Asking the right questions can make all the difference in any arena, and sales management is no different. It can be difficult to manage a successful team, and asking the right probing questions can make a huge difference. Among all our favorite sales management books, some of our favorites are practical ones, with applicable lessons and actionable insights that can be acted upon right away. “99 Questions to Achieving your Sales Goals” by Terence A. Walsh and David A. Falter is one such book, featuring 99 great questions that the best sales managers should ask of themselves and their sales teams. We’re not going to reveal all 99 questions – you have to read the book to learn more! – but here are 15 of our favorite questions. When sales managers ask their teams, their managers and themselves these questions, forcing them to think through their own answers, they will truly be able to unlock the full potential of their sales force.

1. How does your sales process compare to your customer’s typical buying process? – (Click to Tweet)

2. How do salespeople update sales and business management about sales opportunities? – (Click to Tweet)

3. How do salespeople document their progress within each sales opportunity? – (Click to Tweet)

4. What does the salesperson do to prove an opportunity should be qualified? – (Click to Tweet)

5. How do you decide an opportunity no longer belongs in a salesperson’s forecast? – (Click to Tweet)

6. How do you collect history about how deals progressed through the sales cycle? – (Click to Tweet)

7. How are quota, sales cycle and pipeline metrics communicated to each salesperson? – (Click to Tweet)

8. What factors in your compensation plan do you believe motivates a salesperson to produce more revenue? – (Click to Tweet)

9. From a sales management perspective, what does marketing do to generate viable sales leads? – (Click to Tweet)

10. What percentage of leads transitioned to sales are qualified? – (Click to Tweet)

11. What marketing tactics produce the most leads? – (Click to Tweet)

12. What is the sales management process to properly qualify or rationalize sales forecasts? – (Click to Tweet)

13. What methods are used by your sales managers to diagnose poor sales rep performance? – (Click to Tweet)

14. What are the key sales performance metrics used to evaluate sales performance? – (Click to Tweet)

15. If a rep fails to execute on a performance plan, what are the next steps? – (Click to Tweet)