As the New York Stock Exchange is now looking at “employee engagement” as a significant predictor of higher share value and market return, and given we are all competing, not just for clients and market share but for good employee talent, maybe a key performance indicator for sales management could be in Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB).

I came across some recent research into sales management, and it got me thinking about how team leaders were not allowed to “mother” their sales teams.

A loaded term, “mothering”, and without proper definition creates myths and innuendo where none should exist. The following research piece might surprise you - then again it may not.

The research, conducted by Piercy, Lane and Cravens, examines the gender issue across multiple companies from the perspective of sales managers.

What the research found was that, by and large, sales units led by female managers who had higher levels of behaviour control activities displayed higher effectiveness in terms of better job satisfaction and job involvement; lower role ambiguity, job anxiety, and burnout; higher organisational commitment; and with a lower propensity to leave.

Behaviour control activities include monitoring, directing, evaluating and rewarding people. The research says, in part: “Female sales managers perform significantly higher levels of behaviour-based control activities and display higher competence in this management approach, compared to male counterparts.”

Subsequent analyses of the same salesperson study (Piercy, Lane, and Cravens 2002) examined sales manager gender as a predictor of sales team Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB).

The results show that sales teams led by female managers display significantly higher levels of civic virtue, sportsmanship, altruism, courtesy, cheerleading, peacemaking, and overall citizenship. This suggests the management style of female managers (perhaps most particularly, their higher levels of behaviour control activity) encourages and facilitates higher OCB among salespeople working in the sales unit.

While the research showed that both female and male sales managers were able to achieve comparable sales performance, the effect that sales management behaviour control practices (as described above) had on OCB was positively linked to critical factors such as:

• Superior performance with customers
• High sales unit performance
• Helping with work-related problems
• Effective organisational performance
• Higher employee retention

Interestingly the research did not provide support for the “nurturing and caring” stereotype that suggests female managers will lead by supportive and facilitative behaviours, often referred in derogatory terms as “mothering”. However, female sales managers appear to “go the extra mile” in terms of conscientiousness.

It was reported that female sales managers spend more time monitoring, directing, evaluating and rewarding control activities in their sales teams than their male counterparts.

One of the benefits of a behaviour-based approach to sales management control is that sales managers work more closely with sales people and gain a greater understanding of the weaknesses of their salespeople – important areas that need to be improved – and provide strategies on how to help them improve their performance. If that’s mothering, then I’m all for it.

What is the line between motivating sales staff and manipulating sales staff? How do you make sure you don’t go over the line and place people under extreme pressure to achieve?

Research both here and overseas shows that high performing sales people identified how important it was to their performance that they remain motivated, which they recognised can be influenced by both internal and external factors, with a sense of self satisfaction found to be the most important contributor to their motivation.

The recent 4 Corners program on Telstra staff and a bullying culture that is supposed to be being cultivated in its call centres (transcript in full at www.abc.net.au/4corners) was very disturbing indeed.

It highlighted that once top performing sales people where now highly stressed, frightened of not meeting (changing) targets and felt unable to control their own destiny.

Research shows that the ability to control their emotions (ie self regulation) was seen as important in keeping sales people focused on key objectives, issues and working to resolve customers’ problems.

Having clear tangible goals, performance targets, customer segmentation, competitor awareness, a sound USP (unique selling proposition) and transparent pricing model segmented into individual and team sales plans as part of a sound sales and business strategy is what good sales people need and expect to be able to control their own destiny and achieve their personal and professional goals. This autonomy and control is highly motivating for good sales people.

However the 4 Corners program told a different story. It focused on call centre staff having their targets changed and increased to what some people say are unachievable levels with no reason or link to strategy.

This was compounded by a new management culture that encouraged team leaders to use phrases like dragons, savages and submarines to describe their team members if they missed performance targets and encouraging team leaders to “‘shoot ‘em’ if they don’t work out”. This left some team leaders hating and bullying their staff, with some of them hating themselves for becoming this way.

Selling is a relentless job at the best of times. It’s like being an athlete – you set clear goals and workout in rain hail or shine. You are committed to overcoming obstacles and challenges and stepping up when it counts.

