Transitions are periods of opportunity and fresh starts – but they're also periods of "acute vulnerability", and if you fail to build momentum during your transition, you will face an uphill battle from that point forward. To help keep momentum in your favour you need to learn to anticipate and manage a few common traps…

Failure to Focus. If you're new to the sales manager's role, the job can feel overwhelming, and you may well end up jumping on any horse and madly ridding off in all directions. It’s natural to want to excel in every aspect of the job, and fix everything that got to you before you were promoted. But the truth is you cannot hope to achieve results in more than a couple of areas, during your first three months. Start off by identifying a few promising opportunities, and focus relentlessly on translating them into wins.

Ignorance of the business situation. Think hard about what the sales team really needs to be able to perform at top notch level. After all, you were a salesperson yourself, and you know what really got to you. A willingness to listen and learn from your sales team followed by rapid decision making and action on pressing issues call kick start the momentum in your favour.

Failure to win for your boss. While it's essential to secure early wins that energize your team, you also need to address your boss's priorities. Even if you don't enthusiastically endorse them, you must make them central to your thinking during those first 90 days. Addressing problems that your boss cares about, will go a long way toward building credibility and cementing your access to resources.

Putting the end before the means. You can achieve stunningly impressive results, but if you've done it in a manipulative, underhanded, or overbearing way, it's all for nothing, because you've probably set yourself up for failure going forward. The way in which you achieve your wins matters – and it matters a lot is accomplished in a way that exemplifies the behaviour you hope to instil in your new sales team.