The 5 Biggest
Sales Management Blunders
By
Darrell Zahorsky
Hiring a sales staff for your small
business comes with the responsibility
to provide effective sales management.
Learn the biggest sales
management blunders and how you can
avoid them.
1. Mixing
Recognition with Coaching:
One common sales management blunder is
to congratulate your sales force for a
job well done and quickly move to areas
of improvement. This tactic can often be
interpreted by sales staff as a lack of
appreciation. A best practice is to
separate the recognition from the
coaching. Save the performance
improvement areas for coaching sessions.
Set up separate recognition of your
sales rep success even if it's a small
celebration. It's the little gestures of
respect and celebrations of achievement
that gain the hearts and minds of the
sales force.
2. No Sales
Plan:
Another common sales management blunder
is not developing a sales plan to help
manage the sales team.
A successful sales team requires regular
planning tracking, and review to achieve
the targeted results. Every sales rep
requires their own action plan to direct
day-to-day activities and set up
accountabilities.
All sales
plans have at least 3 requirements:
•
Sales Rep Development: Where most plans
fail is they are developed by the sales
manager not the sales rep. To ensure a
high level of plan acceptance, have the
rep develop the plan and guide them
toward the right objectives.
• Regular Reporting: Sales plans should
be established on a weekly basis to
provide flexibility in the planning
cycle. Reviewing can take place on a
monthly basis. Sales management
excellence involves reviewing the
results against the plan to determine
missed opportunities and areas for
improvement.
• Sales Metrics: A successful sales
plan focuses on results and activities.
Establish the proper sales metrics to
drive your business results. Metrics can
include: number of client phone calls,
number of contacts, appointments set,
appointments conducted and sales closed.
Do not overwhelm your sales staff with
excessive tracking numbers. Focus on the
few measures that matter the most to
your business.
3. No Sales
Support:
A common sales management blunder is to
hire a sales person without providing
them with the level of support required
to succeed. Even if your new rep is
well-versed in your industry and a top
performer, they will still require help
to familiarize themselves with your
company, products, and markets.
Not all sales
reps require the same level of support.
For many small business owners, a
hands-off approach to sales management
is not the best strategy. Successful
sales management requires a commitment
to sales force training. Regardless of
the size of your firm, an investment in
sales training and support can pay big
dividends on profitability. Spending the
time one-on-one and in the field with
your sales team will not only provide
support but convey a sense of the
importance of sales people in your
organization.
4. Focus on
Control Sales Management:
Many new and unsuccessful sales managers
will focus on the traditional sales
management by intimidation or control
approach. The top sales performers know
they have a valuable skill set and will
quickly walk to a competitor if treated
poorly.
Sales management is a partnership
between the sales rep and the sales
manager. Effective sales management
requires sharing in the responsibility
to find the problems and bottlenecks in
your sales process. Seek the solution
together with your reps. Be a champion
for helping them achieve their agreed
results.
5. Lack of
Sales Accountability:
There will be times when sales reps fail
regardless of the support and training
they receive. It is easy to pass off the
lack of results to external forces such
as competitors, the economy, or poor
marketing. Remember the sales rep was
hired to bring in sales. When support,
training, and market potential are
available, a lack of results often means
it's the rep's performance.
Who is
responsible for the lack of performance?
Your sales management program. If your
small business lacks a clear policy of
sales accountability, it remains your
responsibility to implement the process.
Creating a culture of sales
accountability will not happen
overnight. Expect to lose sales staff.
Sales reps who have under performed and
will not accept personal responsibility
for their own results, will leave. This
is a good thing. A sales accountability
culture only accepts top performers;
exactly what your business needs to
survive in a competitive market.
Other big
sales management blunders do exist. It
is vital to have an honest feedback
system in place. Alan J. Zell, "The
Ambassador of Selling" feels "most sales
managers do not have a system of
feedback that will allow the staff to
have a way to comment back to the sales
manager without the fear of being
chastised or being known as a
complainer."
Growing a
small business is hard work. The sales
management function is often overlooked
by small business owners. Spending the
necessary time wearing your sales
manager hat will help foster a rewarding
culture and build a successful sales
team to boost your business to new
levels. |
