Why Good Salespeople Often Turn into Mediocre Sales Managers
by Dave Kahle

We've all done it. Promoted a good salesperson, often our best, to sales manager. My files are full of cases where the results were below expectations for everyone involved. Principals and CSOs are often disappointed in the lack of results, and the sales managers are confused and frustrated with the lack of achievement of their teams.

A variation on this theme usually produces even more angst. A good salesperson, without any real management experience, is hired from outside the company to fill a sales manager position. When these decisions go bad, the hurt feelings, negative attitudes and difficult situations which result can be ugly.

Not that this is always the case. Many CSOs and executives rose through the ranks in just this fashion, contributing exceptionally at every stage. But, these cases are generally the exception, not the rule.

The rule is that few good salespeople make good sales managers.

Why is that?

Consider the unique blend of strengths and aptitudes that often mark the character of an exceptional salesperson. Exceptional salespeople often have very high standards for themselves and everyone around them. They are highly focused on the customer, often to the determent of their relationships with their colleagues. It's not unusual for your star salesperson to irritate and frustrate the people in the operational side of the business, with a brusque and demanding attitude. After all, they think, I'm extending myself to take care of my customers, why shouldn't I expect everyone else to do so also?

When they become sales managers, they expect all of their salespeople to be just as hard driving and achievement oriented as they were. Unfortunately the reality is that most of their salespeople don't share the same degree of drive and perfectionism that they had. If they did, they would have been promoted to sales manager.

That means that the sales manager often is frustrated with the performance and attitudes of his charges, and confused as to how to change them.

The exceptional salesperson is often an independent character, who thrives in a climate where he can make his own decisions, determine his own call patterns, and spend time by himself.

Alas, he loses almost all of that when he is promoted to sales manager. He's expected to work a consistent, well defined work week, to spend a certain number of hours in the office, and to fulfill certain administrative functions. The freedom to make his own decisions, to determine his own days, is gone. So, he often struggles with how to adjust to this new work environment and still be productive.

Whereas before he was clearly and independently responsible for his results, now he must achieve his results through other people. Too often, he defaults to a view of his job wherein he becomes the "super salesperson," taking over accounts, projects and sales calls from his less talented charges. This creates frustration on all parts.

The exceptional salesperson has the ability and propensity to see every situation optimistically, overlooking all the obstacles and concentrating on the potential in every account. That is a necessary element to the sales personality. Without it, he couldn't weather all the rejection and frustration inherit in the sales job.

That personality strength that serves him well as a salesperson, is however, a major obstacle to his success as a sales manager. When it comes to hiring a new salesperson, he finds himself viewing every candidate through those same optimistic eyes.

Sales Techniques to Increase Your Margins

"Lose a little on each sale, but make it up on volume."

That's not so far from the idea that many salespeople have of their pricing philosophy. Unfortunately, in many industries the excess margin that allowed for the unrestrained price cutting has already been wrung out of the system. Maintaining and/or increasing the gross margin, is, in many businesses, a strategic necessity.

Salespeople and sales managers can dramatically impact the gross margin by their actions and their attitudes.

In this seminar, Dave reveals seven specific practices for sales staff to follow to increase their company’s margins.

Implement these practices and you'll pay for this seminar in one day!

Join us over lunch on Friday, May 16th to gain insights that will take your performance to new levels.

Click here to learn more!

---

"The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand."

  – Vince Lombardi

---

Give Your Salespeople a Chance to Excel with a Proven Sales Seminar.
Train Them for Success in Business – 2– Business Selling.

This is the training opportunity that could make the difference. A sales seminar that is two full days of rich practical solutions for today's challenges.

The Academy is designed to educate and equip salespeople with the Kahle Way® Business-to-Business Selling System –the key principles, strategies, processes and tools they need to excel at selling in the 21st Century environment.

"Excellent! After years of experience in sales, you have made sense of this game. Simplified, honest, realistic and valuable information. A complete and positive method to make the sale – like breathing new life into an old story. Thank you!"
– Barbara Wrightman Doe Consolidated Supply

The Key concept…

Salespeople are often overwhelmed with the number of tasks they must deal with as well as the number of "solutions" and "ideas" available to them to help them do their jobs. The Kahle Way® System sorts this out, and focuses on the "key" issues. These are the essential principles, processes, attitudes and tactics that have been proven to bring significant success. Thoroughly learn and implement the Keys, and everything else drives off of those behaviors.

The Academy focuses on instilling certain key competencies and processes which can then be focused on ever changing circumstances. These competencies include:

Critical thinking. Salespeople are taught to apply key critical thinking skills to create strategies and tactics to ensure that they are always working in the most effective, highly focused way.

Principles and processes. By instilling the awareness of certain key principle and the familiarity with key processes, salespeople are equipped to deal with an ever changing array of circumstances.

Key attitudes. Salespeople are taught the importance of certain key attitudes that color all their behavior: Integrity, effectiveness, customer orientation are a few.

Key disciplines. There are certain practices which need to be repeated with discipline. These key disciplines keep the salesperson focused on the most important aspects of his/her job.

To find out more, call 800-331-1287, or Click Here