As I talked about in my previous blog, getting addicted to the adrenaline of fighting fires and solving problems is one reason that sales managers can have a hard time becoming a more effective, proactive leader. When you were a salesperson, there was benefit in being a good firefighter. But not that you’re a manager, you’ve just been promoted to Fire Preventer in Chief.
I recently reviewed the sales manager’s job description for a Fortune 500 company and learned that about 85% of the responsibilities they assigned to their sales managers were related 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 one-on-one, coaching a salesperson?” Not one of the sales managers told us that they spent more than 5% of their time, one-on-one, coaching a salesperson.
So for this company, only 5% of a sales manager’s day was actually spent on tasks associated with achieving 85% of what the company expected a sales manager to accomplish. It was no wonder that this company’s recent “climate survey” had measured low sales morale, an unacceptably high sales turnover rate and poor ramp-up to quota for new-hires.
A prospect whose staff sold billboard space told me he was unhappy with their prospecting rate. When he asked me about the price for providing training, I responded by asking him a few questions: What the problem was and why it was occurring. What the impact of fixing that problem would be on his bottom … Read full article
In our previous post, we discussed how to see the warning signs that your prospective client is in talks with your competitors. This post is going to focus on changing their minds and swaying their decision towards your solutions. We call it running a reverse play. Every football fan will know a reserve play when … Read full article
Losing the first mover advantage on sales call is a tough spot to find yourself in. This is the typical case when you receive an RFP from a client. But all is not lost! These situations can be turned to your advantage but it’s very important to first realize that you aren’t the only cook … Read full article
Effective sales managers are able to adapt their coaching approach to the needs of each salesperson on their team. And to do that effectively it’s important for coaches to understand the stages of development, or what is commonly referred to as a “learning curve.” As a salesperson progresses through this learning process your coaching approach … Read full article
Most sales managers recognize how important sales coaching is for helping their salespeople achieve high levels of performance and sustain good results. They want to know what they can do so that they can become more effective sales coaches. Here are four “best practice” tips I give them. 1. Set standards BEYOND minimum acceptable levels. … Read full article
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A few years back a leading office products company surveyed its 1,500 B2B salespeople, asking them to rate how well their sales managers did in 80 categories. Their findings suggest a lot about what salespeople think their sales managers need to do differently to accelerate team success. Sales managers’ #1 highest-rated item out of 80Â … Read full article
No professional sports team would think of competing without a coach who knows what they’re doing. Â Most importantly, pro teams don’t assume that just because someone is a great player that he or she would also make a good coach. Yet the standard in the sales profession seems to be the exact opposite: it’s assumed … Read full article