Selling Power Blog

Can You Duplicate Success?

I recently attended a conference where one of the speakers gave this advice to sales managers: "All you have to do to increase sales is to teach your salespeople to repeat their own best performance more often." This sounds like a good idea, but I know that many salespeople can’t transfer their skills from one situation to another or from one job to another. They suffer from an inability to change and adapt. Here are some illustrations:

1. A change in product line
   
   A sales rep in the multilevel marketing field who made $1.2 million in commission only a few years ago told me that, last year, he barely made $50,000. The company he represented lost a legal battle, and they had to cut their product line in half. At the height of his success, he led a flamboyant lifestyle – bought a Rolls Royce and overinvested in real estate. He tried to take his skills to another company that offered him greater opportunities, but he could not make the emotional connection to the new product line. His rigid mind-set impaired his skill set, and today, only his creditors follow his footsteps.
2. A change in the market
   
   Last week, I spoke with a sales trainer who served the magazine industry for 20 years. Only six years ago, her annual income was more than $400,000, but last year, her income barely reached $100,000. Her sales and training skills are still sharp, but she didn’t have the courage to take her skills to another market sector that would have exposed her to richer opportunities. In her case, the fear of change prevented her from realizing that the best skills and talents lose their value in a rapidly shrinking marketplace.
3. A change in self-image
   
   After a string of successful experiences, some salespeople feel that they have arrived and believe that they are the masters of the universe. I remember interviewing a sales manager whose resume stated that he helped his previous company increase sales by 150 percent. After checking his story, I found that he did well because the company had a great product that reached the market at the right time, and his salespeople were diligent order-takers. During the interview, I sensed that he had an inflated self-image. He bragged too much about his success. When I asked him to explain a nine-month gap in his resume, he claimed that he was traveling the world. Later, I learned that he had spent those nine months trying out three other jobs and was quickly let go from each one. He made me think of the Wall Street saying, “Don’t confuse capital gains with brains.”

Success has many authors, and it is hard to determine the origins of success. Yet there are salespeople who successfully carry their skills from one company to the next and deliver great results. I know salespeople who left the New York Times to join AOL and dramatically boosted their incomes. Later, they joined Google and continued their success trajectory. These are the salespeople who continuously learn, adapt, and change.

Psychoanalyst Erik Erikson once called the key conflict of growing as a struggle between generativity and stagnation. Stagnation leads to an erosion of skills. People who stagnate become so involved with themselves that they become unable or unwilling to take on new challenges. They have bought the illusion that they have "arrived" and feel entitled to being celebrated and waited on.

Generativity, on the other hand, is the drive for renewal, the hunger for growth, the need to achieve that next level of positive transformation. While the forces of generativity become responsible for advancing and growing, the forces of stagnation arrest growth and spur erosion. We know that there are limits to our capacity for growth, just as there are limits to how much we can slow erosion.

Salespeople who know how to duplicate their success have learned that the bend in the road is not the end of the road – unless we refuse to make the turn.

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The Four Trends That Shape the World of Selling

The world of selling is changing at breakneck speed, and sales leaders need to adapt quickly or risk becoming obsolete. Here are the four major trends impacting sales organizations today:

1. Social media. A recent study by the Aberdeen Group shows that 79 percent of salespeople who incorporate social media into their sales process make quota, compared to the industry average of 43 percent. A HubSpot survey finds that companies using Twitter get two times more leads than companies that don’t. Research by InboxQ shows that 64 percent of customers are more likely to purchase from a business that answers their questions on Twitter.

To stay ahead of the curve, it may be a good idea to create a new strategy that includes “social listening” and the creation of engaging content. If your company doesn’t have a LinkedIn group, it’s time to start one. Every salesperson should have a LinkedIn profile that enhances your company’s brand. Teach your salespeople how to use such tools as HootSuite to track clients on Twitter and share content with customers and prospects.

