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Casual Articles - The Myth of the Working Sales Manager
Being a trustworthy professional in business today might seem obvious, but not always followed. This represents 95% of your business success.If you have a retail store that is a clean store, make sure the doors and windows are clean, make sure the store front looks good. Enforce that your employees stay clean and the shelves and floor are clean.If it's a service company, make sure your service technicians are wearing clean work clothes, their trucks are clean, and salesmen should be well groomed and punctual. Everything about your business should be professional.The public is more skeptical than they've ever been. So we have to deal with negative media about people who were ripped off by a service contractor. It's hard to blame people for being skeptic
--- Performance scorecards
4. Advertisement & Promotions --- This is budget based and may be coordinated with marketing in many companies but should include the following:
Open house
Lunch & learn
Client seminars
Social and event selling
Public awareness, speaking and writing articles
Testimonials and referrals
Although the scenario outlined in the opening paragraph (Sales managers are often promoted and then expected to continue to
I had an experience the other day that has made me think about how too many customer service experiences unfold in the business world today, and about the difference that really good service can make.I have two dogs. Earlier this week, it was time for them to get their summer haircuts so that they will be able to comfortably cope with the Houston heat.The newest addition to the house is Jason, a miniature schnauzer who had been the prized pet of an old lady who had to give him up for adoption when she moved to a nursing home. She had chosen to keep him fully furred, not trimmed in the traditional schnauzer cut, so that he had a really nice wire haired coat to go with his bushy eyebrows and stubby tail. The other dog is Lucky, a schnauzer-poodle mixpoodle ears and body,
Sales managers are often promoted and then expected to continue to handle their most lucrative accounts. This decision is often made by management for the fear of losing major accounts. The new sales manager hardly ever protests as it is an affirmation as to his worthiness and ownership of those accounts. These decisions leave little time for coaching their sales teams or strategizing about future sales initiatives. Field sales people may end up with the perception that their personal growth potential may be limited. The sales person replacing the sales manager that was promoted may feel that the company lacks confidence in their ability to handle major accounts. This is not the kind of orientation you want to adopt when assigning new sales personnel.
What are the Sales Managers Real Responsibilities?
A fair question and the answer may apply universally across the majority of industries. The answer focuses on four key concepts:
1. Developing the Sales Strategy --- Creating a discipline within the sales force to identify specific growth targets which include:
Increased penetration of existing accounts
New account development , pipeline management
New product introduction and promotion
2. Developing the Sales Force --- This key responsibility includes self development and required leadership skills.
Coaching and mentoring
Providing training resources
Hands on buddy calls
Monthly territory/account discussions and review sessions. (one on one)
Policy & procedure enforcement
Accountability
3. Managing Activities Measuring Results --- Defining key activities and then managing those activities is a prerequisite to success.
Designing a sales effectiveness process that requires account action plan activities that include but are not limited to:
--- Targeting
--- Goal setting
--- Opportunity reporting
--- Pipeline management
--- Performance scorecards
4. Advertisement & Promotions --- This is budget based and may be coordinated with marketing in many companies but should include the following:
Open house
Lunch & learn
Client seminars
Social and event selling
Public awareness, speaking and writing articles
Testimonials and referrals
Although the scenario outlined in the opening paragraph (Sales managers are often promoted and then expected to continue to
Your career, like any journey, has a beginning, an end and a direction. For many people, the present direction of the career is probably not a result of entirely their own choices. If, for some reason, you are not happy with the direction of your career, there is a way out: Take charge of your career and change its direction.1. Know yourselfHas it happened with you that after desperately looking for something (e.g., keys) all over the place, you eventually found it right in your pocket or drawer?That's exactly the case with finding a new career direction. Usually, we try to search for a new career direction by looking all around, for example, at hot jobs, emerging fields, prestigious companies, friend's career, what's safe and so on. Ironically, we fail to look fo
What are the Sales Managers Real Responsibilities?
A fair question and the answer may apply universally across the majority of industries. The answer focuses on four key concepts:
1. Developing the Sales Strategy --- Creating a discipline within the sales force to identify specific growth targets which include:
Increased penetration of existing accounts
New account development , pipeline management
New product introduction and promotion
2. Developing the Sales Force --- This key responsibility includes self development and required leadership skills.
Coaching and mentoring
Providing training resources
Hands on buddy calls
Monthly territory/account discussions and review sessions. (one on one)
Policy & procedure enforcement
Accountability
3. Managing Activities Measuring Results --- Defining key activities and then managing those activities is a prerequisite to success.
