What Nobody Tells You About Becoming a First Time Sales Manager | EP28 | Callum Mackay

Most people get their first sales management role because they were good at selling and good at putting themselves forward. Nobody warns them it's a different job - or that the drive that got them there can be the same thing that burns them out.

Callum Mackay moved into management early in his career, building and leading sales teams through startup and scale-up environments. He's honest about the whole arc - the buzz of a first sale with a team he built, the imposter syndrome running at 250%, and the year of stress that ended with him being signed off work.

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🎯 Who this episode is for:

• You've just stepped into your first sales management role and it's harder than you expected
• You're a strong performer thinking about management and want to know what you're walking into
• You lead sales managers and want to understand the pressure they're actually under
• You've felt work stress creep into your body and want to hear someone talk about it honestly

In this episode, Callum sits with Mark Ackers to talk about the first-time sales manager role and why so few people are prepared for it - the shift from selling to leading, being a coach instead of a hero manager, managing up when the numbers are down, and protecting your mental health while still carrying a target. It's an honest conversation about the parts of sales leadership that don't make it into the job description.

💡 Key takeaways:

• Putting yourself forward before you feel ready is a career skill - but without healthy boundaries, that same drive is what burns you out
• You can think management is about people and coaching, and be blindsided by the numbers, forecasting and diagnostic side that's actually half the job
• Feedback is a gift - avoiding difficult conversations early doesn't protect anyone, it just delays the damage
• If you could win every deal yourself you wouldn't need a team - being a coach means letting people make mistakes, even when it costs a deal
• Visibility is real: in the office people see your effort, and when you're remote you have to deliberately share what you're doing or it doesn't count
• No job or career is worth your mental or physical health - Callum was signed off work with stress and is honest about what got him there and what got him out
• Focusing on what you can control, box breathing, walks and talking to someone are simple things that pulled him back from the edge

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