Salesopedia - How To Manage Smart Salespeople

How To Manage Smart Salespeople

Written by Nicki Weiss

The other day a friend of mine recounted over lunch the woes of dealing with her unsupportive, ineffectual and insensitive sales manager. After a few forlorn stories, she asked, “Did I do something in this or a previous lifetime to make me deserve this?”

I didn’t know what to say, other than no one deserves to have a bad manager, and certainly not this friend who is bright, hardworking and fun. However, unfortunately, she is not alone. Many people with the title of manager don’t quite rise to the challenge.

It’s often not their fault; sometimes they just haven’t had a good manager to role-model. Then again, sometimes they just focus on the wrong things.

More than anything else, smart salespeople want to be in environments where their talents are appreciated and developed. Successful managers cultivate that kind of environment in every interaction with each salesperson. Every phone call, email and meeting with each salesperson clarifies how that individual’s talents contribute to the team’s goals.

Ask Your Team What They Need To Kick Ass

All members of your team know what they need from you to help them rise to their potential. Listen to them, then do as you are told.

Asking them what they need from you is an enormous act of respect. You are inviting them to step up and become fully invested in their work. If team members say that they don’t need anything, then they’re making a clear statement that they only have themselves to blame if they’re not performing at the top of their game.

Make Your People Visible

Stars need to shine. Sales managers have some visibility in the larger organization and can champion the accomplishments of their people. When you highlight individual achievements, you earn the trust of your people, and they will repay you many times over for that gift.

In the unspeakable acts department, there is never a reason to take credit for the work of a team member. This action only poisons your own well. If there is ever ambiguity around who came up with what idea or is responsible for some achievement, yield in favour of the salesperson.

Stop Obsessing Over the Close

“Always be closing” may be a well-worn cliché among salespeople, but it should be banished from the lexicon of sales managers. The beginning and the middle of the sales process are just as important as the end.

Sit down regularly with your people to check their progress, coach, role-play difficult calls, and help them strategize.

Raise the energy level

Enthusiasm begets enthusiasm. Hustle begets hustle . . . and so on. When team members go too long without stimulation, their edge dulls. Keep your salespeople’s energy up by deliberately micro-managing their calendar to include situations, people and groups who challenge and, frankly, scare them. Personally, my energy level skyrockets when I work with a big group of entrepreneurs or take a new course like improvisational acting.

Brand Your Team ~ Brand Each Player

While branding can mean a lot of things such as a great logo, coherent message, or razor-sharp materials, to me a brand reflects character. Authentic branding can give your team members an extraordinary competitive edge. They have nailed their brand when clients know what they stand for and trust they will deliver. What is Nicki’s character . . . behind her promise? Why would I want to buy from Michael? What does Joanne do that contributes to the larger world?

Good managers spend significant time helping each salesperson, and the team as a whole, articulate their brand. Ask your team members to describe their colleagues’ strengths. Encourage them to notice how they behave when they get their brand “right.” As my father used to say, “It is easy to notice a fly on someone else, and hard to see an elephant on yourself.” Have each person on your team take Strengthfinder 2.0 (see Business Book review) to help identify strengths.

Develop Yourself

Directing a sales team is not the same thing as selling. Nor is it like overseeing manufacturing or running an entire company. Sales management requires a very specific skill set.

You need to know how to coach, develop and motivate reps, and how to hire and fire reps. You also need skill in organizing sales territories, setting appropriate quotas and drafting a compensation plan that rewards sales and meshes with your firm’s overall strategy.

Most sales managers learn on the job, a process that can take years and incur invisible costs, namely, lost revenue and disgruntled staff.

Take seminars specifically about sales management and coaching, or, at the very least, pick up a book or two on the subject.

Nicki Weiss
		About the author:
		Nicki Weiss is the founder of SalesWise , a Toronto-based sales coaching and sales management training company. Nicki is a certified sales management coach, master training and seminar leader. Subscribe to her free e-newsletter ~ filled with fantastic tips that will drive more revenue ~ at www.saleswise.ca This article may be reprinted in its entirety with express written permission from Nicki Weiss. The reprint must include the section “About the Author”.
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