2. Mobile. A Gartner survey predicts that by 2015, tablets will outsell PCs by 72 percent. Last month, laptop shipments realized their biggest monthly decline in years. More and more applications are now available on mobile devices, such as CRM; configure, price, quote tools; sales intelligence; compensation management; social media; and online collaboration and presentation tools. The most successful companies have equipped their sales teams with smartphones and tablets that are connected to the company’s sales-enablement content. Customers are impressed when salespeople can answer their questions by tapping a mobile-device screen and playing a quick customer testimonial on video or configuring a complex product on an iPad.

3. Cloud computing. More and more companies access Cloud-based apps through a browser while the data are stored on servers in a remote location. The simplest example is Google Docs. You have access from any browser to documents that you’d otherwise have to store on your laptop. Software-as-a-service is another example, such as Microsoft Dynamics. Cloud computing makes server-based computing nearly obsolete.

4. Big data. The recent bombing in Boston has shown how fast the FBI can analyze massive amounts of information gleaned from photographs and videos to track down suspects. The police crowd-sourced the investigation and located the suspects in record speed. From the dawn of civilization to 2003, five exabytes of data were created. By 2010, the same amount was created in only two days. As of January of this year, the world is creating five exabytes of information every 10 minutes.

Since companies have rapidly growing amounts of data that are often stored in multiple systems, conventional data analysis is no longer sufficient to optimize insight. New tools on the market allow companies to organize, analyze, and monetize data quickly. While conventional analytics explained the past, predictive analytics can predict future sales opportunities. According to Frost and Sullivan, 49 percent of companies are not using predictive analytics. This is the time to cash in on big-data tools to improve revenue.  

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How to Be a Feel-Good Millionaire

Many people say that one of their goals in life is to leave the world a better place than it was when they entered it. The thought of improving the world may show lofty ambition – but also hints at arrogance. Good salespeople don't aim to improve the world; instead, they work at improving themselves. If self-improvement is the first step to improving society, what would be the next logical step?

We bring to the business of selling more than just the knowledge of the product, people skills, and the motivation to win. We also bring to our customers our own set of personal and ethical values, values that communicate who we are and what we stand for. Good salespeople know that real champions are not measured by how much money they can collect but by how much meaning they can contribute. Real champions know that laughing all the way to the bank loses its appeal when you realize that, on a gloomy day, a fat checkbook won't hug you back.

Within the last decade, value-added selling and ROI selling became a key ingredient in generating more business. Given the increased complexity of our changing world, I believe that the next wave of progress will be value-added meaning. Sure, business will always demand that we produce profit, yet our minds always demand that we find meaning. Sensible business leaders help their sales teams understand the basic human need for creating both.

For example, the White Dog Café, a Philly farm-to-table restaurant formerly owned by Judy Wicks, used to hold Table Talk programs, during which interesting speakers shared ideas with the patrons. Anita Roddick, the late founder and CEO of The Body Shop, was invited to speak to a wall-to-wall Table Talk audience. Her talk was called, "The Socially Responsible Business: Where Profits Meet Principles."

The idea of “food served with thought” caught on quickly, and Wicks won the Business Enterprise Trust Award for building a greater sense of community. She created value-added meaning for her customers, and business boomed.

Technology giant Google routinely invites authors, musicians, innovators, and speakers to their offices for talks, interviews, and conversations designed to explore the zeitgeist of the day. Examples include Stephen Colbert, who discussed his new book, America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t (October, 2012).

While value-added selling creates dollars that we can take to the bank, value-added meaning creates a different currency, one we might call "feel-good dollars." While it takes a long time to become a millionaire in real dollars, we all can become overnight millionaires by earning "feel-good dollars." How? By adding meaning to our customers' experiences.

Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff has found a way to sell software in the Cloud while adding meaning to communities around the world. He does good because it feels good. He said in a speech he delivered recently, “Philanthropy is the best drug I ever took.” His Salesforce.com Foundation has contributed more than $40 million in grants and more than 440,000 volunteer hours.

