Sales Strategy by Steve Knapp, The Sales Mindset Coach
Columnist and author Steve has a surprising – but effective – message for sales managers
It might surprise you to know that the role of a sales manager should be far more than a simple drive for results.
Yes, that’s a key part of it. But, you’ll never sustain the results without paying equal consideration to the other – arguably more important – parts of the job.
For one thing, you’ll need to take on a near chameleon-like existence – your sales team will demand very different things from you when compared to the needs of your company bosses.
One of the best pieces advice I was ever given was “a sales manager makes heroes rather than being one himself or herself” – you’ll get far more satisfaction from mentoring a team to sustained success than trying to take the glory yourself. I know because I’ve done it.
If you create an environment that your sales team can thrive in, the rest of your job gets easier.
I like to keep things simple so I’ve split the important areas of the job into something I call the eight wonders of sales management.
Always be results oriented – hire people with drive and resilience. Create a team that is focused on the key sales metrics. When you put competitive people together it has a positive impact on the entire organisation.
Build the right sales team – Establish what mix of sales professionals you require in order to succeed. Different people have different skills.
Set sales expectations – You want to get your team energised! Set clear expectations so everybody knows the difference between over-performance and under-performance.
Don’t hire dinosaurs – Your sales team must be good at taking feedback. Only hire sales professionals who are open to coaching, embrace technology and invest in their professional development.
Set high but realistic goals – All sales professionals expect to be stretched. Your job is to ensure their targets are neither too high or too low. You want them to fully buy in to the “do-ability”.
Incentivise your team – Create a sense of urgency and leverage motivation. Consider displaying league tables around the office.
Training matters – Make continuous learning part of the culture. Every successful sales organisation should have a programme of training that is consistently progressing the core of product knowledge, prospecting, opportunity management, territory planning and professional communications.
Remove Clutter – Shield your team from internal politics and don’t get in their way – make it easy for them to focus on the job.
If you want to read more about how to adopt a ‘sales mindset’ across your company then try my best-selling book ‘FunnelVision – Sales Made Easy’. It’s on Amazon for £4.79 Kindle/ £9.95 physical edition.
Steve Knapp can be contacted on: steve@thesalesmindsetcoach.com
More information from: thesalesmindsetcoach.com
