SalesManagement
(or just adding their own quota to the collective bottom line?)
Is your Front Line Sales Manager helping the whole team grow?
Did you promote one of your best sales reps to sales manager?
That happens pretty often
(Data from the Sales Management Association’s Hiring Top Sales Managers Research Report indicated that, 96% of firms rely on internal promotions to staff sales management positions)
96%
It’s not necessarily a bad choice, but...
Did they get any formal, comprehensive
training on how to do their new job?
Most don’t
Did you expect them to keep selling and hitting a high quota?
Sales managers spend only about a third of their time managing people
How are they supposed to know how to help
their direct reports improve?
With that big quota...
...and the new administrative tasks...
Where are they supposed to find the time to support reps?
The logic of promoting a strong rep to manager makes sense
Expecting them to keep doing: - The same sales job + administrative tasks + supporting reps...
...doesn't make sense
What’s the takeaway here?
If you have a great rep
and you want them to keep hitting the same quota
don’t saddle them with - administrative tasks
- and expectations to coach & mentor
- and holding their reps accountable - a key part of the job
If you expect a manager to succeed, recognize that the job is about
achieving success through others
...not just through their own direct sales efforts
As Stephen Covey wrote
“begin with the end in mind”
❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖
So ask yourself...
Why do you want a sales manager?
If it is to generate revenue by their own sales efforts...
...sales manager is not the right job for them
If it is to empower their direct reports to sell more (and more effectively)...
don’t saddle them with things that will hold them back from doing that
So - EITHER
Empower the manager to succeed through others
&
Measure this kind of indirect success
&
Reward them for it
OR
Just have reps
But you can do better than that
An engaged and empowered sales manager can
help your whole team do better
It’s OK if they sell
Maybe even best if they do with some of their time
But...
Recognizing that the job is more than selling...
...and that it takes time and patience and work to achieve results through others...
...is a great start...
Because achieving results through others
Is powerful
(and practically the textbook definition of management)
Sales Management Too
The Sales TeamSuccess Formula™
www.sales-team-success-formula.com
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