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 [...]
What is the primary role of a sales manager?
Image by Oberazzi via Flickr
The answer to this question may seem quite simple: Drive revenue! but the reality is we carry a heavy burden. We have to plan training, observe our teams in action, coach, mentor, attend meetings, run reports, do projections and forecasts, many of us even take on marketing and PR roles in [...]
How Do Sales Managers Use Sales Data?
If a company uses a CRM system or Sales Performance Management system as part of their company methodology one of the issues that may face the sales department is how managers use the information in managing the performance of the individuals within the department. One of the benefits of such systems is that data can [...]
Sales Management: The Role of Coaching
As Colin Wilson highlighted in his recent post on this site, the primary role of a sales manager is to ensure that his team “hits their number” – that they’re performing.
An effective sales manager will use many skills in order to achieve this objective – and will vary their use according to the needs of [...]
Be Your Own Sales Manager
Perhaps nothing is as confusing to me as the seller who blames his poor performance on his sales manager. To me, it’s like a baseball player drawing a similar correlation to his batting average.
So, you don’t like your sales manager. Big deal. That’s not where your focus should be anyway. A seller’s focus should [...]
Recruiting Quality Salespeople is a Major Key to Being Successful in Sales Management
The term sales management is very misleading, because the emphasis is really on the word “management” and not “sales”. Ultimately, this means the game changes dramatically for an individual who is making the jump from salesperson to sales manager.
While there are many responsibilities that come with being employed in sales management, perhaps none can turn [...]
Managing the Sales Evangelist through support and integrity
When this topic popped up on the radar I was in the middle of free writing for the book. So I decided to share a bit of those efforts and give you a sneak peak into “The Sales Evangelist”. This excerpt relates to maintaining the ability to lead by setting the right example:
Commitment and [...]
Sales Management – focus on the fundamental
Sales; the life blood of any and all organisations; and if the act of selling is not diligently pursued then the organisation will be in trouble. Therefore, most organisations will employ and pay a handsome price to those who can – sell. In sales lexicon we call these creatures, who accept the company’s shilling, Sales [...]
Sales Management: Reward or Punishment?
Having worked for several companies in my day, I have three times made the ascent from “independent contributor” to Management. Twice in a sales role, and one of those did not count as I had no direct reports, the team I managed was product not sales, I had the revenue responsibility. So when I got [...]
