Sales reps make their calls and sales managers do their field visits. That works as long as the business grows. Everyone gets high fives and there is no need to dig any deeper. But when sales are off, senior management starts asking questions. Sales managers struggle to come up with the answers and reps get nervous.
Happy holidays! Are you feeling like the “Donald” again? I know that it is very difficult to downsize your sales force. How do you think your remaining sales team will perform? Can you say with good conscious that your sales force is making a difference?
Yes, you read it correctly, 85% – as Dave Stein highlighted in his recent post – Promoting Your Best Salesrep to Manager? Not So Fast…
I have said it often enough, but it worth repeating – the single most common mistake that organizations make is promoting their number one salesperson into the role of sales manager, thereby depriving themselves in a single stroke of their best producer and hamstringing their sales force with an ineffective manager.
The skills required for managing, mentoring and developing a sales team are totally different from those required for selling.
I am very excited that my article “5 Ways to Gauge Sales Management Coaching” (below) is one of the top 12 sales articles of 2009. Voting is now taking place… read more →
Despite the economic downturn progressive sales organizations are continuing to invest 2-5% of their annual sales budgets in sales training and development. These organizations undoubtedly will outperform their competitors who… read more →
Sales coaching is the management No. 1 activity that drives sales performance. The only problem is that managers have not been taught how to effectively coach. Coaching is a skill… read more →
Last week I explored the mistake that many managers make of being in tell mode. Today I want to explore where coaching sits amongst a sales managers many priorities. Time… read more →