Beating the competition is hard enough, but if your coach then starts adding to your load by bullying you, putting you down, changing the rules, setting unrealistic goals and training regimes and even, in some cases, completely changing the game or sport you are playing, then all hell breaks loose.

Locus of control is so important for anyone in times of stress, but especially for sales people, who want to earn bonuses or commissions, to be their best and manage themselves to succeed within the given rules. Changing the goal posts and game rules after people committed to a game plan leaves hard working, dedicated sales people feeling cheated at best. And stressed, disengaged and burnt-out at worst.

Fact or not, the 4 Corners story set back the perception of the sales profession to the draconian days of Henry Ford who said “work is for work”. He had a policy that if anyone smiled, whistled, laughed or showed any signs of enjoyment at work they should be sacked.

Having every keystroke and toilet break monitored implies that no one can be trusted. This is not an example of a healthy sustainable sales culture.

If you are a dedicated hard working person who prides themselves on being able to be trusted to do a good job and management wants to manage you this way, it is very demotivating indeed. I had hoped we had come further than that, given current thinking and research into performance and motivation, but obviously not if this story has any truth to it.

The story was discussed at great length in my circles and many people were troubled by the implication of intense sweat-shop type call centre sales environments. Sadly, it’s not new and many other stories about these draconian call centre practices are in circulation.

One of my colleagues who has worked in telco sales, in both call centre and field sales, for many years had this to say: “My experience in these environments is that the word ‘manipulation’ comes into effect when management have moving targets. In saying this I mean that half way through the game, someone changes the rules.

“The rules usually alter when companies feel that the targets are too easy and they are increased, new products appear, thus the commission plan alters, the compulsory amount of outbound calls doubles. You may achieve your results, however in the 11th hour management decide that commission will only be paid to those that completed their calls in a certain time frame etc.”

So how do we create a climate of motivation? To motivate sales staff is through honesty, loyalty and clear direction; really no different to how you would want your sales staff to treat your customers. To achieve consistent results from your sales staff and have good morale, you need to provide a very clear achievable bonus or commission structure, with no moving goal posts.

The criteria that bounds this bonus or commission (that is, amount of calls made per day/visits, markets penetrated, sales made, profits achieved etc) also needs to be achievable, structured and based on sound strategy and facts. Provide further incentives if you must, to focus on certain products throughout the year, but do not alter the bonus or commission structure.

SHL, a world-renowned psychometric test developer, has identified some key motivating factors. While these can vary from person to person, they give a good indication; money, competition, achievement, pace, social contact, recognition, growth and autonomy.

Management need to act as true mentors and motivators for their staff, especially in sales call centres as this is, or can be, a very mundane job, and staff need to feel comfortable to bounce ideas or frustrations off their manager without feeling like they are being judged or readied for execution.

So if sales targets are continually changing and sales people are finding it increasingly difficult to get bonuses or commissions, ask yourself:

• What is motivating senior management to do this?
• Is the sales strategy wrong? Did management make a mistake?
• Who will benefit financially or career wise from these changing targets
• Are management’s actions self-serving at the cost of their people?

Remember: A fish always rots from the head down.

Last week I spoke about sales burnout and the challenges many SME business owners have of being all things to all people including, usually, the main sales person and sales manager.Like many people, I have known that selling and managing are not the same thing. They are two very distinct jobs with different demands and expectations.

Some home truths about sales management:

• Sales teams cannot be lead from behind a desk.
• Sales people cannot be cloned into the image of the top sales-person-now-sales-manager.
• Mediocre supervision can put a big dent in the effectiveness of good salespeople.
• Sales people need sales leaders and coaches, not administrators and organisers.
• Some sales people are “passengers” and will never be good sales performers.
• Some sales managers are “bullies” in disguise and will ruin your team and quite possibly you.
• Both sales people and sales managers need to be trained or educated about those demands and expectations along with exactly how to fulfill them.

Have a look at the key sales management duties below and check what you are and are not doing in your businesses.

