Ditch the Dinosaur Tactics and Be Real with Your Sales Team
In the turbulent world of sales, one truth remains constant: sales teams are only as effective as the leadership guiding them. Yet, too many sales leaders are still pushing outdated, ineffective strategies onto their reps. Instead of empowering sales teams with modern, results-driven tactics, they enforce practices that no longer yield success. It’s time for sales leaders to get real with their teams, because unrealistic expectations and antiquated playbooks are causing more harm than good.
Hopefully you’re part of a great organization where sales leaders are not still hanging on to the practices I discuss below. While these ancient beliefs and tactics are usually more associated with sales in small and medium businesses, it’s not unheard of to find such sales leaders in some of the largest corporate environments. The practices below do not represent a conclusive list, but here’s a few things that came to mind as I was thinking about archaic sales tactics still being used in 2025.
The Cold Calling Fallacy – Stop Wasting Time
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: cold calling. Despite overwhelming evidence that cold calling has become one of the least effective sales tactics, some sales leaders still enforce it as a primary prospecting method. In 2025, cold calls rarely reach decision-makers, voicemail boxes remain full, and buyers prefer digital communication over unexpected phone calls.
Why It’s No Longer Realistic:
Cold calls have an abysmal conversion rate of less than 2% in most industries.
Decision-makers are harder to reach due to call screening and remote work.
Buyers now research products and services before engaging in a conversation.
Better Alternative:
Instead of wasting hours on fruitless cold calls, invest in warm outreach via LinkedIn, personalized email campaigns, and social selling. Encourage reps to engage with prospects through meaningful, research-backed connections rather than stalking them with unsolicited calls. Get Marketing to drive enough warm inbound leads so your sales team can spend their valuable time talking to prospects who are running toward them versus away from them. Minimize old-school cold calling only to a small subset of prospects that are more likely to be receptive to that approach, or accounts that are whale enough to justify the time burned.
The Myth of Sales Reps Owning the Conversation
Many sales managers still teach their reps to “dominate” the conversation, control the narrative, and lead the prospect to a close. This made sense when selling was a little shady and buyers relied on sales reps to educate them. But today, selling is consultative and buyers have access to huge amounts of information at their fingertips.
Why It’s No Longer Realistic:
Buyers have done their homework before the first conversation.
Over-controlling the conversation pushes prospects away.
Buyers are more sales-savvy, which often results in their own intent to control the conversation from their side.
Better Alternative:
Sales teams must embrace mutual control in sales conversations. Reps should guide discussions while allowing the prospect to have a say in the direction. The best salespeople facilitate rather than dominate, and they help buyers shop on their own terms rather than forcing a hard close.
Kicking Sales Automation to the Curb
Some sales leaders continue to cast a negative light on automation tools like ChatGPT and email drip campaigns, arguing that they make outreach impersonal and ineffective. While it’s true that robotic, canned messages won’t resonate with prospects, outright rejecting these tools is a mistake. In reality, the key isn’t avoiding automation - it’s using it wisely.
Why This Mindset Is No Longer Realistic:
There’s a sweet spot of balance between personalization and efficiency. Sales reps don’t have the time to craft 100% original outreach messages for every prospect.
AI-powered tools can assist with drafting outreach that is thoughtful, well-structured, and engaging, but should definitely be paired with human research and editing. It’s no surprise that some form of these AI sales tools are now imbedded in popular CRMs and prospecting platforms.
Email drip campaigns allow reps to stay top-of-mind with prospects without constant manual follow-ups, ensuring no leads slip through the cracks.
Better Alternative:
Sales leaders should encourage smart automation, rather than banning it outright. Train reps to use AI sales tools as a starting point, but require them to refine the messaging with personalized insights before sending.
Sales management should be passionately pushing the use of sales automation where it makes sense, unless a sales rep has a very small number of accounts to pursue, in which case they should have time for 100% manual messaging.
