Top 3 Reasons Sales Managers Succeed

What are the top three?reasons sales managers succeed? In this report, we examine why some?sales managers succeed. We also give you a three step plan that will help you improve the way you manage.

A couple of weeks ago I presented a one-day sales workshop. The subject of cold calling came up and the?attendees shared?a whole heap of reasons as to why most salespeople felt cold calling was a waste of time.

Speaking with one of the sale managers, who had brought a large group of salespeople to the workshop, he shared with me in one of the breaks, "How can I expect?my salespeople to cold call when I can't do it myself?"

Having reflected on his comment, I started to look back at the various sales managers I have worked for over the years and how they helped me sell more. What did I learn?

When I first started selling, I came across a series of sales managers who made it quite clear that it was my job to work out how to sell the company's services - they were too busy. In each case, these sales managers did not do much more than give me an out of date list of former?clients. Some of them did nothing but?give me a hard time if I had not made a sale in the first week. On several occasions, I was simply handed the telephone book and told to start calling from either the beginning or the end.

In each case, even though the sales managers went to great trouble to interview me and make sure I could do the job, when it came to actually guiding me through the learning curve of selling their product, I was left to my own devices and on many occasion felt like I was swimming in an?ocean with no navigation charts. With no idea as to which way I should head.

Top 3 Reasons Sales Managers Succeed:

1. They put in place a sales process that works. You are wasting your time, the company's resources and potentially destroying the career of what could have been a successful salesperson, by letting them head off with no direction or guidance.
2. They gather testimonials from satisfied clients. As I discussed in previous blog posts, a testimonial from a customer can completely turn around a negative buyer in a matter of moments. They often save a sales person having to resort to arguing the point as to why their product or service should be purchased. With a solid sales kit of testimonials, they can overcome any objection and as each testimonial is presented the customer is left knowing that people like themselves have done business with you and have walked away satisfied with the outcome.
3. They determine a strategy for dealing with each and every objection.?The successful sales managers I have worked with have been the most educated members of the sales force when it comes to justifying the investment. With your indepth understanding you can help your sales people succeed a lot more if you take the time to work out how they should handle each objection.

If your salespeople were your children, you would not let them walk out the front door without making sure they knew exactly how to handle themselves in any situation. If your children were embarrassing themselves, you would take immediate steps to rectify the situation and show them how they needed to behave.

Well believe it or not, as a sales manager, if you are to be truly successful you need to treat each of your salespeople as though they were one of your own. In my case my eldest daughter was trying out recently for a part in the school play. Both my wife and I spent numerous evenings helping her rehearse each and every line.

Which is why when I take on a new salesperson, not only do I provide them with an appropriate set of sales scripts, I go one step further and actually have them listen to me using those scripts.

I'm about to take on a new salesperson to make my cold calls. I have provided him with the appropriate script, but to make sure he knows exactly how to deliver that script. Tomorrow, I will get on the phone and make those sales calls myself and I will record each conversation. I will then sit down with him and rehearse that script until he feels comfortable enough to deliver it.

It is important for my daughter to go well at her rehearsals, but at the same time it is in my financial interest to make sure my new salesperson has the best training.?Why would I leave his success to chance when I can set him on the right path at the start?by simply teaching him step-by-step how to deliver my sales script?

What should you do if you are a sales manager who has no idea how to train their salespeople?

Whatever you do, do not hand them a telephone book or a list of potential prospects and hope for the best.

Instead, invest in your company's future and your salesperson success by giving them the appropriate sales training they need.

Just this week I have been awarded a contract by an engineering firm, who have realised that they have no real sales system in place to develop a sales system.

What's more they realise that as engineers they don't really understand how to go about developing a sales system. So they have decided to hire me to work with them on that process and develop the necessary sales foundations their salespeople need to make?them a?success. Plus, with the new sales system in place I can them give them appropriate training.

Question: What are your thoughts? I would love your feedback.?Share your thoughts?on Facebook or Linkedin?or make a comment below in our comments section.