• Planning: Developing and owning the sales operating plan for the business unit in concert with marketing, service and all other parts of the business.
• People development: Establishing the people resources needed to successfully execute the operating plan by hiring, coaching, developing, measuring and leading the “right” people.
• Proactive review: Managing revenue and profit by monitoring, controlling and reviewing sales, business, customer and competitor activity. Proactively reviewing the sales plan and consolidating this plan into the business forecast for the organisation.

I am aware that I am a better sales person than I am a sales manager, and I am a better “delegative” manager than I am a “micro” manager. Looking at the key sales management duties above, I know I have not always been as diligent as I should have been even when it came to the sales management of my business.

And I suspect am not alone. Even if you delegate the role of sales management, you still have to be on top of things.

It is wise and correct to delegate key jobs to qualified people. In SMEs, where possible, you should always try to employ people who are already good at the functions you need them to be good at, so the “learn to earn curve” is quick.

However, you must always have key performance measurements and monitoring in place for each person’s role, and review them every week. Never lose control of the information flow, finances or the overall management of your business, even if you have to delegate it.

Too many entrepreneurs are not “detail” people and are “hands off” managers like me, and while I am not advocating “control freak” behaviour, you must be more vigilant.

If you’re not, you are at risk of not being on top of the sales pipeline and cash flow at best, or being marginalised in your own business by people who are “passengers” with no intention of really stepping up to the mark and doing their jobs, at worst. These “passengers” can take advantage of the free ride for more months than they should because you haven’t allocated the time to manage them properly.

If this happens you find you end up carrying nearly the entire sales load to keep cash flow coming in, potentially overcompensating for those staff who aren’t pulling their weight, all the while neglecting the managerial responsibilities of your business, especially the people performance management duties.

If this goes on for long enough you become too overwhelmed and stressed, and it all gets on top of you. A vicious circle. And isn’t it amazing how some of these passengers sit by idly watching you bury yourself deeper and deeper and don’t do anything to help, and yet can still take home a pay packet.

Yes I know, we are to blame. If this does happen to you then, hopefully, you only have to learn it once to get the message and never let it happen again.

So you can never not manage your business even if you are the best sales person and it’s not in your nature. At least have the minimum in place:

• Clear performance expectations by individual and team.
• Monitor Inputs (quantity and quality of sales activities) and Outputs (results) every week.
• Clear accountable sales plans for each individual sales person, team and sales manager.
• Regular (at least once a month) client field visits with each of your sales people (even if you have a sales manager).
• Weekly sales meetings where you talk about the future “live” work, current activities, real proposals, sales initiatives and outcomes.

Know your limitations and always make time to manage your business and your sales team directly and indirectly every week. You don’t have to be the best at it, but doing it is better than doing nothing. In small business, a week without key sales activities has an impact very quickly in the bottom line.

One final note. Be very careful about employing people who have never worked in small businesses before. It can be a big risk although there are exceptions. I know it’s stating the obvious, but small business dynamics are very different to big business dynamics, especially when it comes to personal accountability and responsibility and the courage to have your arse on the line.

I am constantly appalled at the lack of effective sales management in companies these days. Not a week goes by in which I don’t see a company make the mistake of focusing exclusively on salespeople in trying to improve sales performance.

Experience has shown that sales managers are even more critical than sales people for creating durable performance change. Really proficient sales supervision can do wonders to improve the skills, strategies and competencies of average salespeople.

Myth: The best sales person makes the best sales manager.

Fact: Selling and managing are two very different positions with different demands and expectations.

Most exceptional sales people do not make great sales managers. On the contrary, they usually make the worst. Too many organisations promote people to sales management from within, and usually the best sales performer.

They assume that successful selling automatically translates into successful sales management, and there is usually no training to go along with that promotion. If there is training it is usually in-house with no links to current or best practice.

In my experience this is a big mistake.

Businesses will never be any stronger than the sales people they select and train to be a part of it. Sales people need to be trained or educated about those demands and expectations along with exactly how to fulfil them.

In appointing a sales manager there are a few things you need to keep in mind. I find that the best sales managers are leaders and coaches rather than administrators and organisers. They cannot lead from behind a desk.

