It’s common for managers to assist sales staff, but they must balance various responsibilities. While salespeople might feel frustrated by a manager who micromanages, customers often appreciate when a store manager offers help during a purchase decision—whether they're choosing a dishwasher, a tablet, or a lawnmower. This insight comes from a recent study co-authored by a sales and pricing expert, along with researchers Molly R. Burchett and Brian Murtha. The study examined over 5.5 million real-world customer interactions at a Fortune 500 company, as well as six related experiments. The findings showed that sales teams with a manager outperformed those without by 5% to 13%, translating to an additional $13 million in annual revenue. The greatest boost occurred when a manager joined a team dealing with new customers and took on a supportive rather than leading role. The researchers were surprised by the positive effect of managers taking a backseat, so they conducted further experiments. They found that customers view this kind of support favorably, as it enhances the salesperson’s and team’s perceived status. This, in turn, increases customer openness to buying, ultimately boosting sales. It's not unusual for managers to assist in this way. According to previous research, between 12% and 20% of all sales managers help their team close a sale. A survey of 85 business-to-consumer managers found that they spend about 41% of their time working alongside salespeople during the selling process. This is especially common in sectors like clothing and accessories, and home improvement. Managers often have to handle multiple tasks at once, and to be effective, they must know how to best distribute their time between managing and interacting with customers. Some believe a sales manager's main role is to manage rather than sell, while others believe they should be deeply involved in the sales process. Given these differing viewpoints, the researchers wanted to develop a framework to help managers allocate their time more effectively. This study is just the beginning of understanding the role of managers in sales. For example, the findings don't provide guidance for business-to-business sales, which are more complex. In these cases, both buyers and sellers are more informed, and more information is exchanged. The impact of manager involvement in these settings may depend on the stage of the process, and managers might need to take a more active role at certain points. There's already a large body of research on sales managers focusing on their leadership, coaching, and role-modeling behaviors. This research suggests that managers significantly influence sales performance, and that these soft skills are valuable—though they require time and effort to develop. However, research specifically on the selling role of sales managers remains limited. The study focused on immediate sales outcomes, such as transaction success, but future research could explore other results, like when manager involvement becomes counterproductive or the long-term effects of managers being more hands-on in sales. The researchers have already found some initial insights: manager involvement in individual sales improves store sales up to a point—around one out of every three transactions. Beyond that, store sales may decline, possibly due to managers being unable to handle other duties. Regarding salesperson turnover, the study found that new salespeople who experienced 10% more manager involvement in their first month were 8% less likely to quit by the third month compared to those with less involvement.