Many of us sales managers try to manage results. We wait until our sales rep has a bad month before we decide to get involved in “coaching” them. Then, when a rep produces a bad month, we rush over and smother them with our sales coaching trying to get their production back up quickly.
Sales managers who try to manage results are like a driver of an automobile who only looks in the rear view mirror. Chances are they will be surprised when they collide with something that is unexpected. Looking only in the rear view mirror is not an effective way to drive a car, but it happens to be the way that many sales managers coach their sales teams.
Sales results can’t be managed, but behaviors and activities can. To be the best sales manager you must get in front of the result, and put in writing your expectations of the behaviors and activities that contribute to sales results.
