The make-up and attitude of a sales team is a direct reflection on the
Sales Manager.
One of the most common problems I pick up when meeting with companies who are struggling to achieve their sales targets is that they focus all their attention and efforts on training their salespeople but not on their sales leadership.
There is very little, if any, consideration to train the Sales Manager.
Most Sales Managers are promoted to the position because they are good salespeople or are good at doing admin or have been with the company for a long time or any combination of these strengths. Very seldom is someone promoted to the position of Sales Manager based on having the specific skills required to achieve success as a Sales Manager. And even more seldom are Sales Mangers properly trained to do the job.
Once you become a Sales Manager your success is no longer measured by
YOUR sales but rather by the sales of your team.
Being a Sales Manager can be the best job in the world if you do it right and it can also be the worst job in the world of you don’t do it right. The term Sales Manager is in itself, a poor description of the job.
You are not just a Sales Manager. You are also a Leader, Coach, Mentor, Role model, Sales trainer, Recruitment specialist, Conflict management specialist, Administrator, Organiser, Controller, Producer and are commonly known as “The Boss”.
A good Sales Manager is someone who can sell more than their salespeople.
A successful Sales Manager is someone who can get their salespeople to sell more than them.
As a Sales Manager, you are entrusted with a team of individuals who depend on you to lead, manage and guide them to success in their sales careers. Your prime responsibility as a Sales Manager is to provide the inspiration that your salespeople need to find the motivation necessary to succeed in sales. You can never put your feet up and relax.
Successful Sales Managers are those who are able to effectively “Coach” their salespeople rather than just “Manage” the team. The focus of your job should not be on, numbers, forecasting and spreadsheets but rather on getting the best out of each individual salesperson in your team.
Research shows that: “Training and coaching can lead to an increase of 88% in productivity, versus 23% from training alone.”
Your overall objective as a Sales Manager is to create and maintain an atmosphere that is conducive to encouraging your salespeople to be the best they can be in sales.
One of the most rewarding elements of Sales Management is helping
individuals to become more successful salespeople.
And that’s what makes being a Sales Manager such a rewarding job!
My one day Sales Manager’s Boot Camp equips sales managers with simple and easy to implement skills to be able to successfully manage, lead and coach their sales teams. The focus of the sales leadership programme is on how to lead and coach salespeople to achieve their full potential and to be the best they can in sales.
The programme is practical and to the point and most importantly, highly “Implementable”. View the programme outline here.
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© 2019 Ray Patterson. All materials, images and contents contained herein are the intellectual property of Ray Patterson and may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, displayed, adapted or modified without Ray Patterson’s express permission. Any unauthorized copying, reproduction, distribution, display, adaptation or modification will amount to copyright infringement.