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How To Make Your Sales Manager Better |
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Written by Mike Brooks
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Tuesday, 12 January 2010 09:35 |
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I consult with a lot of business owners, and I hear a common complaint: “The sales team isn’t making their revenue numbers and my sales manager doesn’t seem to know what to do to get them to improve. What should I do?”
After reviewing their sales processes, their training program, sales scripts, etc., I always ask the same question: “How much production is your sales manager generating per month?” And I almost always get the same answer – “My manager doesn’t sell.”
Therein lies the problem.
The problem with most sales managers is they don’t sell. And the problem with that is how can they teach and manage something they aren’t doing themselves (or worse, can’t)?
Now I know there are differing opinions on this – some say managers need to manage from the sidelines (like coaches), need to be involved in higher level responsibilities, need to attend endless meetings, and need to be able to set revenue goals and get their team to achieve them.
I agree with some of this (except the endless meetings part!), but the most effective and respected sales managers and V.P.’s I work with all lead by example. They have a personal quota and they keep their skills sharp and refined because they are on the phones closing prospects and clients every day.
Because of this, they have a real understanding of what it takes to get the job done, and so they are in the best position to teach it to others.
Here are the top 5 benefits of having a selling sales manager:
1) Sales managers who actively sell have an up to date, intimate understanding of what techniques, skills and strategies work in your selling environment. And having this first-hand knowledge means they can teach it to others.
2) Because a selling sales manager has this immediate experience of closing sales, they are in a much better position to help their team members close business as well. They can easily do a TO (take over) when a sales rep needs help. This not only teaches the rep how to handle selling situations, but it often saves a sale as well. This is what your sales manager must be able to do, and it is a crucial part of their job.
3) A selling sales manager commands the ultimate respect and confidence of his/her sales team. A sales manager is a leader of his team, and the best way to lead is by example. Sales reps respect and follow a leader who can help them close sales and achieve their goals. They’ll also work harder for them.
4) A confident sales manager grows a confident and productive team. Nothing is better for a sales manager than to have him/her demonstrate, to themselves and others, that they have what it takes to successfully close sales. A successful selling manager isn’t afraid of setting production goals because he knows he can achieve them (and he knows what it’s going to take).
5) As a business owner, you must have the confidence that your manager knows exactly how to accomplish your company’s revenue goals. The most accurate way to determine this is by having the sure knowledge that he knows how to do it himself. This experience is invaluable and will ensure that the goals you set are reasonable and reachable.
The #1 problem I run across when working with companies is an unreachable, unrealistic revenue goal set by the owner that has no real buy in by the sales manager. It is this disconnect that causes friction, undermines morale, and often leads to demotivated, underperforming sales teams (and managers).
All this can be avoided when you have an experienced, hands on, selling sales manager who can give you honest and accurate feedback about production goals and the ways to achieve them.
There are many more benefits of having a selling sales manager leading your team, but I hope this short list has convinced you. Believe me, the fastest way to make your sales manager better is to give them a quota and require them to pick up the phone and start closing business.
If you don’t already have a quota for him/her now, then do yourself (and your company and your manager) a favor and set one this week. All of you will benefit from it!
If you found this article helpful, then you will love Mike’s bestselling book on inside sales: “The REAL Secrets of the Top 20% - How To Double Your Income Selling Over the Phone.” You can read about it by clicking here.
Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. He offers a FREE audio program designed to help you double your income selling over the phone, as well as an internationally acclaimed FREE ezine. If you’re looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by visiting: MrInsideSales.com
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What is sales? Where is sales? How are sales? |
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Written by Jeffrey Gitomer
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Tuesday, 12 January 2010 09:32 |
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What is sales? Where is sales? How are sales?
EMAILED QUESTION FROM A READER: Do you feel there’s a danger that ‘sales’ gets walled into one department of the organization? Do you believe that the sales philosophy needs to permeate the whole company and that there should there be an element of every employee in the company doing a ‘sales’ job of one kind or another? If so, do leaders and managers need to focus on developing this more?
REALITY: Every single person in every single company is either in sales or affects sales. Every single person in every single company is either in service or affects service.
There’s an old business adage that goes: “Everyone is in sales.” The reality is that only salespeople believe this. Even customer service people that touch customers daily and spend hours with them in what might be considered a gateway to the next sale don’t think of themselves as in sales, or don’t think of themselves as salespeople.
KEY POINT OF UNDERSTANDING: Your customers are judging every aspect of every transaction and rating everything from friendliness of people, to ease of doing business, to quality of product, to service after the sale. They’re judging how easy it is to access someone on the phone. They’re judging how the package arrived. They’re judging what the instruction book is like. And they’re certainly judging service should they need it.
The dilemma is that leadership fails to communicate and teach the importance of customer’s interactions and perceptions as they relate to the success of the company. The reason everyone in the company doesn’t perceive or realize that they’re in sales is that no one has told them and no one has taught them.
The CEO, top executives, and top management in big and small companies need to be able to sell every day.
The Chief Executive Officer is also the Chief Sales Officer. He or she is responsible for the success of the company, and the success of the company is based on selling quality goods and making a profit. The closer the CEO is to the everyday selling process, the more successful the company will become.
There has to be a partnership between the sales team, the management team, and the executive team. Leadership must create the products or the services and the messages. But the messages have to be transferable and perceived by the customer to be favorable.
Management’s job is to convey leadership’s message in a compelling and inspiring way.Not just in meetings; but also by example. And finally salespeople must convert these messages and their training into sales. My belief is that the company should provide the salesperson with every training tool they need combined with encouragement to succeed.
For the past ten years we have enjoyed the biggest boom time economy in the history of mankind. During that time, many businesses took their customers for granted while they reaped profits.
Many companies were not very prudent about how they conducted their business, and when the economy turned they were ill prepared to meet the change. They had every excuse in the world why things were wrong, but no solid reason, or idea, or game plan to make them better.
Here are a few “teach tips” to get your team to the next level…
• Teach EVERYONE that attitude is the foundation of success, both personal and business
• Teach EVERYONE the importance of friendliness
• Teach EVERYONE that speed of response is not an option
• Teach EVERYONE how to respond to customer complaints
• Teach EVERYONE that service is as important as sales.
• Teach EVERYONE to ask for more business
• Teach EVERYONE to suggest more
• Teach EVERYONE to thank the customer for their business
The key word is “teach” because these are courses that no one ever learned in school. Yet they are vital to your success – especially in these times.
These elements may seem fundamental – almost rudimentary – to anyone’s job function. But more business is lost to apathy, rudeness, slow response, poor attitude, and lack of friendliness than is lost to low price – times a thousand.
CHALLENGE: If you tell your people everyone is in sales, why don’t you follow through and help them sell?
THOUGHT: If everyone in the company is in sales, why are only salespeople invited to sales meetings?
REALITY: You are overlooking HUGE sales opportunities at a time when sales are harder to come by, and every sale counts.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Little Red Book of Selling. President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached at 704/333-1112 or e-mail to
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© 2009 All Rights Reserved - Don't even think about reproducing this document without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer • 704/333-1112
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