Can you relate?
When I was younger, I was given a sales process to follow. I was good at it and I became a top performer. Fairly soon after that, I received a promotion to management.
Wait, now what am I supposed to do? Where is my management process on how to handle my team? I did what most managers do: continued to chase and close as many deals as possible.
My first couple of years were tough. I constantly asked myself if my team was ever going to hit their numbers? Where should most of my time be spent? I feel like a glorified babysitter. Why can’t they sell? Am I training and coaching the right way? Is anyone even listening to what I say? Maybe the KPI’s are wrong; maybe my team isn’t right. Should I fire everyone and start over?
It was tough to know where to start sometimes because I felt overwhelmed. It wasn’t sustainable and I knew there had to be a better way.
Why is this the way it is?
Promote our best sales reps into managers even if it doesn’t fit their skill set and then not train them how to be successful. Seems like a waste of energy and resources. Honestly, I would argue being a top performer and top manager are two entirely different skill sets.
Sales Management Training
In my case, what was missing was a management process and a system to look at everything going on and help me stay ahead of issues. Creating objective ways to measure every area was vital because it helped me figure out where problems were occurring and how to fix them before they became massive.
Once this was in place, I started feeling better about the questions I was asking:
- Do I have the right team?
- Am I comfortable with who I am hiring?
- Do they have a good onboarding experience?
- Are my metrics realistic?
If you can start to get these things right, you can see the culture and performance of your team begin to change. Some people like to use the term proactive vs. reactive. I prefer playing offense instead of defense.
Curious about thoughts from new and existing managers/ sales leaders on this. What are some of the struggles you have had, and what have you put in place to overcome this?
Two important things to remember:
- Being a top performer and a top manager are two entirely different skill sets.
- Creating objective ways to measure every area was vital because it helped me figure out where problems were occurring and how to fix them before they became massive.
Struggling to adopt these ideas? Contact me today for a free 30 minute consultation, where I will provide real life tips and tricks.
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