Sales managers, especially new sales managers, need consistent attention from their Senior level Sales Exec. BUT any sales manager new or old needs to be constantly coaching their individual sales teams. Open dialogue is vital to team success. Sales managers need to make consistent sales calls with their sales reps and make sure that they are constantly aware of a few key ingredients to sales rep success:
- Performance to budget: Make sure the reps understand clearly where they stand towards hitting their budgets… monthly, quarterly and yearly performance expectations.
- Gap analysis: When addressing personal performance, make sure they understand where their sales gaps are by product group and customer. Coach them on techniques that show them how those gaps can be addressed. Coach and guide them to success.
- Joint sales call discipline: Discuss the value of the utilization of mfg reps within their accounts and for additional product training. The Mfg rep should be a vital part of their everyday arsenal of customer facing tools.
- Key account review: make sure that they utilize their time effectively on accounts that can generate the most profit. Put your “A” players on accounts that can produce. When on the road, “time” must be utilized properly, go where the money is. Have your top performers calling on your best accounts frequently and do more level to level selling with less developed accounts with lower level reps. The goal being to grow accounts to become accounts that garner more attention by your top reps.
- Performance reviews: make sure these are always up to date and not a once a year touches. The best sales managers use these documents and make them a “live” part of monthly performance discussion to goals. Use these as a roadmap to success. Talk about these performance level goals when in the car together. It doesn’t always need to be formal levels of communications.
A lot can be accomplished when on the road with a rep. As sales managers, you need to build relationships. You also need to make sure that there are no surprises, your team needs a clear vision of the company sales goals and they need to understand the role they play in hitting those goals.
As the sales manager you need to not only be a coach and leader, but a player coach that also gets into the game and off the sideline.
Copyright © 2015 by John Salvadore
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