Top Sales Managers Position Their Team To Win
Among the most important core traits of high performing sales managers is their ability get their salespeople in position to win.
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Top Sales Managers Position Their Team To Win
Jane called her team together for an impromptu meeting. As her sales team filed into her office they noticed that she was holding several pieces of paper in her hand. Jane pointed at the papers and said, “Folks we have an opportunity that just dropped in our laps and we are going to take advantage of it before our competitors do. OSHA just approved a new safety rule and our new harness is compliant with this new reg. I want to waste no time identifying and calling every customer and prospect in our database who will be effected by this new rule.” Jane then handed out spreadsheet pages to her salespeople containing the names and contact numbers of the businesses in their territories that needed to be called. She reviewed the call script and set a deadline for reporting back the results of the calls..
Eight months later Jane was named Sales Manager of the Year. Her team had set new records for single year sales and most of her salespeople won awards too. As she received her award she beamed. This was her third trip to the podium in the last six years. Sadly though, for her company, she was the only sales manager, out of 52 men and women, who had the foresight to see this opportunity to develop a strategy to take advantage of the opportunity that opened up as a result of the new OSHA rule. By the time the others had to be told what to do the competitive landscape had changed greatly.
Getting in Position to Win
One of the most frequent questions asked by VPs of sales, HR professionals and business executives is, “What are the core skill sets of top sales managers?” Usually followed by, “Where can I find these people?”
Jane’s story is reflective of one of the key findings from a ground breaking study conducted by the Sales Executive Council on sales management. The study found that among the most important traits of high performing sales managers is their ability get their salespeople in position to win. Basically what this means is top sales managers are strategic about getting their salespeople in front of the right prospects and customers at just the right time. By keeping their salespeople in front of prospects who have the ability to buy, the need to buy, and are in the window to buy they increase the probability that those prospects will buy form their salespeople. This is why top sales managers consistently deliver higher and more consistent performance that average sales managers.
I use the word strategic and tactical for an important reason. Average sales managers are tactical most of the time and top sales managers are strategic most of the time. The difference in performance is incredible. Tactical sales managers are focused on the same things their salespeople are focused on. Often times they get so involved in deals the line between salesperson and sales manager becomes skewed. Tactical sales managers are driven and guided by circumstances much as fall leaves are blown by the wind. In this environment their salespeople receive little guidance on where they should prioritize their efforts. They work on whatever is in front of them, regardless of the viability of the deal.
High-performing sales managers remain above the fray. They do not sell for their salespeople. Instead they are constantly scanning the business landscape looking for trends and opportunities. They listen for clues to what is happening with competitors and the market and help their salespeople adjust to take advantage of these trends or avoid pitfalls.
Analyze and Reposition
Get Out of the Way
Much like successful coaches in sports, top sales managers point their team in the right direction and then get out of the way. Image how silly it would look if during a NFL football game the coach ran out on the field during a play and pushed a player out of the way and caught a pass or made a block. In the sales profession average sales managers do this all the time. Of course the more they do, the more they become bogged down in minutiae which inhibit their ability to be strategic. Worse, their salespeople become conditioned to wait for the sales manager to do the work for them.
Then there is the worst kind of sales manager. The one who bogs his people down in paper work, meetings, conference calls and other non-productive activities. This sales manager is easy to spot because he’ll always be sitting at his desk pushing paperwork and annoying his salespeople with useless questions about expense reports.
High-performing sales managers spend far more time reviewing pipelines than expense reports. They are consistently in the field with their people coaching and observing. They are keenly aware that their primary role is to get their people in position to win. Top Sales Managers are vigilant in removing road blocks and anything else that gets in the way of selling. Why? Because they understand that they, and their salespeople, exist for one reason and one reason only – to sell!
This is Jeb Blount, the Sales Guy. If you have a sales question please send it to salesguy@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email.
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