Manager’s Tip 10
June 4th, 2010 | Written by: Level FiveBe careful what you believe in relation to “Hunter-Farmer” theories. If your Account Manager’s objective is simply to maintain or modestly grow an account’s revenues, the account will become particularly vulnerable to a competitor. The best way by far to protect accounts from your competition is to allocate them to salespeople who are proactive in searching for, uncovering and developing new opportunities.
Manager’s Tip 9
June 4th, 2010 | Written by: Level FiveYour annual Sales Conference is an appropriate time to celebrate success, launch new initiatives and establish the future direction. Whilst you may want to leverage the travel costs and the convenience of having everyone in the same place at the same time, it is not necessarily an ideal time for training. If you must however, allocate day one for training before the festivities start and ensure that you set specific actionable plans to implement what has been learned when back at the office.
Manager’s Tip 8
June 4th, 2010 | Written by: Level FiveAs a Sales Manager, it is important to establish your own clear perspective on exactly what coaching is and is not.
Coaching is…
- A means for learning and development
- Guiding someone towards his or her goals
- The mutual sharing of knowledge, experiences and opinions to create agreed-upon outcomes
Coaching is not…
- An opportunity to correct someone’s behaviours or actions
- Directing someone to take actions to meet goals
- Being the expert or supervisor with all the answers
Manager’s Tip 7
June 4th, 2010 | Written by: Level FiveWhen structuring employee sales contracts, build in the opportunity to offer additional incentives at your discretion to sales performers who exceed targets. These salespeople are typically capable of significantly more and it makes no sense to have them cruise for the last 2-3 months of the year because they have made their number; and because they intend to spend the remainder of the financial year setting up a flying start to the next. The kind of flexibility we see working effectively in this situation will enable you to offer short term and completely tailored incentives specific to each individual situation.
Manager’s Tip 6
June 4th, 2010 | Written by: Level FiveWhen looking for new sales people, assessment tools that measure sales aptitude and / or sales suitability will tell you only part of the story. “Aptitude” and “suitability” are indicators of sales potential – not sales capability. In addition, your assessment and selection process must establish actual knowledge and skill. Incorporate specific activities and exercises that require candidates to demonstrate real skills in selling situations relevant to their new role within your business. Banking on potential is usually a poor bet.