What makes a sales manager a real pro

Greg posted on March 27, 2009 06:41

What makes a sales manager a real pro

Here is a blurb from my up coming New York Times Best Seller. What do you think? What am I missing?

His or her high standards make the statement that this is a real pro. These are not only high standards for the sales team but also for themselves. A good sales manager knows that practicing what one preaches will always lead to better results, and the results are what really matters. A pro can step into the salesperson's role and do the job as well or better than anyone on their team. They should be awesome closers because it is the role of a leader to go into the difficult sales situation and make it happen. The pro knows how to manage his salespeople and his or her boss. The pro will protect a salesperson from the office politics if he or she listens to the advice given. The job of a sales manager is to position each salesperson to succeed. This does not mean that he will fulfill every request. He is not a secretary. On the contrary, most of the time it is saying “no” which will get the salesperson back on track.
Managing a sales team is like teaching a class of 5 year olds because the teacher needs to treat the students equally and at the same time each one has his or her individual needs. Some may be cuter or more likeable, but they all need guidance to live up to their potential. It is the same with salespeople. They all have different needs but all deserve the same chance to succeed (I must say that the 5 years olds do listen better).
The pro has a methodology to bring along to manage members of their sales team. They all do things differently, but they do have a reason for what they do. The pro always focuses on results and treats the members fairly. Finally, there is no question about who is in charge.

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# tom

Friday, March 27, 2009 7:42 PM

Re: What makes a sales manager a real pro

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Defining Pro in the first place is what I think I would want to understand when discussing a manager or trainer.

To me you have two needs in a sales force, and it could be the same guy, but in my opinion, that isn't as effective as having different people do different things.

A flight school has instructors and a Chief Pilot. The Chief Pilots job is to do overall evaluation and on occasion, examine students for pilots licenses. He is the "Chief Trainer" responsible for the professionalism of his instructors. He is what I would cross reference as a sales "trainer".

A Flight Department Manager is who I would cross reference to a Sales Manager, in my opinion, one who manages the flight (sales) department. This guy in marketing and sales would "manage" territories, quota's, the shipping department, and oversees the "sales trainer".

I personally see sales training as being a very specialized professional endeavor focused on sales and delivery. Personally I see this as being crucial to a sales forces success. Can this be the same guy as a sales manager, of course. In my opinion, though, it wouldn't be as effective but certainly is probably the norm in many businesses and most agencies like ours.

Professional(ism) in my opinion is defined as one who is "prepared" and who teaches preparation. We could spend pages on this, but again, I think we all know someone who is prepared when we meet them.

Aloha....

# Jerry

Saturday, March 28, 2009 6:20 AM

One who coaches the gap... what the salesperson does today vs what they probably should be doing to get the results they want.. by asking questions that lead to the salesreps self discovery of what to fix.

Or one that has read and implements the strategies in Keith Rosen's - Coaching Salespeople Into Champions.
__________________
Jerry Edwards
Results... No Excuses

What makes a sales manager a real pro

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