You don’t have to be a billionaire like Benioff to feel good. We can increase our feel-good worth by how much meaning we contribute. Good salespeople ask themselves, “What can I do today that will help my customers feel good about doing business with me and my company? How can I bring more meaning to my customers and community at large? How can I add value to the profession of selling?”

Add to your treasure chest of values by getting better at doing good because it feels good when you do it. Become a feel-good millionaire, starting today.

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Are You Selling at Every Level?

While many companies promise to build their organization around the needs of their customers, few companies can claim that they organize themselves around the needs of their salespeople. Yet the two are inevitably linked: in a sales-focused culture in which the entire company (not just the sales department) is involved in selling, salespeople are more successful and customers are more satisfied. Highly successful companies not only create customer-focused organizations but also back up their commitment with sales-focused cultures.

What are the elements of a sales-focused culture? Ideally, a company sells at three distinct levels. At the C-level, top executives set the tone for the organization by clearly articulating the company's mission, vision, and values. While the company's mission describes the noble purpose of the organization (selling meaning), the vision statement induces people to aim their effort toward greater future achievements (selling inspiration). The description of the company's values provides a sensible guide for creating relationships (selling trust). For a true sales culture to exist, C-level executives need to continuously sell meaning, inspiration, and trust to the company's employees, customers, suppliers, and shareholders. Research shows that companies whose employees understand the mission, vision, and values enjoy a greater return than other firms.

At the middle level, sales and marketing departments create messages that are in sync with the company's mission, vision, and values. While marketing creates the brand promise, sales delivers by elevating the customer relationship to a branded sales experience. The key to a true sales-focused culture is to align sales and marketing.

At the street level, salespeople act as company ambassadors who are fluent in two languages: the customer's language and the company's language. They are able to diagnose the right problems and deliver the right solution. Ideally, the sales team's internal and external relationship skills will build a competition-proof connection between the company and clients that will ultimately extend from the mailroom to the boardroom.

To borrow an analogy from the world of music, C-level selling is like an overture that offers a preview of imminent excitement and drama. Midlevel selling engages people with a catchy tune that resonates pleasantly in the customer's mind. Person-to-person selling is more like jazz, which is the art of the moment. Good salespeople can instantly improvise and hit the right note at the right time to turn the right prospect into a happy customer.

Very few companies are able to act in concert from top to bottom. It takes an enlightened CEO and highly talented sales and marketing teams to create a sales-focused culture with all members of the organization playing their part in a symphony that inspires the customer’s delight. It's easier said than done, but the results can be magic for top-line and bottom-line growth.

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How Well Have You Adapted to the Global Changes in Selling?

To survive in the sales world, global executives must be adaptable. Studies show that there are three ways people commonly adapt to foreign cultures.

The first is unconditional acceptance of the foreign culture with a critical view of home. For example, a VP of sales marveled that in Japan cab drivers wore white gloves and the hotel staff always welcomed her with friendly smiles. She complained about the lack of courtesy in American business and scorned the negativity of American workers.

The second approach shows a strong loyalty to "back home" culture and a critical view of foreign culture. A manager who went to France complained that everyone was rude, griped about the French taking too much time for lunch, and felt that the French were too slow to understand new business ideas. He concluded that the French could benefit greatly from American know-how.

The third approach is to selectively adapt and integrate the best characteristics from all cultures. A successful adapter will patiently sip green tea with a Japanese executive and refrain from drinking alcohol during a meeting with Arab investors while remembering to make specific notes for a board meeting back home.

Many salespeople don't realize that they need to adapt their sales strategies, as well.

The first style of sales adaptation is to cling to the past while being critical of the present. A seasoned sales rep told me, "I will not bring up the subject of business unless the client brings it up." This salesperson believes that social media is a waste of time, thinks that CRM is a hindrance to belly-to-belly selling, and refuses to leave voicemail messages.

