgraded. At this point I have folders, projects, reminders, etc. I use it for work, personal, fitness, diet, finances, my Airbnbs. 

I’d say it knows me pretty well. 

There is a ton of competition in the market with Gemini, Claude, etc. 

Is it really worth going to another when I have invested so much time?

If so, I’d rather do it now than later. 

Which AI will be the best long term? Should I make the switch? Dont steer me wrong!

Ok I must know. Real talk.

Has anyone actually ever commented "Claude" on a post, received the DM and been able to 50 new GTM meetings with the info received?

Or is it all just... ****

What is even happening on this site?

If you aren't using "Projects" in GPT or Claude, you need to be. Now.

This was me. Opening up ChatGPT or Claude and starting every session by re-explaining myself.

"Here's my role. Here's my company. Here's what I'm working on. Here's how I like to communicate."

Every. Single. Time.

But one of the most underrated features nobody talks about in GPT or Claude: Projects.


Now I have separate project folders for each part of my work. 

My sales leadership role. My LinkedIn content. My Airbnb business. My workout schedule and diet. 

Each one has memory. Each one knows the context.

I open my LinkedIn content project and it already knows my voice, my audience, my content pillars. 

I open my renewals project for work and it already knows my segment, my team structure, my coaching priorities.

I'm not onboarding Claude every session anymore. I'm just working. Never starting from scratch. Its clutch.

If you're using Claude or GPT without Projects, you're doing it the hard way.

Set it up once. You'll never go back.

Setting up co-work is whole other beast. If yall want to know how to do that, I'll talk about it next.

Most AMs aren't underperforming because they lack skill.

They're underperforming because their manager never told them the job was bigger than they thought.

"Manage the account" is the wrong frame from day one. It tells people to maintain. Status quo. To not lose what's already there.

As I am building out the team here at Docebo, I am not looking to hire account managers. I want to hire account owners.

The difference is a standard.

An owner doesn't wait for the QBR to find out how the account is doing. They already know because they've been in it every week.

An owner doesn't escalate problems. They bring a recommendation and ask for input.

An owner doesn't celebrate a renewal. They see it as the floor. The expansion conversation started 90 days ago.

Here's the truth out loud:

If your AMs are "managing" that's a manager problem. Not a them problem.

The leader sets the expectation. The leader decides what good looks like.

Most managers won't do that. It's uncomfortable. It requires them to admit they've been accepting less than they should.


The ones who do it? Their teams look completely different 6 months later.

Lets go change some sh*t!

I got super sick two weeks ago. Missed 3 days of workouts. I know I know... sorry me.

By day 3 I could feel it... and it wasn't just physical.

My patience was shorter. My focus was off. I was reacting instead of thinking.

Working out isn't just about staying in shape for me. 

It's about showing up as the version of myself my team actually needs. The reps, the managers, my leaders. They get a worse version of me because my routine was disrupted.

Its taken me years but now I know that how you treat your body is how you lead. The two aren't separate.

Everyone is different so I have to ask - 

What's the non-negotiable habit that keeps you sharp when life gets in the way?

One of the best things I've done as a leader recently:

Told a rep to take the day off. No agenda. No catch-up. Just go. 

They came back the next day with more energy than I'd seen in weeks.


Here's what most managers miss: you can't coach someone who is about to burnout. 

You can push, hold accountable, run the play but if they are fried, its just for show. 

To be honest, I am always afraid of the panic quit. The "I can't do this anymore" conversation. 

Ive learned that the fastest way to lose your best rep isn't a bad comp plan. It's ignoring their energy levels.

Stop making comments if you are on the sideline.

Look, I'm sure 90% of us have read Atomic Habits. 

But one of my favorite lines in there isn't one of the more popular ones. 

James Clear says that winners and losers have more in common than the people on the sidelines.

Both put in the work. Both have bad days, bad quarters, bad years. Both deal with self-doubt, bad luck, and things outside their control.

The difference is rarely talent.

It's who keeps going when the result isn't there yet.

The commentary from the sideline these days is easy. You can see it in the comment section is you scroll way down lol

"They got lucky." "The market was different." "They had better resources."

