Kejian 168
Business & Management Resources
Archive for November, 2008
It’s a natural tendency for sales managers to enjoy, and excel, at this form of coaching more than any other. Part of the reason is that it’s comfortable to step back into an environment that, most likely, has pleasant memories for them. They recall when they achieved such field success culminating in their promotion to the position of sales manager. Don’t think I’m being critical of this comfort zone. As a matter of fact, any field and sales process knowledge you have should be passed on to your team members. That includes your successes and your failures.
There are, however, some behaviors that will increase the effectiveness of this time and also increase the performance skills of your sales personnel. Let’s review them. Read the rest of this entry »
read comments (0)
Perhaps, after planning, the coaching skill is the most important competency that a sales manager can develop. In fact, planning and coaching are the ‘‘bookends” of the job. You start by planning for improvements and then you coach those any time and all the time.
Coaching, like so much of the sales manager’s role, is a well-thought-out strategy for identifying the salespeople’s perception of events, gaining their support in finding a solution, and developing an agreed-upon measurable plan of action to improve a behavior or competency. Coaching is not manipulating people. Read the rest of this entry »
Your responsibility is to determine what it will take to get a salesperson to be a better salesperson, as well as a contributing member of the organizational community. Next, you need to help the individual incorporate your knowledge and expertise into his or her skill sets in a complementary manner.
There are three terms that often get confused. For the purposes of this blog, let’s establish some definitions: Read the rest of this entry »
You now have several tools to forecast the future of sales generated by your team. What should you do with these forecasts? Communicate, communicate, and communicate! As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, senior management and executives hate surprises. Make sure you keep them informed of your objectives and of how the team is doing toward attaining those objectives. Don’t wait to be asked. Schedule specific times to meet-not a conversation in the hall-and provide them with both short- and long-term projections. Consider them inside consultants who may have once done your job and can be very helpful. And provide backup data. Read the rest of this entry »
You now have several tools to forecast the future of sales generated by your team. What should you do with these forecasts? Communicate, communicate, and communicate! As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, senior management and executives hate surprises. Make sure you keep them informed of your objectives and of how the team is doing toward attaining those objectives. Don’t wait to be asked. Schedule specific times to meet-not a conversation in the hall-and provide them with both short- and long-term projections. Consider them inside consultants who may have once done your job and can be very helpful. And provide backup data.
Areas of Executive Concern
- Expense management
- Revenue attainment
- Margin management
- Brand equity
- Shareholder value
- ROI, ROIC, RONA, etc.
- Productivity of sales personnel
- Highly visible events or activities
- Intraorganization operational smoothness
- Projections of all of the above
Communicate with your senior management and executives in their language and view the results as they relate to their overall or big-picture objectives for the organization. If you have a problem, be prepared to present possible solutions and your personal solution choice. State the reasons for your selection, the risks involved with the solution, the costs, and the benefits. Consider senior management your in-house consultant.