I have a notoriously bad memory, to the point where I am often the butt of incredulous comments from my spouse and grown kids. “Don’t you remember when we did this?” they’ll ask. “No” I respond.
And yet, remarkably, I can remember each of the seven sales managers that I had over my career. I can remember their names, what they looked like, and some of the things they said to me. This is over a span of about 15 years, several decades ago.
While I consider that remarkable in the light of my faulty memory, I expect that it is more common than not. There is something about the relationship between a salesperson and his/her manager that is so unique and intense that the memories of it stands out over decades.
Since sales managers are often high touch involved with the salespeople they supervise, they have a potential huge impact on them. A sales manager can affect the salesperson’s confidence, their emotional state, their motivation, sales skills and, ultimately, results. They can have a lasting impact on a salesperson’s career. Like an athlete, a salesperson can only go so far on his/her own. At some point the athlete needs a coach to polish off the rough edges and unleash his true potential. Every salesperson needs a sales leader to do the same.
Additionally, sales managers are advocates for the sales force to the company’s executive management, bringing the view from the street to the C-Suite.
But sales managers are managers first, and therefore part of the company’s management structure. They are, first, employees of the company. That’s a higher duty than being the sales teams friend. As such, they translate company policies and procedures to the sales team, making the guidance from the corporate office more reasonable and practical.
That leads to a difficult path to walk. On one hand, they need to have good relationships with every salesperson. On the other, their loyalty must reside with their employer. One of my sales managers excelled at this. (See the Free E-book: Portrait of a Professional Sales Manager)
Ultimately their job is to lead the sales team to attain the company’s goals. The buck stops with them. Their success is measured solely by the success of the salespeople on their team. This may be the biggest challenge for those salespeople who are promoted to sales manager. Their previous success was a result of their own efforts. As a manager, that concept is upended. Now they must find their success through the efforts of other people.
The story is told of the legendary college basketball coach, Bobby Knight. When questioned by a reporter on how he managed to maintain his enthusiasm for the game after decades of involvement, he replied, “It’s simple. I just envision those five basketball players running up and down the court with my paycheck in their mouths.” Similarly, astute sales managers understand that the sales team drives all over the countryside with the sales manager’s paycheck in their mouths.
Unfortunately, few sales managers are given any training in how to do their jobs well, and they often default to either mimicking the way they were managed or reacting against it. Few sales managers have ever been exposed to the best practices of their job.
In my work as a sales consultant, I’m often asked to review a sales force’s effort and make recommendation. Most commonly I recommend, “First, the sales managers.”
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