The people actually competing know the truth: the gap between winning and losing is a lot smaller than it looks from the outside.

Get in the damn ring before you comment.

Quick show of hands... who has worked on vacation?

Or even worse, working at night while Netflix is on...

I used to do this all of the time, but it was to build call lists. 

Manually building out who to dial.

Painfully checking emails.

Praying the data was still accurate.

All so my reps could actually call the right person 


That's 5 hours I wasn't coaching.

5 hours I wasn't in deal reviews.

5 hours I wasn't at my kid's soccer practice. (thank god its only 60 minutes)

Then I found FullEnrich

Now that same work takes me 20 minutes

Here's what changed:

→ Waterfall enrichment across 15+ data sources 
 → Real-time email verification (no more bounces killing my reps' sender reputation)
 → Bulk enrichment that actually works 

My reps get better data

I get my time back

Last Tuesday, I closed my laptop at 4:30pm. Picked up my kids from school.
Made dinner. Played basketball in the playroom.

All because I wasn't stuck in spreadsheets.


Here's the thing about sales leadership:

The job will take every hour you give it.

Tools like FullEnrich just save time. 


If you're still manually enriching data, you're choosing busy work over better time.

PS - I'd rather be here than looking for people's emails...

The first time I had to give hard feedback to someone who used to be my peer, I was scared as ****

I rehearsed it close to 10 times in the car before I walked into the office.

I knew what to say. The numbers were clear. 

But saying it to someone I used to grab lunch with was a different beast.

For months I softened everything in our 1:1s. I left room for interpretation, made sure no one left a conversation feeling bad. I called it coaching. That way it was just easier for me.

This person was struggling. Missing targets. Behind on their tasks. It wasn't pretty. 

But I knew what had to be said. 

The shift came when I separated the two questions I had been treating as one: 

1. how will this land on our relationship
2. what does this person need to hear to improve

I was scared of the answer to the first if I'm being honest. 

Managers who struggle with accountability usually skip the foundation. Clear expectations, set early, before anything goes wrong. 

With that in place, a hard conversation was the start of a correction. Without it, I was doing us both a disservice. 

I learned that when you soften feedback to protect a relationship, you're choosing your own comfort over their growth. 

Bottom line was that the version of me that never gave that feedback thought he was being kind. He was just scared.

We have over 150 renewals in Q2 for current accounts. 

This week I dropped them all into Claude Cowork. And here's what it found in 10 minutes that would've taken my team a week.

I downloaded the CSV, went to cowork with my skills and prompts to identify 3 things:

1. Where are the communication gaps?
2. Which accounts are underusing the platform?
3. Where should my reps be spending time right now, regardless of ARR?

That last one matters more than people admit. And this is where we have gotten bogged down in the past. 

Most teams protect their biggest ARR and hope the rest renews. That's not a strategy. 

What came back in a matter of minutes was NUTS. It basically gave me a prioritization map we didn't have before.

Accounts we assumed were healthy had gone dark on communication for 60+ days. 

Accounts with low platform usage that nobody flagged, because the dollar amount felt "safe." 

Reps spending energy on accounts already locked in, ignoring the ones that were going to bite us in the ass with churn.

The tool didn't just surface risk. It told us where to go first. That's the shift I keep coming back to.

I'm not using AI to replace the rep's instinct. I'm trying to use it to make sure their instinct is pointed in the right direction.

I'm either working myself out of a job, or creating a new job because of it. 

Hoping it's the latter.

I really can't hate on anyone that is deciding to write their posts with AI

But I feel like there is a good and bad way to do it. 

Or should I say, a good and a lazy way to do it. 

Bad/Lazy - 

You open GPT/Claude and say "write me a LinkedIn post about making more dials/booking more meetings/hitting my goals"

You copy and paste the slop into post and hit enter. Boom, you hit your quota of one post per day. 

I know this because I've done it. Luckily only 255 people saw it. 

