The Three Most Common Mistakes Sales Managers Make

In most organizations, sales managers are the essential bridge between the company's sales goals and the realization of those goals. The gritty day-to-day interactions between the sales people and their customers are frequently filtered through the perspective of the sales manager on their way up the ladder.

It's an incredibly important and difficult job. Unfortunately, it is often the most under-trained job in the entire organization. Instead of providing info rmation on the best practices and processes of the job, most companies hope that their sales managers will have learned enough during their days as a field salesperson to provide some roadmap as to how to do this job well.

Certain common mistakes often arise out of this unhealthy situation. As a long-time consultant and educator of salespeople and sales managers, I frequently see these three most common maladies suffered by sales managers.

1. Lack of a focused sales structure.

This is such a foreign concept to many companies that the term itself is unfamiliar. The structure of a sales force consists of all the articulated and unspoken rules, policies and procedures that shape the behavior of the salesperson. It consists of such things as:

• the way sales territories are defined
• the way salespeople go about their jobs
• the way markets and customers are targeted
• the way salespeople are compensated
• the methods the manager uses to communicate with the salespeople
• the expectations for the sales force
• the training and development system of the company
• the expectation for info rmation collecting by the salespeople
• the frequency and agenda for sales meetings
• the sales tools used by the salespeople
• and countless other such things

A highly focused, well designed sales structure can be one of the company's greatest assets, as it ultimately shapes the behavior of the sales force.

Most sales structures, however, haven't come under the critical review of the company's management. Typically, the structure slowly takes shape over time. Decisions are often made with heavy input from the salespeople, almost always in response to a single event. These decisions slowly become codified into the company's written and unwritten structure.

Why do you have the sales compensation plan that you have, for example? Is it because you crafted a strategic plan that directly compensates the sales force for achieving the company's objective? Or, is it because... it's the plan you inherited?

Why do some salespeople come into the office every week? Is it because you have determined that this is the most valuable use of their time? Or, is it because... that's just the way some of them like to do it?

Can you see the point? Many of these structural issues - spoken and unspoken rules about how the salesperson does the job - have evolved by the salespeople in response to their own specific situations.

And most sales managers are oblivious to the impact of these decisions on the productivity and effectiveness of the salesperson.

2. Lack of regular and systematic direction and feedback for the salespeople.

The relentless attraction of the urgent, and the demanding shouts of the transaction, like the pleading of a toddler, have a tendency to overwhelm the time and attention of most sales managers.

As a result, most salespeople are left directionless and provided with little feedback on how they are doing. Of course, we publish sales numbers, but there are lots of reasons why a set of numbers can be up, down or sideways above and beyond the impact of the salesperson.

What do you expect of this particular salesperson? And how well is he/she doing? In most surveys of what salespeople really want from their managers, "direction and feedback" are often at the very top of the list. It's one thing to talk about some account or some deal, it's quite another to speak to the core issues of "my performance."

Sales is an isolated job. It is not unusual for a salesperson to spend as much as 70 percent of the work week by himself. All that isolation often leads to anxiety and self-doubt which often expresses itself through complaints and finding fault with the company.

All this negative energy can be prevented by providing the salesperson with regular direction, specific expectations, and regular feedback.

As a result, salespeople are not nearly as focused as they could be; they default to unhealthy thoughts; and they spend too much time expressing negative energy.

3. Lack of an organized training and development system.

No profession in the world expects the serious practitioners of that profession to figure it out by themselves. Quite the contrary. Every profession has determined some minimal acceptable course of study, and typically has some event which signals the entry into that profession. It is for this reason that teachers, Emergency Medical Technicians, and ministers are licensed; that attorneys must pass the bar exam; accountants must pass their certification exam, etc.

Unfortunately, that is rarely true of salespeople. In only the leading companies is there some required course of study for entry-level salespeople, and some event which signifies the successful completion of that study and their entry into the profession.

To even think this way is so outside of the reality of most sales managers that I can almost hear half of the readers of this article snickering over their coffee. "Some standard for allowing people into the job?" Incredible thought. But if you don't insist on it, you'll continue to labor with hit or miss sales force where every hire is ultimately a shot in the dark.

No profession in the world expects that once someone has become qualified to enter the profession, they then no longer need to invest in their own development. And every profession has expectations of the practitioners' regular need to systematically improve himself or herself. Can you imagine a teacher who never attends an in-service training?

The examples can go on and on. But you get the idea. The professional who doesn't regularly invest in his own continuous development is relegated to the dregs of the market.

So, why is it that overwhelming majority of sales managers do not require regular and systematic involvement in continuous development events for their charges? It may be that they don't see their salespeople (or themselves) as professionals. Or, it may be that they have never thought about it that way.

Regardless of the reason, the reality of this malady is that the quality of the sales force is not nearly what it could be, if only the sales managers required some minimum standard for their entry-level people, and then regular and continuous development of those who were on the inside. The wise sales manager will assemble a system for the education and development of his salespeople.

Dave Kahle is a consultant and trainer who helps his clients increase their sales and improve their sales productivity. He's the author of over 500 articles, a monthly ezine, and four books. You can reach Dave at: The DaCo Corporation, 3736 West River Drive, Comstock Park, MI 49321, Phone: 800-331-1287 / 616-451-9377; Fax: 616-451-9412 info @davekahle.com ; www.davekahle.com