Grooming a Future Manager

For as long as I can remember, I knew I wanted to manage people.  Maybe it was the perceived trappings that came with the job:  more pay, stock options, respect.  But, personally, I knew I would be a better leader than an individual sales contributor.

It took 8 years as a sales rep before I was finally given the opportunity to lead my own team.  On the day I was promoted, I was “warned”, jokingly, by one of my best managers, Larry Wainscott, to be careful what I wished for.  He told me that I was leaving the best job at Hewlett Packard as a sales rep, and moving into one of the toughest roles, as a first line manager.

“Why would you leave a role where you can make ungodly sums of money, people basically left you alone if you performed and met your quota, and you have a good manager to provide air cover?  As a first level manager, you will have tons of pressure, less ability to make money, you’ll have daily scrutiny by executives, and you’ll have to be psychiatrist to everyone on your team.”

Larry went on to say, he knew I would be successful and told me to pick up the phone anytime I had questions or entered unchartered territory. Needless to say, I talked to Larry a lot that first year.

The first line sales manager role is more complicated, demanding and exhausting than a sales rep can imagine.  Put is this way; I started referring to Larry as Nostradamus because everything he warned me about came true.  As a sales rep, you feel independent, master of your territory, YOU are the face to the customer, YOU get the spotlight and YOU get to enjoy the thrill of winning.

As a manager, you have to learn to:

• Empower, trust and let go of your people
• Shield the team from minutia so they can focus on selling
• Tear down selling obstacles and streamline processes
• Take the beatings on their behalf when the team isn’t performing
• Share best practices and teach the team how to help themselves
• Learn to celebrate THROUGH the success of others
• Writing countless performance evaluations
• Listen to complaints and excuses from the team
• Be a confidant, lifeline, sounding board and guidance counselor
• Admit you don’t know everything but willing to help with anything
• Understand what motivates and drives each employee
• Set a clear vision for the team, and then distill to specifics based on the individual
• Invest time with less experienced reps

Not to mention having to deal with sub-par performance, taking corrective action, disciplining poor results, handling employee dissatisfaction, lack of work/life balance, frustration, etc.

I’ve had the great fortune of working for some terrific managers, who not only nurtured and molded me and my career, but just as importantly, took a lot of personal pride in helping me achieve my professional goals and personal satisfaction.  They invested the time to understand what my goals were, how I measured personal success, filled in my skill gaps, connected me with influential people and set me up for future success.

Incidentally, early on in the process, these managers weren’t afraid to also tell me why they thought I wasn’t ready for management.  And while it was painful to hear, in hindsight, all of their suggestions were valid.  During these discussions, these managers:

1. Gave me clear reasons why and where they believed I had areas of improvement
2. Gave highly critical and direct advise
3. Held me accountable for my areas of improvement and preparedness
4. Tempered my competitiveness with my peers and got me thinking more as a leader

The best managers were also able and willing to acknowledged their own shortcomings, brokered introductions and exposed me to other leaders (thereby increasing my professional network) who, may have had a unique perspective on the internal political landscape at HP.  There was no ego, there was no hierarchy.  My manager’s interest in my career development felt genuine, like someone, who had a lot of experience and knowledge, helping out an old friend.  They were just as invested in my success as I was myself, and for that I will always be grateful to Larry Wainscott and Scott Anderson.

Today, a selfless sales manager who will take the time to groom successors or invest in the development of their people is rare.  When hired or promoted, most sales reps get a territory or account list and a quota and off they go!  The intimacy we used to enjoy with sales managers has disappeared for any number of reasons:

1. The manager lives out of the area
2. There isn’t enough time nor interest in supporting the growth of the individual
3. It’s simply not in the manager’s skill set

I challenge the managers today to make it a priority to help your people excel, achieve and be satisfied.  The individual will be happier, the organization will benefit, and the manager creates a much better environment to work in.  The ROI can be a force multiplier in the team’s performance, you mold the next generation of leaders, build team loyalty and chemistry, and gain a tremendous amount of satisfaction seeing your people succeed.