The Good/Better

You have an idea and record it with your voice in your voice notes. You enter the voice note into GPT/Claude to refine the thinking. You ask it to challenge your thoughts playing the devil's advocate. You go back and forth throwing new ideas into the mix to form one cohesive thought. It comes back with a post that is not only thought provoking but may challenge traditional norms. 

I've also done this and they have performed very well. It has even caused me to think differently on some topics. 

AI is getting a slop reputation. 

Note to myself: Don't get sloppy.

Gartner

Account Executive - Midsize Enterprise

Bluleadz

Senior Account Executive

HubSpot

Mid-Market Account Executive

Pavilion

Member

FieldPulse - Field Service Software

Account Executive

Sales Enablement Society

The Sales Enablement Society is a volunteer organization focused on elevating the role of Sales Enablement in organizations worldwide through engagement, communication, research, and development.

Bravado

Bravado War Room, the biggest online sales community of over 400k sales professionals globally.

RevGenius

RevGenius is a group of revenue-generating sales and marketing professionals brought together to learn, share, support, and grow with each other.

Turas Group

- Launched the Dallas/Fort Worth office of the company.
- Doubled number of accounts in 1 year, bringing in over $65k ARR through outbound & inbound sales.
- Built trusted relationships through empathy, credibility, a customer-centric focus while becoming an expert in our SMB market.
- Created the company first Marketing & Communications team. Crafted Turas' branding and style guide, social media strategy.
- Designed email marketing strategy, crafted design and copywriting.

Regional Account Manager

Dallas Baptist University

- Manage and oversee the academic, physical, spiritual, and mental stability and flourishing of approximately 160 male residents
- Provide direction and leadership to a 5-6 person team of Resident Assistants.
- Handle and resolve resident disciplinary issues.
- Plan and execute dorm-wide events and activities for residents.
- Respond and resolve emergency situations when they arrive.
- Manage office responsibilities including fielding calls, running various housing reports, managing student workers, and giving housing tours.
- Oversee the check-in and housing accommodations of multiple large groups every Summer
- Provide mentorship and guidance to Resident Assistants and residents.

Resident Director

Was a full time Undergraduate Admissions counselor for incoming freshman students.
- Helped guide students through the processes of admission, scholarships, financial aid, housing, enrolling and their overall transition to DBU.
-Specifically recruited in the regions of Lubbock and Amarillo, Longview, Keller, Denton, Houston proper, and all American students coming from out-of-state and other countries.
-Worked closely with a team of 5 other counselors developing and implementing recruiting methods.
-Utilized multiple forms of communication to reach students
-Employed daily reports to increase student communication and retention
-Managed and helped train 10+ student workers in managing recruiting regions and increasing communication with clients.

Assistant Director of First-Year Student Recruitment

Need help seeing your sales & marketing blind spots? • AE @ HubSpot • Overconfident father • How you sell is as important as what you sell

I strive to consult with and help customers solve their biggest challenges. I use a customer-focused, consultative sales process that puts the specific business needs of the client at the center of every solution I sell. Is the clients’ investment of time, energy, and money result in a clear business value for them? 

Here's some other things I've learned along the way.

Failure is the way forward
- Easy = little growth
- Be humble. I didn't get to where I am now on my own.

I'm relationship builder, trust earner, team seller, gap analyst (Gap Selling by Keenan)
- Transparency first, no fluff
- upfront contracts
- It's all about the team sell! Marketing, product, sales all in alignment. "A rising tide lifts all ships." And on the sales team, what is 1 thing I can do today or this week to help my teammate get closer to closing a deal?

I have a natural inclination toward empathy
- patience and listening come easy to me
- I enjoy seeking to understand the other person's point of view

I'm ferociously curious
- I love reading and learning about things I'm unfamiliar with, it doesn't intimidate me.
- I ask A LOT of questions

I love to understand what makes people tick, specifically how/why buyers buy things.
- Donald Miller's "Building a Storybrand" is what first got me interested in sales & marketing.

taplio

The Battle

Sean Gentry

Caleb Smith

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreSean Gentry's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Sean Gentry

Caleb Smith

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Sean Gentry's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSean Gentry's LinkedIn Performance