The second adaptation style is to embrace new ideas unconditionally while categorically rejecting old practices. One salesperson I met declared that face-to-face selling was a thing of the past. Believing that the future of selling would be exclusively in electronic commerce, he built a Facebook page, tweets six times a day, started a blog, and built his own landing pages to attract prospects. After two years of hard work, he is still struggling yet scoffs at people who still travel to see customers in person.

The most successful style for adapting to the ever-changing present is to rely on those practices that continue to work well while searching for more effective ways of doing business. The well-adapted executive still writes thank-you notes and personally extends special offers to valued clients. Successful salespeople use social media to engage customers in conversations on their terms while not ruling out lunch meetings. And they know – executives and sales reps alike – that keeping up with what’s current is a demanding job. They realize that if they cling to the past they won't be free to seize new opportunities.

Conversely, people who think of only the future tend to live in their imagination. The best way to adapt is to constantly learn more effective ways to manage the present and be receptive to new possibilities. Adapting to the present demands receptivity and the desire to move into more successful ways of being in touch with reality.

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What about That Myth That Selling Is Getting “Tougher”?

Talk to sales managers about their jobs, and chances are, you’ll hear four common “complaints” about how they perceive today’s selling climate:

1. Selling is tougher than it has ever been.

2. Selling is more competitive than it has ever been.

3. Selling is more complex than it has ever been.

4. Selling is more stressful and not as much fun as it used to be.

How true are these statements? That’s a trick question. Believe it or not, these four responses don’t always reflect the state of the economy. More often, they reflect the state of mind of the responder.

I know a group of successful sales executives who say, “Selling has become more exciting than it has ever been.” These are the top performers who make things happen. They think differently because they see things differently. They know that it takes only a small shift in perception to achieve a big shift in performance.

Managing perception is what good selling is all about. A great salesperson is able to offer the customer a new perspective on an old problem. That, in turn, leads to a shift in attitude, a shift in the customer’s decision-making process. And that leads to a shift in the salesperson’s performance curve.

Top performers seem to be more effective when it comes to managing the selling’s “inner game.” While average salespeople unconsciously allow their fears to grow, top performers consciously challenge themselves to outgrow their fears.

Top performers don’t wish for less complexity, they learn to master more complex challenges. Like mountain climbers, they know that they won’t get better by seeking out gentler slopes. They have to find new ways to master greater degrees of difficulty.

Great CEOs don’t complain about the tough competition. They revel in the challenges that confront them. They meet those challenges head-on and no holds barred. Top sales leaders don’t wish for easier customers, but they build a better process for hiring more “A” players and helping them develop greater skills.

While average sales achievers automatically think that selling is getting harder, top achievers habitually take a harder look at reality and discover new ways to make selling easier for them and more authentic and enjoyable for their customers. They relate to their customers without pretense, and they don’t wear masks that prevent people from knowing who they really are.

When there is a crisis with a customer, the top performers rely on their inner reserves to see the opportunity within the difficulty, and they use a crisis to develop a more rewarding relationship with the client. How do top performers stay calm in a crisis? They take a half a step back and tune into their zone of productive awareness.

Top performers know that we can’t change reality, but we can choose to change our perception of reality. While average achievers know this as a fact, top performers live by this fact. Top performers are always aware of the secret to high achievement: as soon as we change our perception, we change our performance.

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The Brits Boast about Their Content-Marketing Prowess - But Not So Fast...

The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) have recently published their report, “Content Marketing in the UK: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends.” According to this report, marketers in the United Kingdom believe that their content-marketing effort is more effective than that of their peers in the United States and Australia and that they are leading the way in this regard. 

Their belief appears to be supported by CMI and DMA’s findings that marketers in the United Kingdom currently use “a wider range of content-marketing tactics than their international counterparts” and plan to increase their content-marketing budgets by a wider margin.

CMI and DMA report that content marketing is nearly universally adopted in the United Kingdom:

• Ninety-four percent of all UK marketers use it.
• B2C marketers in the United Kingdom using content-marketing strategies total 97 percent.
• UK B2B marketers using it total 95 percent.

