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Dave Anderson has something to say to the first group of sales representatives that he managed many years ago. “I am so, so sorry,” he says. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Like many new managers, Anderson was promoted to his position based on his sales ability – but he didn’t have a clue about dealing with people. So he held sales reps accountable but didn’t communicate what was expected of them. He managed by intimidation, instead of motivation. Rather than coach his team, he stayed aloof, locking himself in his office and immersing himself in administrative tasks.
“I could close deals and do budgets, but I was just horrible when it came to leading people,” he admits. “I didn’t teach anyone anything – I managed by command control. I don’t know how anyone could stand to work with me.”
Nowadays, Anderson is a lot savvier about sales management. In fact, you could say he wrote the book on the topic: he’s the author of Selling Above the Crowd and No-Nonsense Leadership, and he’s president of LearntoLead, a sales and leadership training company.
As Anderson’s experience proves, being a successful sales manager doesn’t mean you can manage people. But what does it take to succeed?
The following lessons are culled from the experiences of some of the most successful sales managers who’ve built great teams and directed the whole sales organization.
1. Become a master of change. The biggest and most challenging task of a sales manager is to prepare the sales team for the constantly changing marketplace. The ideal sales manager will calmly face chaos, enthusiastically embrace change, and always adjust to whatever tough challenges lie ahead.
That’s why great managers set the bar high with their own work ethic, and they lead in change management. Leilani Lutali, a sales rep with Comforce Technical Services, a consulting and staffing company, says her first manager did just that. “Diana expected as much of herself as she did of her sales force. And she wasn’t afraid of her reps surpassing her – in fact, she encouraged it. Through her mentoring, she helped us rise to our highest levels of excellence.”
Troy Berns, a sales rep with All Copy Products, a dealer for copiers, printers, facsimile machines, postage meters and scanners, says he appreciates that his current manager works just as hard as – or harder than – the reps he oversees. “My manager gets in the office before I do, and when I stay late he’s right here strategizing with me. He won’t ask me to do anything that he wouldn’t do himself.”
“When we’re faced with change, salespeople will automatically focus on what they must give up,” says Tom Miller, a sales-training consultant. “To them, virtually all change will be perceived as loss. That’s why good sales managers add value when it comes to selling the pain of gain. They help the salespeople vividly imagine the raisins in a huge cake, and then they will tell them that they will lead them personally through a potentially unnerving gauntlet that ultimately gets them unscathed into a big cake factory.”
2. Earn their trust. Trust is the foundation of any relationship. Trust means that your word is as good as gold, that salespeople don’t have to second-guess anything you tell them, and that they can count on you. Trust is not what you preach to your team, it is what you do when nobody is watching.
“Managers who have a reputation for changing their views based on who was in their office last have no credibility,” says Lawrence B. Chonko, a professor of marketing at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and founder of the school’s Center for Professional Selling and Sales Management.
That means if you set rules and deadlines, you’d better enforce them. If you schedule meetings, you must hold them. “Otherwise you become a joke,” says Doug Stevens, a sales-and-marketing consultant with Carrera Agency, a talent management firm.
Most importantly, sales reps must believe their manager is working for the good of the team and will go to bat for them when needed. If you become complacent, have a bad attitude, make rude or abusive comments, or are caught lying or cheating, you betray their trust and end up with a demoralized, unmotivated sales force.
“You may think that you are watching your reps,” Anderson says. “But actually, they are watching you. Sales reps won’t buy into what you say unless they buy into your character, your competence, and your consistency.”
When you make as a mistake as a manager, don’t hide or gloss over it, but admit it quickly by saying, “I blew it, I made a mistake and I take full responsibility for it.” Your honest response will silence the critics and everyone who has ever made a mistake will understand and respect your honesty. If you are too proud to admit your mistakes, you will lose people’s trust. When you lose trust, your team will no longer be able to function smoothly and your ability to manage will suffer.
3. Provide feedback. Good salespeople stop working hard when the sales manager fails to provide objective feedback. Without the pat on the back or the celebration of a stretch goal achieved, salespeople will ask themselves, “Why am I working so hard?” If there are no consequences for goals missed and no rewards for goals exceeded, sales productivity will decline.
Good managers set clear expectations and realistic goals. Give plenty of feedback and let reps know where they stand – and not just during annual or quarterly reviews. “Delayed consequences lose their punch, so you should give feedback on the fly,” Anderson says. “Reps will try to hit a standard if they know what it is. If you don’t create clarity, how can you create accountability? How can reps know if they are cutting it if they don’t know what ‘it’ is?”
In one company, the vice-president of sales was so preoccupied with moving up the ladder – and fishing for compliments from the CEO – that he overlooked the need for complimenting and thanking his regional managers for their extra efforts. Every time they achieved their goals, he asked them to set their expectations higher and told them that their salespeople could do a lot more. Within a year, five of his 12 regional managers moved out of his division, sales suffered, and when a new CEO took over, he was let go.
It’s therefore critical to balance criticism with elegant, positive reinforcement. “Managers who give only criticism without building us back up don’t help,” Berns says. “They just make us feel less motivated.”
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