Designing a sales effectiveness process that requires account action plan activities that include but are not limited to:
--- Targeting
--- Goal setting
--- Opportunity reporting
--- Pipeline management
--- Performance scorecards
4. Advertisement & Promotions --- This is budget based and may be coordinated with marketing in many companies but should include the following:
Open house
Lunch & learn
Client seminars
Social and event selling
Public awareness, speaking and writing articles
Testimonials and referrals
Although the scenario outlined in the opening paragraph (Sales managers are often promoted and then expected to continue to
Lean manufacturing is a business performance improvement tool that focuses on enhancing quality, cost, delivery, and people. It helps expose waste and makes continuous improvement possible by identifying and eliminating non-value-adding activities in design, production, supply chain and management.Striving to improve competitiveness by providing customers faster and better products or services, which will accomplish more than worrying about the next global crisis, is the basic aim behind lean manufacturing. The only game we need to be adept at today is the one that removes waste so the customer sees more value.In the world of lean manufacturing, companies try to produce only what has been demanded by the customer, and only when the product is required. To optimize benefi
1. Developing the Sales Strategy --- Creating a discipline within the sales force to identify specific growth targets which include:
Increased penetration of existing accounts
New account development , pipeline management
New product introduction and promotion
2. Developing the Sales Force --- This key responsibility includes self development and required leadership skills.
Coaching and mentoring
Providing training resources
Hands on buddy calls
Monthly territory/account discussions and review sessions. (one on one)
Policy & procedure enforcement
Accountability
3. Managing Activities Measuring Results --- Defining key activities and then managing those activities is a prerequisite to success.
Designing a sales effectiveness process that requires account action plan activities that include but are not limited to:
--- Targeting
--- Goal setting
--- Opportunity reporting
--- Pipeline management
--- Performance scorecards
4. Advertisement & Promotions --- This is budget based and may be coordinated with marketing in many companies but should include the following:
Open house
Lunch & learn
Client seminars
Social and event selling
Public awareness, speaking and writing articles
Testimonials and referrals
Although the scenario outlined in the opening paragraph (Sales managers are often promoted and then expected to continue to
For your people, they want to do a great job - no, really, despite your experiences, they do. And what might seem to 'the management' the important things, just don't stack in the day-to-day reality of the workplace. Here's why.Your people want to focus on looking after their customers, yet there are many things, often just little things, that get in their way. Removing these little things they are having to tolerate, allows them to deliver the very best service to their customers. Yet they are reluctant to get this clear. For some reason. You need to find out. So. Ask them!Yet why is this so difficult for some managers? Partly to do with not wishing to open challenging dialogue; not even thinking
Monthly territory/account discussions and review sessions. (one on one)
Policy & procedure enforcement
Accountability
3. Managing Activities Measuring Results --- Defining key activities and then managing those activities is a prerequisite to success.
Designing a sales effectiveness process that requires account action plan activities that include but are not limited to:
--- Targeting
--- Goal setting
--- Opportunity reporting
--- Pipeline management
--- Performance scorecards
4. Advertisement & Promotions --- This is budget based and may be coordinated with marketing in many companies but should include the following:
Open house
Lunch & learn
Client seminars
Social and event selling
Public awareness, speaking and writing articles
Testimonials and referrals
Although the scenario outlined in the opening paragraph (Sales managers are often promoted and then expected to continue to
As a business owner you may struggle with the question of how you will be able to get everything done. This is especially true for independent service professionals and solopreneurs. There are only so many hours in the day, this isnt going to change. So something else has to.And if you spend almost all of your time working in your business, you dont have time for the rest of your life. Isnt it true that some of the reasons you started your own business were so you would have more freedom and fun? If you are stressed out and not able to get the right things done, then your business isnt serving you in the way you intended.The answer is to only focus on the main drivers of your business. The kind of things that are the most important to the growth of your busines
--- Performance scorecards
4. Advertisement & Promotions --- This is budget based and may be coordinated with marketing in many companies but should include the following:
Open house
Lunch & learn
Client seminars
Social and event selling
Public awareness, speaking and writing articles
Testimonials and referrals
Although the scenario outlined in the opening paragraph (Sales managers are often promoted and then expected to continue to handle their most lucrative accounts.) was very common ten years ago, it has slowly been changing as companies recognize the importance that needs to be placed on developing the sales force. Being the number one sales person is no longer the primary criteria used to determine who the next sales manager should be. Many companies now acknowledge that the skill sets required to be a good sales manager are different than those of a good field sales person. Sales managers today must be focused on coaching their sales staffs, strategizing about creating new business and delegating day-to-day operational issues to other staff members.
The Truth Is Simple
You can not effectively manage a sales force and have primary responsibility for the maintenance or development of specific accounts. It is like trying to win the super bowl with player coaches on the field and nobody on the sidelines looking at the big picture and taking care of the overall game plan. Quit scrimping. If you promote someone to sales manager; let them manage and pay them according to the profitability performance of the overall sales team. You also need to invest in skill development in the area of coaching and mentoring for your sales managers. In fact all managers need this type of skill development. Everybody talks about it but very few companies actually train their managers on coaching and mentoring.
Gaining the Respect of the Sales Team
I often hear the argument that a sales manager needs to gain the respect of the sales team by demonstrating their skill at selling by handling some accounts. That is a myth. More precisely; that is Hogwash. There is no correlation between a manager's sales ability and leadership skills. That is why promoting your best sales person to sales manager more often than not falls short of expectations. Indeed, if you were to adopt that theory you may initiate an ego contest between the sales manager and the sales team which could do irreparable harm. Think about this. How can a sales manager live up to the responsibilities outlin
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