Sales Manager Advice

That’s Enough – Let’s Get Back To Work!

Does your sales manager make the extra effort to ensure that you have your time in the spotlight, when it's well deserved?

Fortunately for me, I worked for a highly effective sales manager who knew how important it was to leave a leadership legacy.

I was on the verge of sinking into a major depression. As a third year salesperson with a good company, I was doing well, and was on my way to becoming the top salesperson in the nation for that company.

However, sales had slowed down a little, and I didn't have my usual number of proposals out for bid. As a result, I wasn't as busy as usual.

As my activity slowed, I began to worry. My doubts increased to the point where I had thought myself into a real depression, stuck on the question of "What's the use of trying?"

The more negative I became the less energy I seemed to have. My lack of energy led to fewer and fewer sales calls, which of course, led to less activity.

I knew my supervisor would not be pleased and that led to more depressing thoughts. I was caught in a powerful downward spiral. It was then that I caught a glimpse of what a highly effective and professional sales manager can do for a team member.

Ned was my boss and he was a sales manager of the highest caliber. He could see the symptoms of my sour state spilling over into everything I was doing. So Ned intervened.

He arranged to have lunch with me, and listened patiently as I rambled on and on about my problems, my doubts, and my lack of activity. Finally, after I had dumped all my depression and negative thoughts on him, he looked me straight in the eye and said, with all the authority and resolve of someone who is absolutely sure of what they are saying, "Kahle, that's enough."

I was stunned. I was expecting empathy, an understanding shoulder to cry on. Instead, I got a simple, straightforward mandate. Ned knew me well enough to cut through all the fluff and come right to the heart of the matter. He said, "That's enough. That's enough feeling sorry for yourself. That's enough thinking all these negative thoughts. That's enough sitting back and not working as hard as you're used to. Stop it! You're better than all this. Stop it right now, today, and get your ..... back to work."

He saw my situation more clearly that I was seeing it. Ned provided me with the direction (and the boost) that I needed. That one single conversation turned me around. I left my depression and negativity at that lunch table, and started back into my job with a renewed sense of the possible.

A year later I was the number one salesperson in the nation. The whole experience taught me that salespeople focus on selling and a great sales manager focuses on building and supporting great salespeople.

As a sales person, I could comfortably take Ned with me to any client, secure in the knowledge that he wouldn't try to take over the presentation or usurp my relationship with the customer. I knew Ned was more concerned with me than he was about any one sale.

Ned knew that a salesperson was essentially a loaner, an individual who did most of his/her important work by themselves, while a great sales manager was a coach, whose only success derived from the success of his team.

A sales manager's best work is always done, not with the customers, but with the people he/she supervises.

Ultimately, a great manager is measured by the results achieved by his people. Sales, gross profits, market share, key product selling, - all these typical measurements of sales performance are also one of the rulers by which a sales manager is measured.

So, an excellent sales leader, like a great soccer coach, is ultimately measured by his numbers. It doesn't matter how empathetic a soccer coach is or how much his players respect or like him, if year after year he produces a losing team he will eventually be fired.

The same is true for any sales manager. Ultimately, an excellent sales manager produces excellent numbers for the company.

In the five years that I worked for Ned, my own territory grew by $1 million a year, and the branch for which he was responsible grew from about $6 million to about $30 million. Ned was excellent at one of the key competencies of the professional sales supervisor - he had an eye for talent. He knew how to hire good people. After all, he hired me!

Over the years, I watched him take his time, allowing a sales territory to go vacant for months, if necessary, while he kept searching for the right person to hire. An effective sales manager understands the importance of making the right hire and is always recruiting in order to keep the pipeline of prospective salespeople full.

He spares no expense to make sure the person he hires meets all the necessary criteria. When I was hired, I went through four interviews, and a full 10-hour day of tests with an industrial psychologist.

With all the time he took to make sure he was hiring the right person, Ned confided in me one day that, "It is just as important to fire well as it is to hire well." He went on to explain that hiring sales people is an extremely difficult task, and that even the best sales managers fail at it frequently. Therefore, it was important to recognize your mistake quickly, and act decisively to fix it.

