On Friday the top salesperson was selling and on Monday this same sales pro is managing a team of sales peers. This can spell frustration for all.

Often times top sales people are promoted into sales management without clear expectations, training, guidance, or coaching. Having a sales leader trained at what they do, skilled at their trade, and proficient with the tools to do their job effectively and consistently is imperative. (And, it is the right thing to do for the team, the new manager, and the company.)

This “promotion” situation is similar to how I received my first sales management role in 1991 and the learning curve was steep, painful, and embarrassing. Fortunately, I was curious and diligent about creating a process to secure ideas and best practices from the reps I managed. Meanwhile, the reps were anxious to share their ideas and tools that they had gleaned from seasoned managers they had worked with over the years. This was gold and I was the miner who struck it rich.

Certainly, tools have improved, yet many of the measurements and attention to detail have not and nor has the importance of creating an environment of trust and clear expectations for the team. In addition, the fact that the sales leader continues to be responsible for sales results and communicating the organization’s sales health for the day, the future week, month, quarter, and full-year ahead remains a priority.

Executive team’s require the visibility to understand where they’re headed and it is the responsibility of sales leaders to deliver this and to ensure their team is on the right path. Early in my career this seemed to be “guestimations”, yet with more tools, open dialogue, and clear expectations, forecasting became accurate, consistent, and empowering for the entire organization.

One of the biggest mistakes I see within SMB’s is the promotion of the best sales person to a sales management position. This is a double-whammy; remove your top revenue producer from securing sales and “promote” them into a role to manage their once peers. Appointments like this are made with the assumption that if this person can sell, they can also manage and deliver what is needed for the entire organization – sales growth and consistent performance. Many can perform, yet without the training & tools they will fumble and so will your team.

With Certified Sales Leadership, we instruct on the specifics that a sales manager needs to measure and communicate within the organization, hone the skills of strong leaders, and deliver the tools and resources to increase the effectiveness of an individual to lead a sales team and drive performance. We build the people, the process, and a clear path to sales growth while the team builds pride and confidence in their organization.

Ineffective Sales Leadership

Sometimes promotions into sales leadership are a component of succession planning.  A strong communicator in a family owned business is “anointed” to take on a sales leadership role.  Intentions are pure, yet the individual’s wisdom has been gained at the dinner table or growing up in the business, not managing high performance sales reps. The knowledge is valuable, yet to manage an A-Team of sales pros requires a structure and sales process with the tools to help and support the team perform and exceed their current performance.

Reps need to sell, and managers need to lead with the guidance and tools that improve a sales rep’s efficiencies. A sales manager needs to provide octane to the engine, help tune the machine to run more effectively, and remove obstacles from the sales path ahead.

Too often an owner is working on their business with habitually long hours through the week and weekend and has dedicated minimal time to guiding, coaching and mentoring a skilled sales team or the next generation. Important things are taken for granted and are expected to be known.  Expectations of “ the job to grow sales” are muddy, feelings are withheld, egos get bruised and poor sales performance results without a clear idea of what is going wrong. Fingers get pointed.

Think of this: 96% of Sales Managers want sales training but are not receiving it. It is not for a lack or desire to perform, it is a lack of knowing what to do and how to do it. At Sales Xceleration we have specific training for sales management and leadership.

Lesson number one of sixteen sessions in the Sales Xceleration Certified Sales Leadership Program is focused on the Environment of Sales Success.

Lesson 1: Create an Environment of Sales Success

This should be simple. If you start by developing an environment of trust with your sales team, the communication will lead to team participation. Seems simple, yet many new managers feel the need Rule as the Dictator simply due to not knowing how to manage and lead. If meetings are simply report outs and reprimands as opposed to dialogue, you will not create the relationships and develop the opportunities to share, guide, and support each other.

The most important thing to focus on is creating an environment of trust. 

Increasing targeted business dialogue through cordial rapport amongst the team builds a level of communication and respect. Become the individual and teammate who cares, listens, and guides productive conversation.  A leader works alongside and with individuals to help find answers by uncovering critical knowledge from within the team. Probe for participation in pointed and purposeful dialogue. Ask questions. Listen, learn, and share.

Do your best to create clear and specific goals that are attainable, measurable, date specific and attainable. Communicate the goals, and then manage the progress towards these specific goals.  It’s important to share what these goals are with each individual and to gain buy-in on their understanding of the specific expectations.

You can do this with two weekly meetings: The Team meeting and the individual 1:1 meeting.

As a Team, share on a weekly basis the challenges and successes that each person is having in meeting their goals.

• Identify where there are sticking points in a relationship or a sales process.  

• Make this an opportunity to coach the team and have them suggest ideas amongst each other – this will build dialogue, pride, and confidence.

• Share wins and acknowledge successes with each other.

• Listen with empathy, and most importantly, be the leader who creates an environment where knowledge can be shared.

In 1:1 (one on one meetings), coaching needs to be specific. With a sales goal or a quota discussion, make sure you know exactly what you want that person to achieve. Again, clarity on the specifics is imperative. If they fall short of goal, make sure to have the dialogue where they can identify what can be done to avoid the miss. The key here is to identify the behaviors and activities that can be improved upon or how they can be grown into best practices.

When the manager finds exceptional behavior (Best Practices) in the 1:1 meeting this is the Gold that needs to be shared in the group meetings – the Wins. Put this person on a pedestal and let them share their best practice(s). Peer to peer sharing creates a strong team culture of respect for one another, builds trust, and creates an environment of success. Support the individuals and the team will thrive.

This first lesson brief, “Setting Your Team Up For Success”, will be followed by lesson 2 “Understanding your Client”, in my next article introducing the Certified Sales Leadership bootcamp scheduled in Indianapolis, October 22 – 25th.

Disclaimer – This is not a “How-to-Sell” seminar, this is a Certified Sales Leadership bootcamp on the creation of Sales Strategy, Sales Process, & Sales Execution. For more information please contact me at sbendzak@salesxceleration.com.