Sales Leadership

3 Changes in Mindset for Newly Promoted Sales Managers

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A red puzzle piece is in the shape of a head.

Imagine it’s a typical workday and one of your salespeople bursts into your office or calls you on the phone. “Hey, Boss! Guess what! I have an inside track on that MegaCorp deal. It’s looking really good! This could be the biggest deal I’ve ever landed!” Pop quiz: What do you do as this person’s … Read full article

Where Results-Oriented Sales Managers Go Wrong

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Should sales managers focus on results? Absolutely, but problems with sales teams arise when sales managers focus ONLY on results rather than observing and improving the inputs of the sales process. Sales results are an inescapable metric of the sales profession. But sales managers who want their teams to improve results have to pay attention … Read full article

What Makes a Great Sales Coach?

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A man in a suit sitting at a desk

While being a good coach might not be a bad thing, a positive trend that I’m seeing in the sales managers with whom I work is an aspiration for greatness. Here are five key traits that separate a good coach from a great one. 1) External focus – While a good sales coach has a … Read full article

3 Tips for Hiring Great Salespeople

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With the New Year just around the corner, many sales managers are thinking about what they can do to improve team performance in 2017. And for many, the answer lies in hiring new people. Every experienced sales manager knows that a bad hiring decision is costly in many ways. If you hire the wrong person, … Read full article

Five Presidential Attributes Every Sales Manager Needs

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A podium with the presidential seal on it.

We are currently embroiled in a divisive election where each candidate harshly criticizes the weaknesses of the other. For a refreshing change, I decided to revisit the leadership attributes possessed by arguably our greatest president — Abraham Lincoln — and discuss why a few of Lincoln’s skills are so important for today’s sales managers to … Read full article

Upgrade the Attitude of Your Sales Team Now!

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A group of yellow balls with faces on them.

What is the sales performance problem? In a webinar I gave recently, 75% of the 150+ sales managers who attended indicated that a significant portion of the performance issues they face on their team are due to bad rep attitudes—or what I call a sales rep’s “willingness problems” (to contrast them with “skill deficiencies”). Why … Read full article

What Sales Managers Can Learn from a Great Basketball Coach

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Like many people, I couldn’t help but follow the exploits of the Villanova Wildcats in the most recent NCAA basketball tournament. And along with the rest of America, I was thrilled by the last-second 3-point shot that won Villanova the national championship. Their achievement impressed me so much that I decided to study up on … Read full article

4 Crucial Metrics for Measuring Your Sales Managers

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A measuring tape and ruler with the words " measure success ".


As the saying goes, what gets measured gets done. How are you measuring your sales managers? One metric is, of course, “% of plan.” But you already know that.

Every sales manager wants to be provided with a clearly defined target. Give them a clear target and they will hit it. The trouble with providing them with only one metric focused on end results, such as “% of Plan,” is that sales managers can become very short-term focused. They will put their effort into chasing big deals instead of coaching. So your sales teams aren’t being built to last.

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Can Your Sales Managers Teach Your Reps to Hit Home Runs?

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A baseball player swinging at the ball with his bat.


Financial offerings warn that past performance is no guarantee of future success. Shouldn’t sales managers carry the same warning?

Too many companies tend to shoot themselves in the foot by investing the bulk of their training resources on their sales reps and ignoring training for those responsible for managing their reps’ performances. Star results as a rep don’t automatically translate into managerial success.

The fact is, most sales managers have never received formal sales management training. Untrained sales managers are a big reason rep training itself may fail to bear fruit, or more specifically, to impact sales results. That hurts your bottom line.

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