Category — Sales Management

Do You Want To Increase Sales Performance?

Transforming your sales managers from good to great coaches can have a dramatic impact on sales. In fact, sales coaching is the management No. 1 activity that drives sales performance. The only problem is that managers have not been taught how to effectively coach. Coaching is a skill that takes time to perfect and unless effectively coached or trained managers make all types of blunders.

As the head of sales or as a frontline sales manager you can greatly enhance the performance of your sales team if you can develop great coaches.

Coaching Blunder #1 – “Telling vs. Asking Coaching”

As a sales manager you probably were a top sales rep. You may still see yourself as a problem-solver, like “If I solve this rep’s issue then she/he can make the sale.” As a result of your action orientation you are likely to tell the salesperson how to solve the issue. “Telling” does not create self-managing salespeople. In fact, there are numerous downsides to the tell-first approach.

First, you are not empowering your sales reps, who may perceive you as being a micro manager. Second, you are also creating a dependency on you to be their problem-solver. This creates endless emails, phone calls and resulting in needy reps. And third, you are not developing them. One of the critical areas for development is the ability to be a self manager.  Read more... (994 words, estimated 3:59 mins reading time)

Are you starting a career and deciding whether to choose between a sales manager job and sales management job? Are you at a point in your career where you have the option to acquire into a sales field or a management field? Here are my reasons why sales manager jobs are additional rewarding, better paying, and more captivating and why I would recommend them over management jobs.

Through sales manager jobs your remuneration is higher and the potential for higher pay is directly related to your performance. Sales manager jobs usually are paid commissions, bonuses, or a hybrid of salary plus commission.

 So if you would like to earn more then it is completely depending on you and your performance. If you want to get more income then work hard and you must concentrate your work. It can also effect on your career.

Sales manager jobs are the most important jobs in any organization. Sales drive a company’s income and growth. There would be no income without a sales department. And there would be no company and no managers without income.  

The first and the most important step for salespeople is to contact their clients. And they also know about them directly what they respond to and what’s not working for them. This also provides sales people a benefit to change their pitch as opposed to Managers who advise of the big picture administrative objectives. The job of sales manager naturally permits the salespeople to perform market research through client interactions allowing them to pass on that information to management; manager’s finish up relying on salespeople for information. Your role as a salesperson is more influential than you think when it comes to your association’s ultimate decisions and policies.  Read more... (485 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

After my last blog 5 Ways to Gauge Your Sales Managers’ Coaching, I heard from several clients. One VP of Sales loved the article and asked for copies for his Directors of Sales. Two heads of sales from different companies liked the post but did not want to send it out to their frontline sales managers because of my comment (see below) that coaching was more important than administration. Neither wants their sales managers to feel that it is OK to spend time in the field and avoid administration.

“Like many of us, managers tend to spend their time on the activities they are the best at and most enjoy.  A manager who focuses extensively on administrative tasks like submitting reports on time probably is less comfortable coaching. The manager who finds creative ways to get into the field and spend more time with sales reps probably sees the value of this time. Remember that administration doesn’t generate revenue or help develop your salespeople and that time spent in the field improves your reps’ ability to be the best they can be”.

Both were struggling with individual sales managers who were not completing their administrative duties on time and they were tired of excuses. So by sending this article out they felt that they would provide an additional rationale for the sales managers to avoid completing their administrative work.  Read more... (462 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

It’s critical in today’s uncertain business climate to make no mistakes in interviewing and hiring new sales representatives for your company. Hiring managers are under more pressure than ever before to make the right decision the first time. Beyond the basics of conducting a great interview and communicating with candidates in a timely manner, it’s important to keep an objective, balanced perspective. Here are the top 5 things you need to know to make a great decision and avoid costly hiring mistakes:

1. Use a results-based decision-making process. What does this mean? Look at your current reps (most importantly, look at the high performers). What are their characteristics in common? Similar backgrounds? Similar degrees? What works for their success will likely be what makes a good current candidate. They will “fit.”

2. Talk to your top candidates several times. Make sure you’re getting a full picture of the candidate, not on just one really spectacular day. Also, have others speak to them. See if others on your team are getting the same impression you are.

3. Watch the “tells.” If you play poker, you know about “tells.” It’s just body language and behavior. Read the book: Reading People. It’s excellent. And pay attention to things like:

· how they follow up with you after the interview

· what the thank you note looks like, how it is written, and when it came

· how the candidate dressed, and what kind of behavior you noticed  Read more... (478 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Business Development Officer? Business Procurement Specialist? Did you know these types of titles for salespeople can ultimately rob your organization?

As a Sales Management Training Consultant, I often notice business cards from salespeople with titles that require some effort to decipher. As I inquire further about their role, eventually it pops out – “I’m in sales”. It makes me wonder, when did “Sales” become a five letter word that can no longer show up on one’s business card? It gets deeper…

Building high performance sales organizations is my specialty. Much of my success is a result of a startling discovery made years ago – there is no proven correlation between Personality and Sales Productivity. This discovery enabled me to lead a team that transformed a $40B business unit into a $60B business unit in 18 months for a Fortune Global 500 company. How? We recognized anyone can succeed in sales despite personality. Sales is simple if you learn how to master sales behavior intelligence and develop your salespeople accordingly. Sales is about behavior and our proven sales system is built on the 25 behaviors that is proven to impact sales productivity – Sales Identity is one of the behaviors we measure.

What is Sales Identity?

Sales Identity measures a salesperson’s pride of the sales profession. If a person views selling as noble, they are considered to have a strong Sales Identity. The opposite is true for those who view a sales position as something to be ashamed of, they are considered to have a weak Sales Identity.  Read more... (958 words, estimated 3:50 mins reading time)