COMMENTS
And we wonder why so many sales organizations founder! This article seems to be just another example of reinforcing the idea that great sales people make great sales managers. At Georgia Sales Development, we know that is rarely the case. That is why we work with sales managers to truly hon their skills to manage BEHAVIOR proactively by effectively measuring, coaching and mentoring. Kudos to you Dave, we couldn't agree with you more!
Lissa Versteegh, President
My experience as a Sales Force Development expert that does both Sales and Sales Management training, the tips given by Mr. Gielda were 100% related to sales production, not Sales Management. Sales Management has to start with the manager being willing to hold each and everyone on his/her team accountable.
If the sales team knows that the manager will not hold them accountable, that manager loses the right then his/her effectiveness to manage the team. Why? The manager probably has what we call 'need for approval' and cares more about his team liking him first than holding them accountable. If he wants everyone on the team to like him first, then the salespeople will know they can walk all over him, get away with poor performance, and maybe even violate company policies.
Sounds like managing children, doesn't it? In my management training, I teach that managing is simply managing an adult day care center and you're managing little children in big bodies. Children know if you don't hold them accountable, they can can get away with anything. Employees know this too. Management sounds like parenthood doesn't it? Therefore, the consequences of not holding salespeople accountable? A sales team in chaos and production goals are never met.
When it comes to helpful tips, Sales Management is like golf. Most want a quick tip from their buddy or hope to find a golden nugget in this month's magazine. The tip may work for someone, just not the person who is receiving it.
In Geilda's defense, there are probably some companies that REALLY need his Top 5. And Sales Management may innocently be a term for managing the sales process, not the salesforce.
To Kurlan's point: He addresses what ALWAYS needs to be done. Geilda suggests areas that MAY need to be addressed.
How on earth can you figure out the best medicine for a company without an extensive assessment at the beginning?
After working with hundreds of companies, I decided (a long time ago) to stop delivering the 'Top 5' of anything and start to dig in early to find out what each unique company needs to fix their problem(s).
Hey, if it was easy as reading a Top 5 List, they probably would have already fixed it themselves!
Best Practices. That is always a moving target if you ask me. People talk about best practices but as compared to what. Peers? Well suppose the peers are 'best' but being best for them having nothing to do with practices. In our 14 years of providing sales force development services to our clients I hear time and time again, 'we've been successful in spite of ourselves.' So where are the best practices. I believe that the practices are important but not critical. What I have found in both successful selling and successful sales management is consistency. Consistency in approach, implemenation and execution of processes and systems. Those systems in sales management are traditionally:
Accountability to standards and behaviors that are extraordinary.
Recruiting and prospecting on a consistent basis for producers or prospects that represent the top 20% of the client base or the producer base.
Coaching methods that are based upon solid learning principles of spaced repetition, positive reinforcement and practice, practice and practice.
Growing a sales organziation using data. Data that is described as leading indicators not lagging indicators. Great companies with great sales environments have the ability to predict the future not just state the obvious from the past. And last but not least motivating the staff. The motivation typical of most organizations that have peaks and valleys in results usually motivate with the stick and talk about share holder value. The typical sales and support staff to give a rip about shareholder value. They care about their families and their hopes and dreams. So a best practice is to focus on them. Remember: It's never about the shephard, it's always about the sheep.
Tony Cole
tony@anthonycoletraining.com