Since, I’ve had so much time in the trenches, I’ve seen many sales people, and sales managers come and go. I understand that many sales managers are sometimes handicapped with what they can and can’t do. But, if I was King and I had carte blanche, here’s what I would do to increase sales, and moral.
1) If I were the sales manager, I would STOP selling. I would divide all of my accounts amongst my reps. You can’t be a great sales manager and a great sales person. It’s not going to happen.
2) I would then teach/train these reps how to prospect (telephone, e-mail, social media), when they get an appointment, I will go with them and then they can sit, listen, and learn from a master.
3) Once they have mastered the art of prospecting, I would then give them additional training about the art of selling. Gradually, I would give them control of the appointment and I would be there for spec and content support.
4) I would introduce “Fun” time. These would be the times that we have set aside for prospecting. Too many of us treat prospecting the same as getting a root canal, we know it’s needed, but we don’t want to do it.
“Fun” times, would be entertaining. I would have inspirational music piped into the office. The tunes would play louder during breaks and lower during call blocks. Call blocks would be limited to 45 minutes with a 20-minute break. I would do five of these call blocks during the day. Our 20 minute breaks would consist of talking about the responses and the results that we had. During these call blocks, I would sit in with each rep and just listen to each one. I’d probably use my Aficio card and dole out something like $100 in twenty-five dollar gift cards. Four prizes, one for best attitude, one for most dials, one for most promising appointment, one for getting hung up on the most. Hey, we need to make it fun.
5) Inspirational color banners, might sound kind of hokey, but, didn’t the first close you were told about sounded hokey also? Inspire, ignite, and motivate.
6) The toughest part of the job would be the product knowledge. Here, I would have to make a call on who is suited best for what. Meaning, do I think this person is better off with just selling IT services or better for hardware? I do not want them doing both; you’ll do one or the other.
7) I would set aside “X” amount of time per month to review the comp plan and make sure my reps know the plan inside and out. Not understanding the comp plan will lead to failure.
8) I would make sure that lead distribution is fair. Everybody gets the same amount of leads.
9) I don’t want to hire people that need a job, I want to hire people that want a job. I want to be involved in the hiring process to see who wants to excel and who wants to be status quo.
10) Sorry, I did not keep these in order. I would also add Linkedin prospecting blocks of time. I would also make sure that every rep has a premium membership for Linkedin. I would then train them on how to use Linkedin to their advantage. BTW, I’d also make sure they all have a Premium P4P Hotel membership too!
I could probably go on and on, but it’s getting late. I would probably never ever take a sales managers job. But, then again one was never offered to me. However, I kind of like where I am.
Yes, if you have any sales questions or need some advise, please post a reply.
Good selling!
