Sales Managers Make a Difference

Marketing

Sales Managers Make a Difference
by Barbara Sanfilippo



Firms all over the country spend thousands of dollars to put sales reps through extensive sales training.  The reps return to their office eager to sell but many are left to succeed on their own.  In a way the wrong person receives the training.  A manager who is self-motivated and people-oriented – and who understands how to manage and motivate a sales team – can do more for your organizations bottom line than a whole flock of sales-trained employees.  With a little sales management training, you or your manager can be the driving force in building a high performance sales team.  This article will outline the true value and best practices of top sales managers.

TRAIN YOUR TEAM

A sales manager provides training in four key areas:  product knowledge, potential customers or markets for products, the competition and sales and service skills.

Product training is continuous and works best when presented at a set time each week or month.  Whatever the format, several facets are included:  the product’s features; benefits to the customer; cues and opportunities to look for; open-probing questions and typical objections.  Providing technical information alone is not enough – your people need the sales information as well.  This can be done at a sales meeting, by conference call and reinforced with product quizzes and games.

As a sales manager, involve your team in keeping an eye on competitors.  Assign each sales rep to monitor a specific competitor by collecting the sales literature, clipping pertinent ads and articles and personally shopping the competition.  Ask your staff to review its findings at a monthly competition meeting and maintain a binder or shared computer file where results and progress are collected for future use.

Your actual sales training can take several approaches, depending on resources.  Some firms have formal sales training programs.  In other cases, you may conduct the training yourself or bring in an outside consultant and share the costs with a few companies.  Role playing by having one employee act the part of the customer and another play the sales rep is recommended whenever possible and demonstrated by the sales manager.  You can also role-play on a conference call if your team is located in different geographic areas.

COACH

Coaching is one of the most effective techniques you can use to improve sales performance.  On customer calls, offer pre-call planning guidance and accompany a rep to observe the calls.  Afterwards debrief on strengths and weaknesses to improve and get agreement from your rep.  Having seen your rep in action, you may decide that improvement is needed.  This is where additional coaching is helpful with focused training.  From my experience most sales reps need better pre-call planning and practice in determining needs and probing on calls.  For sales reps who do not have an available sales manager, I recommend asking a respected peer to accompany them on a call and give your feedback.

After reviewing sales tracking reports, you may determine why your rep isn’t performing satisfactorily.  Are obstacles beyond the employee’s control hindering their efforts?  Do they need more product knowledge training?  Are they following up and servicing the account properly?  It’s up to you, the sales manager, to develop and support your sales people in their success.

SET AND TRACK SALES GOALS

As a sales manager, it is important to set realistic, achievable goals.  Goals can be expressed in several ways:  dollars in new business; numbers of new client relationships or revenue per customer.  Additional goals may be set for prospecting such as a weekly quota of minimum face-to-face visits and phone calls.

Once goals are set be sure to track and publicize results.  Posting results in a highly visible way, such as on a central bulletin board or in an email, often is a booster.

RECOGNIZE, REWARD AND CELEBRATE

Sales managers understand the value of offering recognition and celebrating success.  Besides commissions and annual bonuses, a wide variety of tangible incentives can be offered – a roving trophy, gift certificates, special dinners, for example.  Something as simple as public praise at sales meetings also is important.  Exclusive sales and achievement clubs are an excellent vehicle to provide continuing recognition.  Clubs are commonly used in many sales organizations such as Geiger Brothers, New York Life Insurance and Coldwell Banker.  In this approach, targets can be set for each team or group of employees.  When individuals reach the threshold for their group, they automatically join the club and receive special perks and recognition.  To maintain a standard of excellence, the threshold is difficult, but not impossible.  For example, any rep reaching $200,000 in revenue per quarter, is a member of the Silver Club and at $350,000 the President’s Club.  Club members are invited to attend a special trip preferably at a resort location.

MONITOR FOLLOW-UP AND CONTACT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Another prime role of a sales manager is to help the sales staff to be organized.  Successful sales mangers require their staffs to maintain active tickler files or contact management reports on all prospects and customers.  By requiring sales employees to plan outside calls in advance and follow a systematic call reporting process after the call, you are reinforcing a best practice.  Sales reps who record key business and personal facts about a customer, their preferences, needs, competitive info and follow up data are typically more successful in winning the trust and confidence of their customers.  Don’t be afraid to ask your reps, “Can you show me how you capture client information and schedule your follow up calls?”

CONDUCT SALES MEETINGS WITH PIZZAZZ

One of the more important roles of the sales manager is running a good sales meeting.  When conducted properly, sales meetings provide tremendous learning and motivation.  Ideally, sales meetings are held at least twice a month and weekly meetings are even better.  A sales meeting agenda might include the following:

A review of team goals and progress to date

A review of individual performance, using a comparative chart of results

A “sell and tell” session, in which reps share success stories, frustrations and ask for ideas

Role-playing, practice sessions for probing questions or handling objections

A relevant guest speaker, such as a customer or product development manager

A product knowledge quiz

Selections from motivational books or tapes

Recognition and rewards

End the meeting on an upbeat note with recognition whenever possible.  You want your team members to leave feeling excited about the goals set for them and armed with the tools and motivation to do so.

Too many companies throw their sales reps to the wolves.  The smart ones take the time to harness the potential of their people.  I strongly recommend you invest in sales management training.  As a sales manager you have the privilege and honor of developing and leading your team to success.  Just as every Olympic Athlete has a coach committed to their victory, you make a difference too! 


-----------------
arbara Sanfilippo is an award-winning speaker, consultant, and author of DREAM BIG! WHAT'S THE BEST THAT CAN HAPPEN? Romano & Sanfilippo partners with organizations to accelerate their sales and service culture. To inquire about speaking availability, or