Having collaborated with hundreds of sales managers for over three decades, I’ve gained insights into the pivotal sales management skills that distinguish success from mediocrity. This article highlights four key practices that exceptional sales managers implement, setting them apart from their peers.
1. Superior sales managers observe their salespeople differently
A common mistake I see many sales managers make is to assume that salespeople already have the skills to do the job. If a salesperson doesn’t perform well, the manager just assumes that the underperformer is a hopeless case. This hands-off mindset absolves the manager from taking personal responsibility for trying to solve the problem, and eventually, the underperformer gets canned.
Superior sales managers learn to roll up their sleeves and do a deep-dive inspection of the underperformer’s skills and the wills that are lacking. Only by accurately diagnosing the salesperson’s skill and will gaps can sales managers prescribe the most effective solution. Maybe it will turn out to be a hopeless case, but maybe not.
2. Superior sales managers ask questions of salespeople that emphasize a focus on customer buying behavior
The most successful sales managers recognize that the likelihood and timing of a purchase decision depend upon the actions a customer takes, not what their salespeople have done during their sales process. In conversations about potential deals, exceptional sales managers will ask their salespeople questions that emphasize that fact:
- “What problems does this particular prospect have that we can solve?”
- “What are each decision maker’s buying criteria?”
- “What specific actions has the prospect taken thus far in regards to evaluating this decision?”
- “What’s their timeline and process for reaching a purchasing decision?”
What these superior sales managers are probing their salespeople for is evidence of forward progress in the customer’s buying process. They want to know what buyer actions have occurred so they can either establish or refute a salesperson’s claim that a particular deal will be closed within a specified time frame.
3. Exceptional sales managers have a 1-on-1 deal review with each rep monthly
Successful sales managers take conversations about customer actions one step further by holding formal 30-minute meetings with each salesperson once a month.
Salespeople benefit from these 1-on-1s because they find out sooner, from the questions the manager asks, if they have an insufficient pipeline or a lack of forward progress on sales opportunities. Sales managers benefit from these 1-on-1s because they create a results-oriented team culture where salespeople know they will be held accountable for fulfilling their sales goals and activity commitments. The monthly review should have five parts:
- Status report: The manager shares the rep’s results year-to-date, previous quarter, and previous month and compares those figures to the team’s results as a whole.
- New opportunities that have been added to the rep’s pipeline since the last review.
- Status of pre-existing opportunities: which ones have moved forward and which haven’t.
- Review of deals forecasted to close within the next 30 days. The emphasis here should be on what actions the customer has taken that indicate they are about to make a decision in your favor, the potential revenue from the deal, the salesperson’s best guess about the probability of success (and why), and what he or she can do to improve the odds of success.
- Next steps: Agreement between both parties about what the rep will do between now and the next review.
4. Superior sales managers reinvent themselves as leaders instead of individual contributors
A business journalist once asked me, “Do great salespeople make great sales managers?” I had to reply, “Not very often.” Here’s why….
Behavioral science tells us that people who are the most successful at one thing often have the most difficulty succeeding at the next level up. Why? Because they have a hard time giving up doing those things that made them successful in the first place. They keep relying on the skills they honed to reach the top of their original profession.
The skills needed to become an exceptional sales manager are often the direct opposite of what was needed to be a great salesperson. Superior sales managers understand this fact. They constantly challenge themselves to think differently, like a team leader rather than an individual contributor. They think about how they can help their team members get better every day instead of what they can do to close sales themselves.
Your sales organization needs superior sales managers who trains, coach, support, motivate, and hold reps accountable for fulfilling their commitments.
At TopLine Leadership, Inc., we provide an engaging online training program that teaches sales managers how to become exceptional. If you’d like to receive a 1-sheet course description for our Sales Manager’s Guide to Greatness online training program, email me at kevin@toplineleadership.com
