A 38-year sales management veteran breaks down his six-facet framework for building and running a high-performing sales team.

In this episode of Building Your Sales Engine, host Mark McGraw sits down with Pete Fasulo — a 38-year sales management veteran and fractional sales manager — to unpack his six-facet framework for running a high-performing sales team. From hiring the right reps to disciplining the wrong ones, Pete shares the structure he uses inside Sandler’s fractional sales manager program to drive 15-40%+ revenue gains for his clients.

If you’re a sales manager, a business owner without one, or a top rep being pushed into management, this is the playbook conversation you’ve been looking for.

Host: Mark McGraw — Building Your Sales Engine
Co-host: Josh Pitchford — Building Your Sales Engine

About Pete Fasulo: Pete Fasulo is VP, Sales Leadership Programs at Sandler with 38 years of sales and sales management experience, including a role as VP of Sales at AT&T and 11 years owning his own business. Today he leads Sandler’s fractional sales manager program, serving as the acting sales manager for small and mid-sized companies that need professional structure without a full-time hire.

Why the best sales reps often make the worst sales managers — the “Ted Williams syndrome”
The six facets every sales manager needs as a structure: recruiting, interviewing/hiring, onboarding & ramp-up, coaching, motivation, and disciplining
Why “hire slowly, fire quickly” needs a caveat — and how a proper ramp-up plan changes everything
The interview question Pete asks every candidate to expose the wrong fit fast
How to build a month-by-month ramp-up with monthly business objectives (MBOs) instead of premature revenue goals
Why your CRM is not your sales manager — and what structured weekly one-on-ones must include
How to prune a pipeline so it stops being a “sewer line”
The fractional sales manager model: what it looks like, what it costs in time, and the results clients see

Six Facets of Sales Management (Pete’s Framework):
1. Recruiting — Always be building a bench, not just hiring out of desperation
2. Interviewing & Hiring — Ask the right questions to confirm fit, not chemistry
3. Onboarding, Ramp-Up & Training — Match your ramp-up plan to your real time-to-quota
4. Coaching — Weekly team meetings + weekly individual meetings (WIMs), every time
5. Motivation — Positive reinforcement, sales contests, and Pete’s “nine musts” of a successful contest
6. Disciplining — A structured corrective action plan tied to ramp-up milestones

Links:
Sandler: https://www.Sandler.com
Episode page: https://www.BuildingYourSalesEngine.com/
Show links: https://linktr.ee/buildingyoursalesengine
Pete Fasulo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-fasulo-3357a3/
Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmcgraw/