Sales Management: Hug or Punch?

There are many characteristics to a successful sales
manager: integrity, product knowledge,
industry knowledge, people skills, strong communicator, closer, listens, smart,
and develops people.  As a
current VP of Sales, what I want to focus this post on is when to hug (support)
your sales executives and when to punch (challenge) them. As a sales manager, I understand that selling
is very hard, however, I also understand that negative thoughts become
self-fulfilling. I believe new managers
often make the mistake of hugging too much, which over the long run your team
will take advantage of you. Or punching
too much, where your team will resent you, not sustain productivity, and you
will have high turnover. I believe
successful managers find the appropriate balance. For your direct reports, I strongly recommend
getting to know your team. There will be
certain members that will need more hugs and others will need more punches. Your job is to understand and motivate them
so both you and them can succeed over the long haul. You need to find the right balance of
support, motivation, and challenges to develop them.

I am a big believer in the ‘Stockdale Paradox’ of
balance. To learn more, click the link
below to read the story from Jim Collins book, ‘Good to Great’, on Admiral Jim
Stockdale’s experience as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War: http://www.jimcollins.com/lib/goodToGreat/ch4_p83.html

As a sales manager, do a self evaluation to determine if you
are more of a hugger or puncher. Ask
your trusted advisers both internally and externally to get their feedback on
your management skills. Then push your
personal comfort zones. If you are in
your face person, work on your listening and compassion skills. If you are nice guy, work on making both you
and your sales executives feel uncomfortable when doing your next deal or
forecast review.

As sales managers, we are in the people business. At my company, we are a software company but
in reality we are a human resources company.
It takes people to sell, develop, install, and support the
software. Being a sales manager is very
rewarding, exciting, and challenging position.

About the Guest Blogger:

Shaun Priest is Vice President of Sales for an eHealth
Vendor.  Shaun has over 15 years of sales and sales management
experience.  His business blog, www.closerQ.com,
is where readers submit sales and business oriented questions.  If you
have a business question or feedback to an existing post, please email Shaun at
closerq@gmail.com.  Shaun recently
published, ‘Decisions‘, a novel about
a sales person with personal demons by Small Dogma Publisher.

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1. Be Your Own Sales Manager
2. Sales Management: Reward or Punishment?
3. Sales Management: The Role of Coaching
4. Sales Management – focus on the fundamental
5. How Do Sales Managers Use Sales Data?