 

 

Simple Concept

So, there is always a misconception about who sales people are.  Let me be clear, EVERYONE is in sales at one point or another during their lives.  Selling is the art of convincing someone to do something they otherwise would not.  In the purest sense, a sales person makes a compelling argument or proposal to get someone to spend money in exchange for goods or service, but this skill is applicable everyday to everyone.

Imagine a negotiation with your spouse; taking out the garbage while he is watching a sporting event, doing yard work on the weekend when your spouse would rather play golf, opening up your home to host out-of-town relatives that you’d prefer not to entertain, or even disciplining the kids.

In the work place, you might find yourself trying to convince your boss you deserve a raise or a promotion.  Or, back at home, persuading your child to do their homework now and not procrastinating.  Everyone in your life is a “customer”.

Many of the sales skills used everyday with family, friends and strangers are translatable to professional selling.  One key takeaway is not to lose sight of your objective, closing the deal and getting the client to say yes.

Distractions to closing the deal and losing perspective:

1. Ego
2. Ulterior motives
3. Jealousy and spite
4. Revenge and anger

The most effective negotiators set aside all emotion and personal feelings, and calmly, build a solid foundation for their proposal and sell the concept.  Our goal is to influence a decision by fulfilling a need with the best solution at our disposal, eliminating customer risk and concern, while putting food on your table, and earning the client’s trust for the long term.

In business, you might find yourself trying to convince a manufacturer to prioritize your orders over others, justifying to customers why they should spend more money with you instead of your competitor, closing a contract 3 months early, or looking at alternative solutions which might serve their purposes better.  There are a plethora of circumstances and reasons the client can give you to postpone a decision or pursue an alternative solution.  No doubt you’ve heard the phrase, “analysis paralysis”.  People are generally afraid of change and are far more comfortable with the status quo.  “If it works, don’t fix it” philosophy only works if you’re the incumbent.

There are many tactics and strategies at your disposal to help convince a “customer” to take action.  I’ll cover these in future blogs.

Professional sales isn’t for everyone, and God knows, the pressure to perform can be stifling and suffocating, but it’s the only thing I was any good at; where the correlation between how hard I worked, my professional network, my social awareness and my ability to read people, afforded me the lifestyle I wanted and my family deserved.

To summarize, it is critical to not lose sight of the sales objective, and do your best to ignore distractions and your emotions when running a sales campaign.  And don’t take failure personally, but instead, as an opportunity for improvement, honing your selling skill set and becoming a more effective sales person.

 

Sales 101

July 21, 2017

I am going to try to publish something every day, and while some of the thoughts may be mundane and unrelated to sales, my intent is to provide some insight, best practices and general thoughts of wisdom.

To begin, I do not believe everyone is cut out for this profession.  And while successful sales people often get criticized for the perks and benefits we receive (award clubs, gifts, commissions, travel and entertainment budgets, etc.), make no mistake about it, there are few professions that come with more pressure, demands on time, and often irrational managers and customers.  Sales is one of the tougher jobs someone can have, and while we reap the rewards, no one sympathizes with all the bullshit we have to deal with.

As recently as 10 years ago, sales people were responsible for “proposing and selling goods and services”.  The advent and adoption of internet buying has eliminated the need for that human touch, and consumers are increasingly comfortable buying products on-line.

However, the more complex the need, the more these “buyers” need professional sales people to help them navigate their choices, implement and execute on projects, and ultimately ensure there is a high level of customer satisfaction.  Our jobs, as sales professionals, are to connect the right “solution” to the right client, cut thru the minutia, make improvements over the status quo, alleviate concerns, challenges and drama, and make life easier for our clients.

The first step in effective solution selling begins by understanding the customer and their:

• Needs
• Challenges
• Concerns
• Environment
• Priorities
• Budget
• Hierarchy
• Decision making process
• Incumbent solution providers (your competition)
• Compelling event (Series C investment, acquisitions, headcount reduction, etc)

Successful salesmanship begins when the customer says, “no”!  If we work off the premise that our “solution or product” is a good fit for the client and it will address any or most of the criteria listed above, then our job is to convince the client why they should spend money with us.  Making this compelling argument or business case is an art form, should never be underestimated nor taken for granted, and is the root of what we do for a living.

On July 24, 2017July 25, 2017 By openkimono1 Comment