Motivation or manipulation?

By / / Ethics & Values, Sales Coaching, Sales Culture, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Research, Sales Skills, Sales Strategy

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 …

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Selling and managing are not the same

By / / Coaching, Performance Management, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Results

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 …

Selling and managing are not the same Read Post »

You can’t improve salespeople without improving sales management first

By / / Coaching, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Results

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 …

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