Strange. “Selling is like life which is like selling.” Bold — Yes, I know…. And oh so very exciting… (grinding teeth sound) And so, when the vast editing team here at SalesBloggers.com decided to ask us to write about Sales Metaphors in the grand month of June, I had to resist the urge to throw [...]

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.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Todays post is a guest post by Darren Cunningham. Darren is the Director of Product Marketing at LucidEra. Prior to joining LucidEra he was the Category Director for salesforce.com AppExchange Analytics and Data Management. Before joining the on-demand world, he spent over 7 years at Business Objects.

Sales organizations today are faced with the challenge of reducing costs while improving results. So in a climate of trying to do more with less, your first inclination as a VP of Sales is probably not, “I need to buy some software!” But what if the technology not only looks cool, but appears to be exactly what you need to hit your number?

I recently attended the Sales 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, which was billed as an opportunity for “forward-looking sales organizations” to “improve lead management, accelerate the sales process, improve sales effectiveness, decrease costs, and enhance the customer experience.” It was a great show, with many informative customer presentations, interactive panels, and networking opportunities. (You can read some of the blogs and tweets about the show here.)  But does Sales 2.0 represent a real opportunity for sales management and reps to become more productive, close more deals faster,  better align with customer buying behavior and [insert your benefit statement here], or does it potentially represent a case Shiny Object Syndrome for your sales organization? (What I call Sales SOS.)

Sales 2.0 is defined as “bringing together customer-focused methodologies and productivity-enhancing technologies that transform selling from an art to a science.” But with so many innovative new software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools and applications to consider, which ones will really add value and where do you start? One VP of Sales I spoke to after the Sales 2.0 show, referred to the conference as, “Disneyland for sales.” While this was meant as a compliment, it did get me thinking about Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS).

Karyn Greenstreet defines SOS this way:

“It’s not quite ADD/ADHD. It’s more that a new idea captures your imagination and attention in such a way that you get distracted from the bigger picture and go off in tangents instead of remaining focused on the goal.”

So where do you go with Sales 2.0 technology? How do you move from vendor and analyst buzzwords to real productivity benefits? And how do you avoid Sales SOS when it comes to your technology investments?

Greenstreet recommends that you always begin by asking some of these SOS questions:

• Is this right for my business?
• Do I have the time, resources, energy, and money to put into this to make it successful?
• Do I have too many open projects sitting on my desk that need to be finished before I begin something new?
• Do I have the ability to finish this new project, plus implement and maintain it?
• What has to drop off my radar in order for me to start something new?

While sound advice, these questions are primarily focused on prioritization, time management, and the tried and true 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. They’ll definitely help you avoid Sales SOS, but when it comes to the right Sales 2.0 investment, you need to go further. When determining whether or not a Sales 2.0 technology or service will help your sales organization not only survive but thrive in this difficult economy, be sure to also ask the following questions:

• Will it make my sales team more effective, not just efficient?
• Will it help me focus my resources on the right opportunities? (As @gerhard20 likes to say, “Are they chasing Brinks Trucks or Garbage Trucks?”)
• Will it help me improve the accuracy and predictability of my forecast?
• Will it help us achieve our overall business objectives and improve results?

As Greenstreet concludes in her Shiny Object Syndrome article, “there’s nothing wrong with loving innovation. Just make sure you don’t lose focus on what’s most important for you, your business and your customers.”

To read more articles by Darren besure to visit the Licidera Blog.

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