A professional sales manager, then, understands that when it is clear that a salesperson is not right for the job, he acts quickly, kindly, and decisively to terminate the individual, allowing both the individual and the company an opportunity to find a better match.

Acting quickly to terminate a salesperson who isn't working out is both good business as well as good ethics. To allow a mediocre situation to fester to the detriment of the company, the salesperson, and the customers is to prolong the inevitable. Understanding that he works only through his sales people, and that he has the opportunity to make a great impact on his people, a professional sales manager makes it his business to know his people.

Ned spent days with me in the field, talking not only about business, but also working at understanding the person I was, and wanted to be. He'd arrange to meet me for breakfast or lunch regularly, even if he weren't spending the day with me. He was interested in my family and paid close attention to the things I shared with him.

I could never stop in the office without being expected to sit in his office and talk about things. Because he took the time to get to know me, he was equipped with the knowledge of exactly how to best manage me.

Ned always saw the potential in me, and was ready to correct me when necessary.

In the first year of my employment, I was earning the reputation among the inside customer support and purchasing people of being difficult and demanding. I was a hot-shot superstar who didn't take their feelings into consideration, and came into the office and dumped work on them. Ned let me know that my ways needed to change.

At first, I didn't pay much attention. My numbers were too good for anybody to be concerned, right? Wrong! My manager let me know a second time that I was going to have to change. The situation was so acute, that the operations manager was lobbying to get me fired!

Guided by the firm hand of my sales leader, I swallowed my pride, adopted a more humble attitude, and treated all the customer service reps to a special lunch. My stock inside the company rose dramatically. With my prior issues on the mend, my career was back on track.

A professional supervisor guides and corrects his subordinates in order to help them achieve their potential. A great sales manager leads by example! Ned never stopped learning. He would often tell me about seminars he'd attended, books he'd read, or ideas he'd picked up by talking with other people. He knew that he never "knew it all." So it is with every professional sales manager.

A real professional never stops learning. She understands that the world is changing rapidly, continually demanding new skills, new ideas, and new competencies.

At the same time, her salespeople and their customers are also changing. She understands that she has a challenge to continuously grow and improve, to learn more and become better at her job. Sales management isn't just a job, it's a challenge that demands a commitment to lifelong learning and self improvement.

One final observation - a professional sales manager is only successful when his team is successful. An excellent sales manager supports, encourages and gives his sales people all the glory for their breakout performance.

It was the fourth year of my tenure, and Ned was lobbying for me to be awarded the "Salesperson of the year" award. The award was special because it recognized not only sales performance, but also for more subjective things such as supporting the company's objectives and ethics, getting along with other people in the company, etc.

The award was a great honor, and extremely difficult to win. Each department manager nominated their favorite salesperson, and lobbied the company's executives, who made the final choice.

The annual awards banquet was held at an exclusive country club, where the men wore tuxedos and the women formal evening gowns. When dinner was done, the speeches were finished and the lesser awards were announced, it came time for the big one, the award that I wanted.

The climate was tense and expectant. The entire room silent as the time approached for the announcement. Then, as the company president announced my name, it was Ned, my trusted boss, who thrust his fist in the air and shouted "YES!"

The photograph that hangs behind my desk shows me shaking hands with the president and accepting this great award. If you look carefully you'll see Ned standing proudly in the background.

Want to excel as a sales manger? Want to be a true professional? Look at your job as a unique opportunity to impact others, to select, correct, support and encourage your salespeople. Become a positive force in the lives of your subordinates.

A great sales leader believes that it's not just a job, it's a mission. Be that inspiring force for your own team and perhaps, one day, fifteen years from now, someone will write about you.

Dave Kahle writes and publishes a popular newsletter and has trained thousands on the Kahle Way ® Sales Management System. If you'd like to talk to Dave about how he can help to increase your sales you can reach him at www.davekahle.com

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