Who We Serve Sales Managers

The role of intermediary - between sales staff and the rest of the enterprise (e.g., management, other departments, etc.) - creates many challenges for sales managers. The challenges arise from the diverse set of skills necessary to be the intermediary and from the competing demands of each of those groups. Select challenges from the intermediary role are discussed below. The second major source of challenges for sales managers is how to manage reps and help reps meet their sales targets - and meet those targets while containing costs. Key challenges that stem from those tasks are also reviewed, with particular emphasis on the one critical skills essesntial to helping reps improve performance that many managers lack. As noted previously, all of that requires a diverse set of skills that need to be developed and maintained. Our approach to that development and maintenance is detailed in the sales manager development section.  

For sales managers, control in making sales targets is complicated by the fact that they have to work through their reps - rarely an easy task. That relationship entails two key elements, managing them and helping them improve their sales performance. With respect to managing, sales reps tend to be strong-willed and independent minded, and usually have a good sized ego. As a group, they can be one of the most difficult to manage. Managing sales reps is often described as being like herding cats. To be effective, sales managers must establish credibility so that they can educate and persuade, but also be willing to exercise discipline when necessary. To make the task even more difficult, the authority of sales managers is frequently undermined by senior management or others - and sometimes by sales managers themselves - to appease top performing sales reps; stemming from the fear of losing the sales rep and the revenue s/he brings in. When faced with situations in which they are undermined, sales managers should take action quickly and decisively to address it and to prevent it from ocurring again. If not, the manager will be effectively lose their power and authority.

Sales reps also tend to be resistent to doing paperwork or other documentation. That presents another key management challenge. Documentation is how a manager gains insight into what is happening in accounts. It is critical that reps comply with documention policies and requirements - and to do so meaningfully and in the spirit of its intention, not just providing the minimal information required to meet the policy. Getting compliance involves designing a system that is easy to use, and implementing some type of incentive system.

Improving sales performance typically has two elements: the ongoing work a sales manager engages in with reps (e.g., call debriefings, account reviews, account planning, joint calls, etc.) and formal development programs that are often activities distinct from day-to-day working of accounts. It is in the former - ongoing sales work - that many managers lack a key skill. The research on experts indicates that there are two types of knowledge: procedural knowledge and declarative knowledge. Procedural knowledge is being able to do something. Declarative knowledge is being able to describe what you are doing. Those classified or recognized as experts have both. The typical career path to becoming a sales manager is to be promoted from rep because you consistently make or exceed quota - so the person has procedural knowledge. But, they often lack declarative knowledge - which develops out of extensively studying the sales literature and reflecting on their own behavior, being mentored well, or innate abilities which are not common. So the challenge for sales managers is that they know what should be done, and can likely model the behavior; but, they can not explain to the rep how to do it. That often produces frustration in both the manager and the rep. And, it is not likely to improve until the manager develops the language to describe how to execute the behavior. The worst case scenario is the manager repeatedly interjects during sales calls to "get it right" and undermines the authority of the rep in the eyes of the prospect.

With respect to formal development programs, they start with assessing needs and setting goals; culiminating in the establishment of a development plan. Services then need to be provided - through whatever internal or external resources - and the outcome evaluated. All of that requires a broad set of learning and development skills that most managers do not have in full. This is a prime instance in which it is useful for the manager to have additional resources, enablement services, to draw upon for assistance.

Another major source of challenges for sales managers is the previously described role of intermediary between sales staff and the rest of the enterprise. One of the most pervasive challenges in being an intermediary is managing expectations. Those expecations come from many sources and take many forms. Some examples are demands from senior management that close rates be improved, professional services complaining about the over-use or excessive discounting of pre-sales resources, or reps complaining about the quality of leads from marketing and demanding better. Sales managers typically play a key role in any addressing any of those situations. Playing the role of advocate for their team, effectively conveying and supporting changing expectations- especially when they don't agree with the changes - from management, resolving inter-departmental conflicts are all great challenges for sales managers.

The final challenge for sales managers that we will discuss is forecasting. To varying degrees, sales managers are responsible for generating the predictions of what opportunities will close and when - ultimately resulting in revenue projections that affect planning, stock price, etc. Because of their importance, sales forecasts need to be reliable. To be reliable, there needs to be a well-defined sales process, good historical data on sales, and - perhaps most importantly - good data going into the forecasts. The last point takes us back to the issue of documentation compliance by sales reps. We can not over-emphasize the importance of that compliance or the difficulty in achieving it. Down-playing or dismissing the issue of complying in providing good documantation puts the sales manager, and the entire enterprise, at a very significant risk.

Not surprisingly, best practices to address the challenges of sales managers are inter-connected. As previously discussed, achieving documentation compliance by sales reps will help guide efforts to improve sales performance, increase forecasting accuracy, and help resolve some inter-departmental conflicts - to name just a few of the benefits of compliance. Space does not permit a comprehensive elaboration of all the impacts from the following best practices. Contact us to discuss any of them in more detail or how to address a specific challenge you are facing. Given those qualifications, the following are some best practices for sales managers:

1. Utilize standardized account reviews - based on established and auditable sales milestones - to assess progress and identify areas for development in reps.

2. Use defined criteria to negotiate for and allocate resources to use in opportunities.

3. Developing declarative knowledge - the ability to describe how to do things, not just what to do - is critical to helping sales reps improve their sales performance. Best practices to accomplish that include formal education and training to develop the nomenclature, and coaching or mentoring to tie that education to specific behaviors and practices.

4. Define specific criteria to qualify opportunities based on functional needs, financial requirements, and political dynamics.

5. Collaborate with reps to develop and implement account-specific competitive strategies in all five areas in which companies compete.

6. Review with reps the demo and other proof resources available and strategize their relevance and timing for use in accounts.

7. Collaborate with reps to develop negotiaion concessions and, if needed, practice negotiations with reps

8. Develop and implement formal incentives for reps to comply with documentation policies.

9. Be conscious of ways that they can undermine the authority of reps in accounts and actively work to avoid it

10. Play an active role in the development, implementation, and evaluation of sales rep professional development programs.

11. Base sales forecasts on the achievement of auditable sales milestones and enterprise (or department, if relevant) historical sales data.

You can also review our model for the development of a sales manager to understand better our approach and strategy in helping managers address the myriad and complex challenges they face.