In contrast, according to the report, B2C marketers in North America and Australia are less likely to use content marketing than their B2B peers.

The margin by which content marketers in the United Kingdom intend to increase their budgets as compared to marketers in North American and Australia doesn’t seem to be so impressive, however:

• Sixty-four percent of UK marketers say they will increase their content-marketing budget within the next 12 months.
• More than half of marketers in North America (54 percent) say they will increase their content-marketing budget.
• In Australia, 61 percent of marketers intend to allocate more funds to content marketing.

Social media use is universal:

• Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are the most widely used social media by all marketers everywhere.
• Overall (including in the United Kingdom), marketers use an average of four social-media platforms…
• whereas North American B2B marketers leverage the reach of five platforms.

It appears that, despite the overwhelming adoption of content marketing and their intent to allocate more funds to advance their efforts, the two biggest challenges that UK content marketers face (delivering enough content and producing engaging content) are not new, nor are they specific to UK marketers.

While this research is an accurate reflection of the past, it ignores the emerging trend of employing emotional intelligence in marketing. I see more and more smart companies quietly changing their approach about content from logic to emotion. B2C companies are at the leading edge of this trend. Red Bull has done a great job of encouraging its customers to fly through the air (by base jumping, kite boarding, flying in wing suits, etc.) to drive its slogan “Gives you wings” into reality. Red Bull saved millions in marketing dollars by capturing and distributing content generated by customer advocates.

Here is another example: Joseph Tripodi, chief marketing officer of Coca-Cola, stated in an interview that Coca-Cola’s customers generate seven times more content than the company generates. Tripodi is less excited about impressions of a metric and more excited about customer expressions. He said that of the 140 million online mentions of the brand, only 20 million were created by his company. As of yesterday, Coca-Cola had 61 million likes on Facebook.

Traditional corporate content creators tend to get carried away with painting an embellished picture of reality (which often fails to lead to customer engagement). Companies are far better off investing less in content and giving their customers a paintbrush and canvas (via social-media platforms) and encouraging them to paint the true picture: the image of the brand as it is reflected in their hearts and minds.

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Seven Keys to Success

Today, salespeople carry smartphones, tote lightweight tablets, and are dialed into their organization’s network from, well, almost anywhere. No wonder that selling is now, more than ever, less a transactional endeavor and more an exercise in cultivating lasting relationships with customers. But despite the ubiquity of digital sales tools, reps who base their sales effort on a time-tested principle of work/life balance are most often the sales superstars. Here’s a list of some time-tested keys that will give you the best chance for success.

1. Work harder and play better.
Successful people know that nothing worthwhile comes easy. Hard work is important, but it is equally important to have fun. Go to any successful start-up company, and you’ll see employees blowing off steam on ping-pong tables, throwing darts, browsing books on a shelf, or playing trash-can basketball. Frolicking at work isn’t frivolous. Dispensed in small doses, it’s a powerful success medicine. Don’t be a workaholic; be a “workafrolic” instead.

2. Cultivate curiosity.
Successful people are not just curious about their chosen field, they are curious about EVERYTHING. They continually think, explore new ideas, ask dozens of questions, and always try to figure out how things work and how they could be made to work better. Curiosity is the most powerful business-improvement and personal-success engine.

3. Expand your endurance.
Push yourself mentally and physically. Successful people know how to generate and maintain positive energy 24/7. They strive to be physically fit, and at the same time they work on their psychological fitness. 

4. Turn failure into fertilizer.
Thomas Edison failed thousands of times before he found a filament that would glow in a vacuum tube, which lead to his invention of the light bulb. Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, and failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” 

5. Focus.
Successful people begin each day with written goals they want to achieve. They know that the onslaught of incoming emails, calls, and texts will distract them, but each time they get sidetracked, they go back to working on the next item on their list. People who start a new task every three minutes end up doing in an hour 20 small tasks that merely contribute to maintaining the status quo. It is far better to invest your complete mental focus on two or three tasks per hour and create steady forward momentum.

