The move from top-performing salesperson to sales manager is more than just a cumbersome exercise in transporting pictures, pens and kitschy paraphernalia. The transition can be a tumultuous, arduous journey.
Your confidence in your abilities has allowed you to succeed as a top-performing salesperson and garnered attention from those in your sales organisation. While that confidence can serve you well in your responsibilities as sales manager, you will need to develop a very different skill set to best equip yourself for the journey ahead.
Whether you've just landed the role or have been in the position for a while, now is the time to assess the realities of your changed circumstances. The challenges of a sales manager are numerous, and it is often the burden of the newly promoted to determine precisely what they are and how to best tackle them.
Either on your own volition or someone else's recommendation, you have landed this role and need to prepare yourself for the embedded responsibilities.
Changing lenses
Rarely are sales managers in their positions without having succeeded on the front lines. Solid performers exude confidence, an attitude that wins recognition and generates positive results within sales organisations. But this change in position implies a necessary mindset shift.
No longer will it be acceptable to employ individualistic thinking. Sales managers require a mentality centered on the success of many groups of people.
Sales managers are no longer looking out for number one. They need to learn what contributes to team success and shift from top player to enthusiastic, empowering coach, rounding their players up to continually put out their best performance.
Scouting ahead
For any new position, there is a learning curve, but there is advice that can help you navigate around common pitfalls.
Most importantly, new sales managers need to realise that to be an effective coach, they must leave their individual method of selling behind and adopt methods that push others to win.
-
Don't be hasty - You might want to roll up your sleeves and make changes immediately, but fight the urge to disrupt things before you've had time to assess your team's working balance. Instead, take time to determine the nuances of the operation. Observing the working dynamic of the individuals on the team ensures you don't miss problems or weaknesses and the indicators that will highlight how best to leverage strengths.
-
Don't assume your way is the best way - Learn from your team what has worked in the past and whether it will continue to be effective or not. Asking their opinion will lend you credibility as a manager concerned with everyone's success.
-
Don't focus on the wrong motivators - Understanding what truly inspires success for your team will take time. Shy away from immediately offering monetary incentive. Instead, determine wins your team members will work hard for.
-
Don't wait to scope talent - Keep your radar for top performers on constantly rather than falling into panic mode when a position on your team becomes vacant.
-
Don't fixate on low performance - Devote significant energy to both middle and top performers on your team rather than continually investigating and diagnosing the problems of low performers. Instead, look at leveraging those best practices for the entire team to increase results.
While discovering what makes specific sales teams tick, new managers should invest time discovering why your clients engaged with your solution. Do your homework on the accounts existing above and within the funnel. You should start with your sales team, but don't end there.
Understanding how and why customers purchase your solution will supplement the knowledge of your team's performance for a better idea of what needs improvement. The key factors behind why your customers are buying from your sales organisation may provide a different breadth of knowledge. Engaging in an open dialogue with clients can also highlight the areas your team can improve on with training.
Increasing results
Sales managers shoulder a different set of responsibilities than salespeople. Often thought of as an invisible layer of change, the position requires managing influence and pressure from several different directions at the same time as ensuring top performance from the members constituting their team.
Sales managers are responsible for driving the motivation to secure wins for their team, the clients and the sales organisation as a whole. While the road to achieving these three sets of goals can be difficult for new sales managers, a vital tool for arriving at that final destination is solid, open communication.
New sales managers can certainly draw upon the skills developed previously, but they must be developed further. A successful manager will learn to recognise the traits of sales superstars and the areas of improvement among poor performers. Seeking out constant habits, excuses or reasoning can help direct corrective efforts.
Look for specific sets of behaviours that indicate whether your team members are taking you seriously and are following your direction to the front line.
Salespeople assess a customer's problem and further identify the situation by asking questions to avoid making inferences. In much the same way, sales managers need to classify problem issues through questioning but must arrive at their conclusion through a different audience.
Learn to recognise what communication types work best with each audience and at what frequency. Perhaps the C-Suite in your sales organisation is constantly on the go and shooting an email they can read from a mobile device is a preferred use of time as opposed to a phone call. The best way to determine this will be to ask them outright what works for them.
Determining what mode of communication is favored by different audiences and at what regularity will allow a consistent and timely exchange of information. Sales managers must be certain to clearly relay what is expected of each.
Your sales team should have no question of what you expect of them. You should have no question of what information your management expects from you. Don't be afraid to clarify if you're uncertain.
Sales managers are often relied upon as resources of information. Obtaining the most accurate direction from upper management ensures a smooth transition of deadline, process and goal expectancies. Securing frequent, updated information on the accounts within your teams funnels guarantees you're providing a constant picture of where the company is in relation to its revenue goals.
Whittling down data
Clear paths of direction and proper communication techniques are vital for sales managers, but there's no denying the value of numbers. Data can be gleaned from abundant sources, but not every number will help get the job done. It is the responsibility of the sales manager to determine which metrics will identify areas for improvement for their teams and use the information to implement change.
When it comes to numbers, less is more. Without choosing metrics that give the most bang for the buck, sales managers can easily waste time poring over excessive data.
If they are not currently in place, certain processes are crucial to ensure your team's success. You will need a process for holding accountability of large deals and their accompanying review processes. Resourcing, pursuing, discovering, solving, influencing, negotiating, closing and delivering processes will need to be assessed for relevance and then implemented or streamlined.
Making the move
The journey for a new manager to become a competent coach, leader and administrator may seem a daunting task, but is one that confident individuals can tackle.
Approaching it with the mindset that sales management is a transition instead of a progression launches new managers in a positive direction. Mistakes are bound to occur initially, but understanding how the sales organisation functions and what you can bring to the table to best supplement its operation will help keep you on track.
Hard work and diligence can make this position one of the most rewarding in the sales profession. The good news about such heavy challenges is that the gratification for a job well done is amplified. If you do your job well, your team will reflect your strength and commitment, translating into powerful results that any sales organisation will appreciate.