Six recommendations for new sales managers
Different skills set needed to become successful
Meet Hypothetical Alice. She is her company’s best sales representative.
In fact, she’s a rock star. She’s the closer. She lights up the room.
All of her peers look up to her. They wish they could be more like Alice.
So, what does the company do? It promotes Alice to sales manager. “After all, if she’s running the shop, she’ll teach all of our other salespeople to be just like her, and we’ll have a team of Alices,” says the CEO of Hypothetical Inc.
“It’s a classic, problematic move,” says sales consultant Thomas Carroll, owner and president of Strategic Solutions Inc. in Waukesha. “It’s the biggest flaw that companies can have when they take their best salesperson and move them into the management role. The end result often is they lose their best salesperson, and now they have a bad manager.”
The same principle has long been applied to baseball. The greatest hitters don’t automatically become the greatest coaches or managers.
In most cases, the game comes so easily and naturally to them that they can’t understand why others can’t innately do what they do.
The profession of sales requires a different skill set than the profession of management, Carroll says.
However, there can be a way forward for Hypothetical Alice and Hypothetical Inc., Carroll says.
“To begin with, she will have to check her ego in at the door,” Carroll says. “Every person she manages is going to be different and is going to be managed differently. It’s like that with your children. You don’t raise them all exactly the same. They’re different people.”
When a company promotes its star sales rep to sales manager, Carroll recommends giving that new manager immediate and ongoing support and training in management skills and techniques.
It usually is a slow build to get to where Hypothetical Alice needs to be, he says.
“The good news is that sales can be taught, and it can be learned. Same with management. It can be learned if
he or she has the right core competencies,” Carroll says. “Ongoing support is critical.”
I asked Carroll to provide six important recommendations for effective sales managers. Here they are:
1. Analyze your attitude. “How you approach your work not only reveals how you feel about your job, but it also establishes a baseline outlook from which your salespeople develop their attitudes about work and, ultimately, their work ethic. Are you enthusiastic, or do you view your work as an imposition?”
2. Adapt your behavior. “You and each of your sales team members have a unique personality — a unique preference for interacting with others, looking at things, analyzing data and making decisions. Each team member has different strengths he or she brings to the job. You need to recognize and appreciate those differences.” 3. Acknowledge your limitations. “Your primary function as manager is to guide your people to perform at their best, not to be a ‘know-itall.’ Let your salespeople know that you don’t have all the answers, even if you think you do. Encourage them to offer ideas and input.”
4. Delegate responsibilities. “Delegating not only frees up your time to invest in more pressing activities, but it also gives your team members greater ownership in the efficient functioning of the department. Delegating responsibilities facilitates your team members’ personal and professional growth.”
5. Be a resource. “You must be available to listen to them, answer their questions and provide guidance when needed. Let your people know that they can come to you whenever necessary to discuss relevant issues. And when they do, pay attention. Really pay attention.”
6. Follow up. “When you enable your sales team to more fully engage
in department operations, it is imperative that you follow up. Give them timely feedback.”