Kevin F. Davis A VP of Sales with a force of 22 first-line sales managers and 175 salespeople recently told me that not one salesperson had expressed an interest in moving up into a sales management role even though there was an opening. His opinion as to why? He described his sales managers as reactive fire-fighters, working 70+ … Read full article
How many times have you come into the office with a great plan for the day”¦ and about 8:15AM everything blows up in your face? For the rest of the day you chase other people’s problems. Whether it was email, a phone call, your boss stops by, or perhaps more frequently, a sales rep saying … Read full article
Submitting a proposal could be the last point of communication that a salesperson has with a potential customer—that is unless they know how to create a proposal that is so convincing they win the business! Unfortunately, too many salespeople miss the mark in their proposals. Though they see themselves as “solution providers,” their sales proposal … Read full article
Every sales team has one: the star player who has lot of passion and puts in hard work. And these stars have the sales results to back up their bragging rights. But what happens when these “rock star sales reps” turn into “prima donnas”? They still perform at a high level, but their self-centered, demanding, … Read full article
The fundamental mistake that sales managers make — and that is perhaps the worst culprit in terms of demotivating their sales force—is managing only results instead of the behaviors and activities that lead to the results. It’s entirely rational that we sales managers focus on results because that’s how we are measured and, of course, … Read full article
Every sales team has senior salespeople who are a little burned out, who don’t sell with the passion they once had. Since senior reps can set the tone for a whole sales team, your role as a sales coach is extremely important. Â How much more could your sales team achieve if you as the sales … Read full article
To achieve meaningful and significant improvement in your sales team, you must spend more time coaching your salespeople. Trouble is, there are so many barriers that prevent effective coaching from happening. Here’s a 5-point plan (sound familiar?) for overcoming these barriers and significantly improving your sales team’s performance. Adopt the sales leadership mindset. Many of … Read full article
Far too often, sales managers get involved too late in qualifying specific sales opportunities that their salespeople are pursuing. The manager discovers that the “sure-thing” deal is anything but a sure-thing. The sales opportunities your salespeople are working on right now will comprise the lion’s share of your team’s sales revenue between now and the … Read full article
Every sales coaching workshop that I deliver I ask sales managers, “How many of you have a performance problem with a sales rep that is just unacceptable, and you know you need to address the situation?” Everyone raises their hand. Then I ask, “How long have you known this?” The answer I hear is often … Read full article
I recently reviewed the sales manager job description for a Fortune 500 company, and 85% of their sales managers’ responsibilities were related, either directly or indirectly, to sales coaching. Then my partner and I conducted in-person interviews with four of their regional sales managers, and asked, “What percentage of your time do you actually spend … Read full article