Starting a new sales leadership role can feel like walking into a room mid-conversation. Everyone's talking, processes are running, and there's an overwhelming urge to jump in and fix things immediately. But here's the uncomfortable truth: that instinct to act fast might be the biggest mistake you can make.
Meredith Chandler, Head of Sales at Aligned and a GTM consultant with over 10 years in tech sales, has a different approach. And it works. In her first quarter with a new team, she helped two newer account executives hit 150% and 180% of quota. Not by changing everything on day one, but by doing the exact opposite.
In this article, we'll break down Meredith's proven framework for new sales leaders. You'll learn why listening beats acting, how to gather the right data, and the systematic approach that turns struggling reps into quota crushers.
"The biggest mistake sales leaders make is they try to fix things without having the full picture," Meredith explains.
It's a pattern she's seen repeatedly: new leaders walk in, spot obvious problems, and immediately start making changes.
They jump to fix processes before understanding why they exist. They make recommendations without gathering complete data. They change playbooks before seeing them in action. The result? They end up changing everything again a few months later, and in the process, they lose team trust.
Think about it from the sales rep's perspective. You've been doing things a certain way, maybe it's working reasonably well, and suddenly a new leader comes in and flips everything upside down. Then three months later, they flip it again because the first changes didn't work. How confident would you feel in that leader's judgment?
But there's a better way. Meredith's approach is built on a simple but powerful principle: listen extensively first, gather complete data, understand all perspectives, and only then recommend changes.
Before you touch anything, you need to understand what's really happening in your sales organization. Meredith recommends starting with four critical data sources:
This is where theory meets reality. You can read all the documentation you want, but until you listen to actual customer conversations, you don't know what's really happening on the front lines. Are reps following the playbook? Are they handling objections effectively? Where are deals falling apart?
Don't just read it—evaluate it critically. Is it buildable? Is it repeatable? Can a new rep actually follow it and succeed? Sometimes you'll discover that the playbook looks great on paper but falls apart in practice.
Not all reps are created equal, and that's actually valuable information. Who are your top performers? What are they doing differently? Where are the skill gaps across the team? This assessment reveals your coaching opportunities and your potential coaches.
Sales doesn't end at the close. Understanding how Customer Success works with clients reveals whether you're setting realistic expectations during the sales process. Are there gaps between what sales promises and what CS delivers?
Why does this comprehensive data gathering matter so much? Because it reveals the invisible gaps - the things nobody mentions in meetings but everyone knows are problems. It shows you what actually happens versus what's supposed to happen. And it identifies your strongest performers, who can become your allies in any changes you eventually make.
Here's where many new leaders miss a golden opportunity. Your team members have been living and breathing these processes every day. They know what works and what doesn't. They've been thinking about solutions, probably for months. But nobody's asked them.
Meredith recommends asking three simple questions:
"What's been working really well?"
"What could we change?"
"Where are you struggling most?"
This approach works for several reasons. First, teams feel heard and valued from day one. You're not coming in as the expert with all the answers—you're positioning yourself as someone who values their experience and insight.
Second, people will share solutions they've been wanting to try but haven't had the authority or opportunity to implement. Your newest team member might have a perspective from their previous company that could solve a persistent problem.
Third, and this is crucial: you'll start to see patterns. If one person mentions an issue, it might be a minor tweak. If multiple people bring up the same problem, that's a major opportunity for improvement.
The feedback you gather here, combined with your data analysis, gives you a complete picture. You'll know what the numbers say and what the human experience feels like.
"Daily metrics should be your early warning system," Meredith emphasizes. But not just any metrics—you need to segment everything to understand what's really happening.
Look at attainment per rep, per segment, and per team. Don't just look at overall team performance. Break it down. Are certain reps crushing it while others struggle? Are specific segments performing differently?
Analyze deal size and cycle variations. Is your enterprise segment moving slower than expected? Are smaller deals closing faster but at lower values? These patterns tell you where to focus your coaching and resources.
Track time spent in each stage of your sales process. If deals are getting stuck in stage three, that's not a vague problem—that's a specific coaching opportunity. Maybe reps need help with a particular type of objection handling or a specific conversation.
Why is segmentation so crucial? Because different segments need different strategies. Your approach for enterprise sales can't be the same as your approach for mid-market. When you segment your data, you can spot coaching opportunities immediately and provide targeted help instead of generic advice.
Instead of saying "sales is down 10%" and panicking, you can say "reps need help in stage three of our enterprise deals, specifically with technical validation conversations." That's actionable. That's something you can actually fix.
Here's how Meredith got those two newer reps to 150% and 180% quota in Q1. It wasn't magic—it was systematic preparation and support.
Before her new reps even walked in the door, Meredith had their first three weeks mapped out with clear milestones. They knew exactly what they'd be learning and when. No confusion, no wondering what comes next.
This isn't micromanagement - it's intensive support during the most critical learning period. These check-ins help new reps process information, ask questions in a safe environment, and course correct quickly before bad habits form.
Instead of telling new reps how to sell, Meredith showed them. She hand-picked recordings that demonstrated specific skills and techniques. New reps could hear exactly how top performers handled objections, positioned value, and closed deals.
Sales doesn't happen in a vacuum. New reps need to understand how their role connects with every other part of the customer journey. These structured sessions build those connections early.
But here's the thing: this level of preparation only works because Meredith spent her first 90 days gathering data and understanding the organization. She knew what skills mattered most. She knew which call recordings would be most valuable. She knew what questions new reps would need to ask different departments.
The onboarding success was built on the foundation of those first 90 days of listening and learning.
Meredith has a perspective that might make some leaders uncomfortable:
"Your sales leader's job isn't to give you everything."
Instead, she believes account executives should own their plan completely. They should calculate their daily and weekly activities needed to hit quota. They should identify pipeline gaps early, before they become crisis situations. They should know their metrics inside and out and have a clear plan for quota attainment.
This isn't about leaving reps to figure everything out alone. It's about creating a culture of ownership and accountability. When reps understand their own pipeline math, they can self-correct. They can see problems coming and adjust their activities before it's too late.
As a leader, your job shifts from telling people what to do to coaching them through their own analysis. You're teaching them to fish instead of handing them fish every day. And that creates reps who can perform consistently, not just when you're watching over their shoulder.
The first 90 days as a new sales leader aren't about proving you can fix everything quickly. They're about building the foundation for sustainable success. Meredith's framework shows us that listening before acting, segmenting performance data, looking for themes instead of individual complaints, planning onboarding weeks in advance, and teaching reps to own their numbers creates teams that consistently overperform.
When you resist the urge to fix things immediately and instead invest time in understanding what's really happening, you earn trust. Your team sees that you value their input. Your changes are based on data and real problems, not assumptions. And when you do make changes, they stick because everyone understands why they're necessary.
The two reps who hit 150% and 180% of quota didn't succeed because Meredith had all the answers on day one. They succeeded because she spent her first 90 days learning the right questions to ask, gathering the right data, and building a systematic approach to set them up for success.
In this episode of SellMeThisPen Podcast, Michael and Meredith dive deep into what new sales leaders should focus on in their first 90 days. They discuss the common mistake of trying to fix everything immediately, how to gather the right data, and the systematic approach to onboarding that helps reps hit quota faster. They also explore the controversial idea that reps should own their pipeline math and planning.
Meredith Chandler is the Head of Sales at Aligned and a GTM consultant and coach with over 10 years of experience in tech sales and startups. She has a passion for coaching and building scalable sales strategies that actually work in the real world.
