As a baseball player, Tommy Lasorda was certainly not remarkable. He appeared in only 26 games in his professional career and gave up more than six runs per game. As a manager, however, he was one of the best of all time. His Los Angeles Dodger teams took home two World Series titles during his 20-year career as manager, a feat matched by only 23 other managers in the entire history of the game.

Probably the most remarkable thing about Tommy Lasorda was his ability to develop talent. During his tenure, nine of his players were awarded National League Rookie of the Year honors. The point is that the best managers aren’t always the best players—and the same is true for your sales team. When it comes to managing—and more importantly coaching and developing sales talent—the skills that are required are different than the ones that make a good salesperson.

In many printing companies, sales reps often report to the owner. This model can work fine in smaller companies, particularly if the owner has a sales background and is comfortable with managing salespeople. As a company grows in size, however, having a sales manager to lead and guide the sales team makes good business sense. A company’s growth can make it difficult for an owner to manage multiple tasks, and the sales function is a critical to financial success. According to Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends’ research study entitled Best Practices of High-Performance Print Sales Organizations, firms reporting double-digit sales growth were more likely to have a sales manager.