6. Innovate.
Successful people know that having innovative ideas is not enough. What counts is how many new ideas you can implement successfully. What holds people back is not the difficulty of implementing their ideas, but what people say when they start sharing their ideas with others. Oracle founder Larry Ellison said it best: “When you innovate, you’ve got to be prepared for everyone telling you that you’re nuts.” 

7. Manage disappointment.
Successful people realize that reaching success often depends on how they manage the inevitable disappointments that unexpectedly impact their lives. When people get disappointed, they often withdraw, and their anger turns inward. Successful people transform disappointment into a journey of self-discovery, where they reconnect with their inner strengths. Disappointment well managed will become the cradle of ambition.

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Who Should Be Responsible for Sales Enablement Content - Sales or Marketing?

Today's blog post is by Jeff Ogden, award-winning B2B marketing expert, president of the sales lead generation company Find New Customers, and creator of the very popular and syndicated online TV show Marketing Made Simple TV.  

 

What is a Buyer Persona™ Buyer personas tell you exactly how and why a representative buyer makes the decision to buy the products, services, or solutions that you market. While buyer personas may include other details, the 5 Rings of Insight are their most overlooked and essential aspect, clarifying decisions for persuasive messaging, content marketing, product or solution launches, campaigns, and sales alignment. Priority Initiatives Success Factors Perceived Barriers Buying Process Decision Criteria The Five Rings of Insight and the ebook is owned by the Buyer Persona Institute.

When Gerhard Gschwandtner asked me that question in our recent video interview, I was dumbfounded for a moment. Sales? Marketing? Whom?

My first instinct was to answer yes, because marketing and sales have to work together.

I believe the lines separating sales and marketing need to end. He asked how those groups could unite. I told him those leaders need to get together and spend some quality time. Gerhard joked, “Are you saying a few beers can bring these teams together?” Yes, Gerhard, marketing and sales leaders are just people. If they spend quality time getting to know each other, things will go swimmingly. That means a lunch meeting or even a few beers after work.

In this guest post, I want to explore how sales and marketing can work together to create effective sales enablement content.

How to Create Truly Useful Sales Enablement Content

If one thinks about it, the role of content is to answer buyer questions needed to facilitate a purchase.  Only after you answer their questions can buyers become comfortable enough to sign with you. That means we need to first think about the questions that need answering.

Where can we learn these questions? We should talk to salespeople and even do some unstructured interviews of won and lost deals.  (Note: Download a free e-book on Buyer Personas here.)

Let’s use an example to illustrate: say the company trying to win a sale is “Acme Financial Solutions.” Acme offers a SaaS software product to enable marketing leaders to close faster.  A senior salesperson with Acme – let’s call him “Tom” – has a meeting with a VP of finance at a large financial services firm in New York City.

Tom meets with the VP and shows him a demonstration of the financial software. Then they sketch out on a whiteboard how the financial processes will change. The VP is impressed. But he says to Tom, “I’m concerned about our ability to successfully implement this software. I’m not sure we have the right talents in-house or know how to make the needed changes to use your software.”

Tom does a song and dance and tries to assure the buyer that Acme will help his company through these changes. Acme has done nothing to arm Tom for questions like this; however, if Acme had thought through the question ahead of time and the salespeople have been asked this question before, then the company could craft content to answer the question.

Let’s put Tom back in the meeting with the VP of finance. He’s again asked about the need for the right talents and processes. Tom pulls out an iPad and pops up a video. In this video, an existing Acme client talks about the implementation and what was learned about training and process change. Tom’s prospect has an answer from a trusted source and signs on the spot.

Conclusion: Sales and Marketing Need to Work Together

How do sales and marketing become one and create truly useful content like Tom’s?

I think there’s no secret formula; it requires people who genuinely care. People who care spend time talking and really listening to the point of view of the other person. If both sales and marketing teams feel the other has its best interest at heart, the icy distrust will thaw.

