.png?width=300&name=Callum%20Mackay%20-%20EP%2028%20(1).png)
Episode 28 | Callum Mackay
Callum Mackay moved into sales management early in his career, building and leading teams through startup and scale-up environments. In this episode of I Used to be Crap at Sales, he and Mark Ackers get into what the first-time sales manager role is actually like - the shift from selling to leading, the imposter syndrome, and the year of pressure that ended with him being signed off work with stress. If you've recently stepped into management, or you're thinking about it, this one is honest in a way most conversations aren't.
What we cover in this episode
- Why putting yourself forward before you feel ready is a career skill - and where that same drive tips into burnout
- What you think sales management is (people and coaching) versus what it actually is (numbers, forecasting, diagnosing where the team leaks)
- Why "feedback is a gift" - and how avoiding difficult conversations early is how you let people down
- Being a coach instead of a hero manager, and why letting reps make their own mistakes matters
- Being signed off work with stress - what it did to his body, and the box breathing and locus-of-control habits that got him back
About I Used to be Crap at Sales
I Used to be Crap at Sales is hosted by Mark Ackers, Co-Founder of MySalesCoach. Each episode is a direct conversation with someone who has been in the sales seat - covering the specific challenges that sales leaders, AEs, and SDRs actually face: first-time management, SDR coaching, quota pressure, difficult conversations, burnout, and the parts of the job nobody puts in the job description.
New episodes every month.
Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
About Callum Mackay
Callum Mackay is a sales leader who stepped into management early and has built and led sales teams through startup and scale-up environments ever since. He's open about both sides of the job - the buzz of building a team and closing the first deals, and the toll that carrying an impossible target took on his health. That honesty is what makes him worth listening to on first-time leadership.
MySalesCoach
MySalesCoach matches sales teams with expert 1:1 coaches - people who've done the job, not just studied it. If anything in this episode sounds like your team, explore how coaching works or book a call to talk it through.
