How to Be a Better Sales Manager, Part 5 - Focus on Results
Suppose you have two sales people, Jack and Jill. Jack is incredibly polished and professional. He makes fabulous presentations, works like dog, follows up diligently, and is virtually self-managing. Jill, on the other hand, is rough around the edges. She’s unprepared, disorganized, and high maintenance.
Jack is consistently 85-90% of quota.
Jill is consistently 110-125% of quota.
Which […]
How to Be a Better Sales Manager, Part 4 - Take the Micro Out of Your Manage
Few people work effectively when they are being suffocated. If you ever had a boss who looked over your shoulder 24/7/365, you probably felt as though you were being buried alive.
Nonetheless, there’s a tendency in sales management to bury sales reps alive with call reports, forecasting reports, lost business reports, new business reports, business assessment […]
How to Be a Better Sales Manager, Part 2 - Keep Your Distance
This is the second in a 10-part series, How to Be a Better Sales Manager. It’s my belief that the sales manager is underserved. There’s plenty of training and coaching available for sales people, but managers, the unheralded heroes of sales success, are all too often left to their own devices. These posts are designed […]
How to Be a Better Sales Manager, Part 3 - Be the Director, Not the Star
This is the third in a 10-part series, How to Be a Better Sales Manager. It’s my belief that the sales manager is underserved. There’s plenty of training and coaching available for sales people, but managers, the unheralded heroes of sales success, are all too often left to their own devices. These posts are designed […]
How to Be a Better Sales Manager, Part 1 - Listen
This is the first in a 10-part series, How to Be a Better Sales Manager. It’s my belief that the sales manager is underserved. There’s plenty of training and coaching available for sales people, but managers, the unheralded heroes of sales success, are all too often left to their own devices. These posts are designed […]
Sales Manager - The World’s Hardest Job
Much has been written about how hard it is to succeed in sales. It’s all true. But to succeed as a sales manager? Even harder. The status, scope of responsibilities, and influence of sales managers vary from organization to organization. But the one consistent element of the sales manager mindset is uncertainty.
Uncertainty about how their […]
What I Learned from My First Sales Mentor
First impressions are powerful. My first mentor in sales made a great one on me. He was trained as an accountant, incredibly driven, and willing to do anything in the world to help you - even if it wasn’t pleasant. His name was Gary. Here are just a few of the things I learned from […]
