Crisis Management Hampers Sales Managers’ Effectiveness

Crisis Management Hampers Sales Managers’ Effectiveness

I just returned from sunny Marco Island, FL where I was speaking to a group of business owners about sales management. Actually the title of my program was “Ineffective Sales Management Kills Growth… Duh”. The group included both business owners who directly manage their sales teams as well as business owners who have dedicated sales managers.

As I usually do I discussed the 5 essential skills of effective sales managers: Coaching, Motivating, Holding Salespeople Accountable, Recruiting and Mentoring. By the way you can download my new eBook, The 5 Essentials of Effective Sales Management, on this topic. Without fail, when I […]

CEO as Sales Manager. Do You Have What It Takes?

CEO as Sales Manager. Do You Have What It Takes?

Today’s article is dedicated to those CEOs/Owners who also manage the sales team.  My first message is:  “You shouldn’t.”  But, if you believe that you really cannot afford a dedicated professional sales manager, then read on.

You first need to recognize from the outset that you will not be as effective of a job as if you had a quality sales manager leading the sales team.  You can’t because you don’t have the time to dedicate to coaching, motivating, holding the team accountable while also dealing with all the internal company issues, and oh yeah, also paying attention to recruiting new […]

Sales Managers Aren’t Spending Enough Time Holding Salespeople Accountable

Sales Managers Aren’t Spending Enough Time Holding Salespeople Accountable

Last time I talked about the area of accountability and what causes sales managers to be ineffective in holding salespeople accountable.  In case you missed the list of traits that competent sales managers possess I list it here.

Doesn’t accept mediocrity
No need for approval from salespeople
Takes responsibility
Manages behavior
Asks questions
Manages the pipeline
Personal beliefs support accountability

As I mentioned last time, frequently we see sales managers who have a hard time holding salespeople accountable because they have an oversized need for approval themselves.

While that is a common trait that is lacking and can be time-consuming to improve, we also see a significant number of […]

Sales Managers’ Need for Approval Gets in Their Way of Holding Salespeople Accountable

Sales Managers’ Need for Approval Gets in Their Way of Holding Salespeople Accountable

I talk a lot about coaching, motivating and holding salespeople accountable as the primary functions of an effective sales manager.  I took an in depth look at coaching ineffectiveness a couple of articles ago.  I’d like to look at holding salespeople accountable today.   The primary characteristics that we evaluate when determining whether or not a sales manager is competent in this area are:

Doesn’t accept mediocrity
No need for approval from salespeople
Takes responsibility
Manages behavior
Asks questions
Manages the pipeline
Personal beliefs support accountability

This isn’t a very exhaustive list frankly, but surprisingly very few sales managers possess a competency in the area of holding their salespeople accountable.  […]

Motivation Alone Will NOT Predict Sales Success

Motivation Alone Will NOT Predict Sales Success

In my last article, I wrote about the fact that it is the manager’s job to help motivate their employees.  But, I do not want any misunderstanding.  Just because a person is motivated, or even highly motivated, does not indicate that they will actually be a successful salesperson.  For instance, I know of company owners who believe that if they just hire athletes, whom they deem to be highly motivated (and competitive) they will magically have success.  Oh, if it were just that easy.  Unfortunately, there are so many factors that go into predicting success with a salesperson that motivation […]