If you’re not satisfied together with your sales status appearance to the coach of your team – your sales managers. Here’s a way to test how smart they are.
Initial, will your sales manager apprehend where his/her sales can come back from by account, by product / service for 2008? Or is it concerning, “Here is my variety, let’s go out there and sell, sell, sell.” Raise every one to elucidate where the sales for 2008 can come back from.
Second, does your sales manager understand how to encourage each of his/her folks? Yes, the key is money, however cash goes to the family. Cash is about survival but, what very gets the sales person going? See if your sales manager will answer this question concerning his people.
Third, will your sales manager coach and mentor. Coaching is telling his people what to do, i.e. get to the final decision maker. Mentoring is showing them how to try to to it, i.e. show how to use your main contact to network you to the ultimate call maker.
This needs discussing sales decision plans and pursuit strategies. Then making calls along – not for the sales manager to sell, however to watch, offer feedback and lay-out a behavior modification plan. How often does your manager do that with each sales person?
Fourth, will your sales manager turn-over and recruit effectively and timely? In other words will he purge the underside 10% every year and constantly ask for new recruits. Most managers are reactive. When someone leaves, they then look for a replacement. Sadly, as a result of of one-3 on top of, the better folks (perhaps not the best) leave and then the manager starts recruiting. This leaves you with the poorer performers and also the new hire becomes whatever was available.
Sort of a college football coach, your sales manager should be smart at recruiting smart talent and then showing this raw talent what to try and do and the way to do it. Don’t ever get sucked into the “experienced sales person”. Experience only means that someone has been doing it before. It says nothing about how good one is, particularly selling your products and services. That is where the coaching and mentoring becomes critical. As in soccer and every one sports, coaching and follow is essential and ongoing.
Finally, will your sales manager hold your folks accountable? That’s when a forecasted sale is not made, is there a discussion that holds the sales person’s feet to the hearth? Are there consequences along with rewards? As my old soccer coach uses to say, “I do not wish excuses, I wish results or else you don’t start”.
Now it is your call. Is the person accountable for the foremost necessary component of your business – sales -capable and doing what it takes to urge you where you would like to be? Or do you would like to step up and take actions of training your managers or hiring new ones – and then training them. If professionals like Tiger Woods and each other athlete wants coaching, your sales managers do as well.
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