Many businesses have made the mistake of promoting their best performing sales person into the role of sales manager. Their logic – well they are great at selling, they’ll be great at sales management. Sadly most of these situations end in disaster.

To start off the top performing sales person has usually been given no training or a development framework to help them make the transition into what is a very different role. It is almost assumed they will know how to be a sales manager because they ‘know’ (sadly usually only intuitively) how to sell. The new sales manager, if not aware of their own capabilities/areas for development and not properly trained often (usually unintentionally) begins to compete with their sales team for sales because they miss the thrill of the sale. When out with a sales person they often take over the sales call and do it themselves leaving the sales person feeling diminished or marginalized. Their coaching strategies are reduced to saying ‘You can do it, just be like me’. Their management of the sales team can be haphazard and lacking in structure.

The consequences of such an approach can be far reaching with their actions resulting in lower sales performance. As their frustrations levels rise and they may find themselves taking back the sales responsibilities trying to cover for low levels of sales performance. Then sales people begin to leave the company or others kick back taking the easy road whilst the sales manager does their job for them. And if not corrected quickly they send themselves and their sales team into a downward spiral of poor sales outcomes.

Why would any business do this? The intentions of management to promote the best sales performer to management are usually honourable – moving into management is seen as a promotion. The best performing sales person may have asked for the promotion as it is seen (and often promoted by business) as the next prestigious step in their career. This person has been a great asset to our business we should promote them – Right? Not necessarily. Many top performing sales people usually get their greatest thrill in being in a sales role. Whilst the lure of management looks attractive, usually with a bigger more stable pay packet and accompanying prestige, the truth is that it is often a nightmare for many – even more so when there is no training, tools or resources to do the job well.

Many an elite sales performer, like many elite athletes do not know why they are good or how to show others to be effective in sales. They are often very unaware of their own strengths and talents and which means they do not know how to transfer their skills and talents onto others. They often do not know how others need to learn as well making matters worse. Many are operating intuitively. How can you train and teach something that doesn’t exist? With no proper training in people management, coaching and development practices, and if the new sales manager has low levels of self and other awareness, then we are heading for disaster in the sales stakes.

I keep seeing the following issues reoccurring all too frequently in many sales teams:

• No defined sales model
• No logical sales plan
• No clear sales metrics and activities plan
• No logical sales process for sales people to follow or sales managers to coach to
• No logical sales coaching and performance system to use to help improve performance
• No structured targeted sales recruitment process to use
• No clear value proposition, lack of awareness of their competitive edge and no clear economic argument to position products/ services/business against the competition.
• Poor role clarity – none really knows what they need to being doing, including the sales manager.

In my opinion this comes down to not having clearly defined roles and responsibilities, not selecting correctly for the role, ineffective sales management training and poor access to tools and resources for sales managers to do their job well.

Developing and enhancing your skills, attitudes and behaviours to be an effective sales manager and leader is critical to yours and your sales team’s success. However many sales managers do not get the right level of training and development to be effective and gain mastery in their jobs. Many have attended high level leadership programs on vision and high-end strategy but found they were left wanting when it came to the practical in-field tools and practices they needed to use and apply everyday with their people.

Many of the sales managers I come across are desperate for useful tools and resources and practical training to help them do their jobs well. I find when we work with them give them what they need by way of coaching field guides, templates, coaching/recruitment/performance processes, sales meetings guidelines, etc. coupled with a good education in this space they take to it with gusto and find they can really make a difference with their teams and their sales results.

Several sales managers I have been working with recently found their anxiety levels reduced significantly once they had their ‘sales managers tool kit’ and knew how to use it wisely and well.

Sales management is an applied role and not some theoretical abstraction.

So let’s give sales managers a fair chance of gaining mastery in their roles by giving them what they need – practical tools, resources and education. And, who knows even the top performing sales people might make top performing sales managers if given half a chance.

Contact BARRETT on 03 9532 7677 for access to our ‘Sales Managers Tool Kit’ and Sales Managment Training Programs.

The reality is that most sales managers do not spend enough time with their staff in a coaching capacity. Providing constant feedback and being a role model who demonstrates the right skills.

Many managers today are still focusing too heavily on short term efficiency and not long term effectiveness. Development of staff through on-the-job coaching is a critical function of modern day managers but can take second place to some of the more urgent, but less important priorities.

On-the-job coaching is something that managers recognise they need to do with junior members of the team. When it comes to salesperson with several years experience, the sales manager would prefer not to do it. The rationale goes along the lines that the senior people do not need it. They have been selling for years and they would resent the sales manager going out on a coaching day with them.

It is true that it is not much use you going out to coach people if you cannot add anything to the call. However you are the sales manager and you should be able to add something even to the most accomplished salesperson.

Added to which is the fact that those sales people who have been selling for years are not automatically good salespeople and as we have already discussed, the job of selling is constantly changing.

The 12 step approach for on-the-job sales coaching involves the 3 phases:

• before the call,
• during the call,
• after the call.

Before the call

1 Check the customer records etc.
2 Question the objectives of the call. “Anything else? Can we aim higher?”
3 Review the call/sales plan/presentation plan:

• Key sales techniques
• Likely objections and solutions
• Any problem areas and recommendations
• Role play important points if necessary

4 Agree on your role. Usually shut up and observe the call.
5 Summarise and encourage

During the call

6 Watch and listen

• How the call goes versus the plan
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Improvements from last time

After the call

7 Decide on the key learning points

• 2/3 no more
• Identify some good points

8 Overview the call

• What happened versus the plan
• Let the salesperson lead: “How did you go against your plan?”
• “What did you achieve compared to what your objectives were?”
• Don’t get into the detail of the call at this stage

9 Analysis of strengths

• What did you do well
• Let the salesperson take the lead. Add your own comments

10 Analysis of weaknesses

• “What would you have done differently?”
• Use non directive questioning techniques to let the salesperson solve his own problems. Avoid telling. Focus the questions to the areas where the key learning points are.
• Why did it go wrong?
• What should you have done? Why?
• Role play if necessary

11 Agree on action plan to address the learning points
12 Agree on the next action with the customer