Next, sales and marketing need to come up with a list of buyer questions. These come from past sales experiences and unstructured buyer interviews. (Download a free e-book on Buyer Personas here.) Sit down for a meeting and get these questions documented. Once the questions are compiled, then start thinking about how best to answer those questions.

Perhaps you could record a video or audio interview of an existing client. Or you could create some other form of useful content. No matter what, sales and marketing can create great content – together.

A few pints of good beer can solve everything, I think.

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Secrets to Developing Successful Sales Managers

Today's blog post is by Christopher Cabrera, CEO of Xactly Corporation, the industry leader in sales compensation automation.

Back in November, I wrote here about how sales managers who are on the cusp of hitting quota sometimes hang on to low-performing reps in the hope of eking out even a few more sales.

Obviously it’s not good business to keep poorly performing sales reps on the books. But the underlying issue ­– and perhaps the more important one ­– is that first-line sales managers have a huge impact on company performance, yet they’re often overlooked for training and career development. They may get a workshop or two when they’re new to the manager role, but after that, the training emphasis shifts to the sales staff.

At Xactly, we’ve been thinking a lot about this lately because of a Webinar series we’re conducting with the management experts at ZS Associates. Andy Zoltners and Marshall Solem of ZS have some keen insight into problems that arise at the manager level.

One such problem can be traced to the structure of the typical sales career path. Got a sales rep who knocks it out of the park every quarter? Paid his or her dues, put in the time, deserves a promotion? There’s your next sales manager! Trouble is, great reps don’t necessarily make great managers.

That makes sense when you think about the characteristics each position requires. A top-notch sales rep, for example,

• wins through personal effort,
• is customer-centric,
• sets a personal agenda,
• and is focused on results.

The traits of a good manager are completely different. These managers

• win through leading others,
• focus on both customer and company,
• balance the demands of many stakeholders,
• and act strategically.

Sales managers also have to maintain a balance among three roles: they’re people managers, business managers, and customer managers. When the company changes its strategy or new regulations come into play, it’s up to the manager to communicate to the field. When the field reports on changes in the marketplace, the manager communicates with the company on how it needs to adapt. Not everyone can balance the competing needs.

Promoting good reps who aren’t well suited to management is a classic lose-lose situation. The star seller most likely will be replaced by someone who isn’t as strong. And ZS research has found that performance deteriorates over time in territories run by weak managers.

So what can a company do to ensure a strong team of first-line managers?

• Hire for characteristics. Train and coach competencies.

Characteristics	Competencies
Integrity	Market knowledge
Empathy, listening skills	Business savvy
Social skills	Hiring skills
Competitiveness	Region planning and management skills
Assertiveness	Negotiation skills
Decisiveness	Experience

Ideally, a first-line sales manager will possess all of those characteristics and competencies alike (although that’s asking a lot). But if you have to make a trade-off, go with the characteristics. Market knowledge and planning skills can be taught; integrity and decisiveness can’t. Or, as ZS’s Solem puts it, “You can’t send a duck to eagle school. If you want an eagle, you have to hire an eagle.”

• Give sales managers the support and training they need to be effective and efficient, including the following: 
  • Data and tools: dashboards and metrics, tools for territory goal setting or territory realignment, and tools for budgeting and expense management.
  • Processes and systems: processes to help manage performance reviews, hiring, and goal setting, so all managers operate in much the same way and don’t have to make up processes on their own.
  • People: administrative staff and regional analysts to help managers understand the business, and a “traffic cop” to manage requests from headquarters for field time and manager time.
• Create a career path for sales reps that lets them advance without becoming managers. This could mean setting up different levels of responsibility, from junior rep to senior rep to key-account exec assigned to global accounts. Seasoned salespeople could be given extra internal responsibilities, such as leading task forces to address issues within the organization, or coaching and mentoring new reps.

Some salespeople assume the management mantle seamlessly, but don’t assume everyone can make the transition. Use these tips to keep management problems at bay and your top sellers doing what they do best. 

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