Good sales management consists of the following:

• Planning: Developing and owning the sales operating plan for the business unit in concert with marketing, service, and all other parts of the business.
• People development: Establishing the people resources needed to successfully execute the operating plan by hiring, coaching, developing, measuring and leading the “right” people.
• Proactive review: Managing revenue and profit by monitoring, controlling and reviewing sales, business, customer and competitor activity. Proactively reviewing the sales plan and consolidating this plan into the business forecast for the organisation.

Sadly, this is not how most sales managers are spending their time. A survey of European field managers by Siebel MultiChannel Services in 1999 found most sales managers do understand their roles very well.

But most were prevented from performing their optimal role. The study found that only 37% of the sales manager’s day is spent in planning, people development and proactive review. The rest of their time was spent with administration, reporting, reacting and handling customer issues.

What is your sales manager spending their time on? If it’s not the important stuff, maybe you need to work out a way to make that change.

What impact does attending a sales training program have on change?

It all depends on what type of training format your sales people attend. Too many companies look for quick fixes and waste heaps of money in the process.

Firstly forget Event Style training – you know those one day RAH RAH sessions that promise the world and deliver nothing in the long run. They DON’T work! They have the effect of a hot bath – nice whilst you are in it but it soon gets cold.

I am not saying all the content of these programs is wrong (although some of them just plain are) its just that one-day-only of anything just don’t bring about any real permanent change.

And even if the sales training is relevant, incremental and delivered in bite size chunks over time, if the salespeople are returned to the same environment (same metrics, same rewards, same supervision, same culture) as before then training, no matter how excellent it is, has no lasting impact either.

Ask yourself these questions: What are you trying to change by offering sales training? Do you want change to occur as a result of the training if so can it be defined and measured? What is the point of doing the training? What am I trying to achieve with training?

Don’t laugh most people don’t ask themselves these questions.

Sales Training needs to be an integrated process involving role clarity, clear sales competencies, sales plans, sales metrics, regular infield coaching, etc. all linked to a strategy – not some after thought or isolated event.

No wonder if you walked into your sales staff work area right now and told them they need some sales training you’d get the following responses.

“Not another sales training seminar�? they say. or “It’s so boring, we know all that already�?.

Who can blame them? They’ve been there done that. And even if they know it all, the trouble is, many of them have not been given the right support to effectively apply what they know.

A study conducted a number of years ago found that within one week of leaving any sales skills training program salespeople had lost 87% of the new skills they had learned during the training program.

Recent research by ES Research Group shows that 90% of all sales training programs result in a 90 – 120 day increase in productivity – but after that, nothing. It was only a temporary blip! Fewer than 20% of companies show sustainable productivity gains that last a year or more.

What I have found is that sales training only works if it is carefully matched to and directly supporting the use of your sales model, methodology & sales force profile. It really is the last 10%

Then it needs the role of infield coaching to provide the reinforcement needed to maintain and enhance skills and behaviours. In fact, a well-designed combination of training and coaching is by far the most effective and economical way to develop the ‘right’ skills, behaviours and knowledge and see a change in sales performance

Effective sales training can be defined as a planned program within the organisation that endeavours to bring about relatively permanent changes in employee knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours. Behaviour modelling training has been found to be most effective.

To make sure that you are not wasting your money on sales training, I always suggest that you run through a checklist. Check your ongoing sales training agenda, does it include the following?

• Company knowledge especially current strategy
• The promise-expectation-experience proposition delivered to your clients
• Product knowledge, value propositions, competitive edge, marketing tactics & tools
• Market, industry & competitor awareness
• Prospecting strategies & plans
• The ‘right’ selling communication process & techniques
• Human relations; self awareness; salespeople motivations; values, behaviours & attitudes; problem solving & decision making; self management, planning, etc.
• Clear Performance Expectations & Rewards
• Levels of Authority & Responsibility
• Sales management support

To give a long term benefit, the training needs to give your sales staff the opportunity to apply what they learn in real life situations out in the field and have regular reviews as to effectiveness and efficiency of application.

However try as we might you can’t improve sales and salespeople without improving sales management – now that’s another blog for another time.