tailieunhanh - 4 Steps to More Effectively Managing a Sales Force

Managing a sales force can seem at times like trying to herd cats or force water to go uphill. Having had the privilege of leading numerous sales teams across multiple industries, I can share more than a few stories (good and bad). After more than 25 years of sales management experience, let me share 4 steps I believe are essential. | 4 Steps to More Effectively Managing a Sales Force Managing a sales force can seem at times like trying to herd cats or force water to go uphill. Having had the privilege of leading numerous sales teams across multiple industries I can share more than a few stories good and bad . After more than 25 years of sales management experience let me share 4 steps I believe are essential. First Step Never assume you re going to know what is going on during each sales call. Salespeople by nature will always be quick to tell you about the success and downplay the failures. As much as you may think you know of every lost opportunity don t kid yourself. You don t. If you take the approach of trying to make each lost sale a learning opportunity you ll quickly find your sales team hiding information from you. Chose your teaching moments wisely and never forget you re dealing with a person s mental state. It s better to coach for the longterm improvement than the short-term sale. Second Step When making joint sales calls don t assume the lead role. Allow the salesperson to maintain the lead role. Your job is to assist the salesperson long-term and you do that best by assisting only where needed. When you do assist never do so in such a way that undermines the salesperson. Keep in mind that it s their account and their customer -not yours. Third Step When working with one salesperson never say anything negative about another salesperson on your team. Too many sales managers will talk about other salespeople when they are working with one of the team members. If you do this it will immediately cause the salesperson to wonder what you re saying about them to the others on the team. The only time it s appropriate to talk about another salesperson is when you want to share something positive about them. Fourth Step Remember that you re managing people not products. The performance of your sales team will always be impacted far more due to their mental state than you will ever know. .