Sales Management For Dummies. Bellah Butch
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The main thing is to not ignore the situation with former peers – face it head on and keep all your relationships professional. Setting those ground rules in the beginning will serve you well in the weeks, months, and years to come.
Establishing Your Own Management Style
Early in your tenure as a new sales manager, it’s important to establish and communicate your expectations to each member of your sales organization. Some have their own ideas of where the lines are drawn, a few may be living in the past with your predecessor, and still others may have no preconceived notions and need the direction immediately.
Whatever the case, you are now the responsible party and it’s up to you to set the ground rules of what is and is not acceptable and not just from a performance standpoint.
Sadly, some will test you and see what they’re able to get away with. Get ready – it’s probably going to happen. You’re going to have to flex your manager muscle for some who just want to see if you will. Although I’ve never liked to lead or manage in that manner, it’s unfortunately all some people respond to.
Write your expectations for your team members so each person has a copy and understands what’s expected of her. Although this document may not be drastically different from the one in operation with their prior manager, you must put your stamp on it.
You can use the Three P Method:
✔ What are your Performance requirements? Put in writing the required number of calls, new accounts, or any other metric you use to measure performance. Your people must know what criteria you will use to judge them. Don’t keep this a secret – they always need to know if they’re doing a good job or not.
✔ What are your Participation requirements? Do you require attendance at sales meetings, group meetings, department meetings, or other functions? Will you send team members to trade shows, continuing education, or other opportunities? Make clear what you expect and/or require them to participate in. Don’t wait until the last minute to notify them.
✔ What are your Professionalism requirements? Whether or not your company has an official conduct policy, have one for your department. Be specific on how they are to conduct themselves with customers, other associates, and the general public. If you have a dress code or other codes of conduct, get it out in the open now. Professionalism includes integrity, honesty, and attempting each day to satisfy customers. Being professional isn’t difficult. Set the guidelines and most of your people will meet and exceed them immediately. Those who don’t probably don’t need to be part of your team in the first place.
Being a great sales manager is ultimately about being a great person. If you treat others with respect, lead your team with honesty and integrity, and conduct yourself professionally you’ll be miles ahead of the game.
How to handle what others think of you in your new role
Even if you’ve been with the company for years and just got promoted, you’re the topic of conversation throughout the sales department and the company, “What do you think about the new sales manager?” People form opinions – some good and some not so good. Some will be happy for you and some not so much. But, how you establish and communicate your expectations will go a long way in either strengthening the good opinions or dispelling the myths.
Here’s a tip: Even though salespeople generally have extremely positive attitudes, they’re some of the most self-conscious people on earth. A salesperson can add two and two and get seven and convince themselves they’re correct – it’s just part of their nature.
Instead of letting the grapevine establish the ground rules for how you manage and what you expect, do it yourself. Get out in front of it and control it. This will save you tons of time and save them a few ulcers.
As a salesperson you’re successful in large part because of your ability to listen and honestly hear what your prospects and customers were telling you. As a manager you must put those same skills to use in dealing with your sales team. Early on you’re going to want to solve all the world’s problems overnight. While that’s a worthy goal, it will sometimes cause you to make knee-jerk reactions and poor decisions.
This is especially true when dealing with interdepartmental conflict. Listen to everyone – you have to put on the judge’s robe here. Don’t assume anything. Ask questions and listen before ruling.
✔ What’s best for the customer? If every decision you make is customer-centered, you’ll win far more than you’ll lose. Are there times you have to go against this? Sure, there are no hard-and-fast rules, but keeping the customer first makes you a better manager and your company a better provider.
✔ What’s best for the employee? A close second to your customers are your employees or associates. Be very conscious of decisions and how they impact them and their lives. And, I’m not just talking about safety or other obvious issues. Most salespeople I’ve met would much rather you mess with their safety than their commission check, so be very aware of how decisions affect their income or potential for income.
✔ The company’s need to make a profit. Is there a reason this point is last in the list? In my opinion, yes. If you keep the first two questions in the proper order this question takes care of itself.
But, when all else fails, and you must make a decision simply do the best you can with what you have to work with.
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