The Myth of the Linear Pipeline
Many sales managers still expect sales reps to move through the pipeline in a structured, linear fashion: prospect, qualify, demo, proposal, close – or something similar. But in reality, the sales process will have unexpected twists and turns. Prospects frequently jump back and forth between stages, revisit previous concerns, and delay decisions for reasons outside a sales rep’s control. Expecting a rigid step-by-step process is outdated and unrealistic.
Why It’s No Longer Realistic:
Buyers don’t follow a predictable path; they research, pause, and reconsider throughout the process.
Deals often stall due to internal changes, budget constraints, or shifting priorities.
Forcing reps to push deals forward in a predefined sequence creates artificial pressure and leads to misaligned expectations.
Better Alternative:
Sales leaders should adopt flexible pipeline management that accounts for the unpredictability of real-world deals. Instead of penalizing reps for deals not moving in a stright line, encourage adaptability and strategic follow-ups. If you haven’t done so already, set your CRM tools to allow fluid deal movements rather than rigid stage progressions, allowing for a more realistic and effective approach to closing business. Yes, I know it’s never fun to see a deal move backward, but, it is what it is. On the front-end, good qualifying and questioning can minimize this.
Assigning Unattainable Quotas
Another outdated expectation is the relentless push for unattainable quotas. Too many sales leaders operate under the assumption that simply increasing quotas every month or quarter will drive higher performance. Instead, it drives reps out the door.
Why It’s No Longer Realistic:
Sales reps of today have a better understanding of what’s happening behind the scenes in their companies. They know quota increases should be based on associated events like additional marketing support, product launches, or expanded markets.
There is such a thing as maximum utilization. Some sales reps are already maxing their work hours, their prospecting efforts, and their closing efforts.
Constantly raising quotas without sound justification leads to burnout and turnover.
Better Alternative:
Set realistic, data-driven quotas that align with industry benchmarks and actual company events. Invest in more marketing, provide adequate tools, and create an environment where increases are justified, not just demanded. Considering employee turnover caused by unrealistic quotas, also do the math to determine if hiring an additional sales rep to grow revenue might cost less in the long run.
The Obsession with Activity Metrics Over Outcomes
Old-school sales leaders still focus heavily on tracking activity metrics like calls made, emails sent, and demos completed. While activity is important, prioritizing quantity over quality often leads to obligatory busy work.
Why It’s No Longer Realistic:
High activity doesn’t necessarily translate to closed deals.
Reps spend more time checking boxes than closing business.
Quality conversations and strategic follow-ups matter more than sheer volume.
Better Alternative:
Shift the focus to outcome-based performance metrics, such as:
Revenue per rep
Conversion rates at each stage of the pipeline
Length of sales cycle and deal velocity
By tracking meaningful metrics, you encourage smarter, more strategic selling rather than mindless activity.
Micromanagement and Lack of Trust
Many sales managers still operate with a “big brother” mentality as they watch their reps’ every move, demanding frequent updates, and requiring exhaustive reporting. This breeds a culture of distrust and stifles motivation.
Why It’s No Longer Realistic:
High-performing reps don’t want or need constant oversight.
Micromanagement kills morale and creativity.
Trust and autonomy lead to better results.
Better Alternative:
If you’re micromanaging, that could mean you hired the wrong people. Hire better people and let them sell. Provide clear expectations, support them with the right tools, and measure performance based on results, not excessive check-ins and reporting.
The Path Forward: Evolve or Lose Your Best Reps
Sales management must evolve with the times or risk losing their best talent. Today’s sales professionals want to work for leaders who understand the modern sales landscape, respect their expertise, and provide them with strategies that actually work.
If you’re still pushing outdated sales tactics, ask yourself:
Are my expectations grounded in reality, or are they based on training and playbooks from decades ago?
Am I requiring my sales reps to work in the most efficient way, or the most traditional way?
Would I enjoy working under the management style I enforce, or would I find it highly irritating?
Should our company leadership consider investing in fractional sales management or sales consulting for help modernizing our company’s sales strategy and processes?
It’s time to be real with your sales team. Drop the outdated tactics, embrace modern selling, and build an environment where reps can truly thrive. This all falls under the category of working smarter – not harder, and that’s a great way to drive revenue in modern selling.
