52 SALES MANAGEMENT TIPS

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2 52 SALES MANAGEMENT TIPS THE SALES MANAGER S SUCCESS GUIDE STEVEN ROSEN

3 Copyright 2012 by Star Solutions That Achieve Results Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system. Published by: STAR Solutions That Achieve Results Inc. 20 Pickett Crescent, Richmond Hill, Ontario Canada L4C 9K9 Website:

4 Praise for 52 Sales Management Tips: Wow, Steven has got it right Focus on sales management to increase sales performance. No complicated strategy, just actionable coaching tidbits that guide you to the right tool for the right situation at the right time. You will be amazed at how you can tackle so many management issues in so few words 52 times. This book is a must for the sales management professional. William Skip Miller, author, ProActive Sales Management The sales manager is the pivotal person in the salesdriven organization, and Steven s book shows you how to excel! Brian Tracy, author, Getting Rich Your Own Way 52 Sales Management Tips is a must read for any front line sales manager or for anyone aspiring to be a front line sales manager! Sadly over the last 30 years there has been a documented decline in the professional

5 development of front line sales managers by too many corporations. 52 Sales Management Tips is short, concise, relevant and insightful. Follow Steven s advice, implement 1 tip a week and watch your people transform while sales soar! Andy Miller, Founder and Senior Partner, Big Swift Kick In 52 Sales Management Tips, Rosen offers practical, actionable tips for sales managers to "up" their game. By acting on these tidbits of wisdom, you ll see a big difference in your sales results. Jill Konrath, author, SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies The role of the sales manager is far more important than the sales profession realizes. Fortunately, Steven Rosen has written a go-to book for sales managers looking to improve their skills. I m recommending this must-have reference guide to the sales managers I know, so that they can begin today to be better

6 equipped for any challenges and opportunities that come their way. Mark Hunter The Sales Hunter Few if any (until now) sales books on the market currently address one of the most critical elements for consistent sales success, specifically the front line sales manager. Steven Rosen s brilliant book is concise, to the point, and most importantly executable. It is a fact that the ROI on a dollar invested in front line sales manager is much greater than a dollar invested in sale reps, your first investment to maximize your returns should be in this book. Tibor Shanto, Principal Renbor Sales Solutions Inc. Steven has put together a concise handbook that's easy to understand and applicable. Steven's expert gems are truly golden for sales managers wrestling with hiring, training and coaching sales people, managing customers and winning business and managing executive expectations all at the same time." Craig Klein, President/CEO Sales Nexus

7 Introduction: Thank you for picking up 52 Sales Management Tips: The Sales Manager s Success Guide. You have just taken the first step towards changing your life. This book is designed for sales managers who struggle within a corporate environment that doesn t always support them or their development needs. Whether you are a sales executive, senior sales leader or a new, experienced or aspiring sales manager I m confident you will find this book to be a valuable guide to consult whenever you are experiencing problems. Front line sales managers are facing unprecedented change. Managers are dealing with increased demands to do more with less and are still expected to drive sales performance. With little support from the next-line of sales management and a lack of relevant courses and ongoing development you may feel stretched to the limit. Your role is paramount to the success of your organization. Front line sales managers are the key to unlocking the potential of the sales force and driving sales performance.

8 Here s why: 1. The #1 performance factor for sales people is the quality of their manager. A high quality manger has far greater impact on performance than skills training or compensation. 2. The #1 manager activity associated with rep success is coaching. Coaching is the single most impactful activity that front lines sales managers perform. Studies show that effectual coaching can impact sales performance by as much as 20%! 3. The #1 reason why top performing sales reps leave an organization is their relationship with their manager. Great front line sales managers do a better job retaining top performing sales people than mediocre managers. Most CEO s recognise the upside of coaching and yet are still reluctant to embrace change. The fact is most organizations don t invest sufficient funds to support the growth and development of their front line sales managers. As a result, corporations are not reaping the true value from their investments in sales forces and the numbers continue to decline.

9 I have coached dozens of front line sales managers and have seen firsthand, the impact they can have on performance if given proper support and development. Overworked and under-supported front line sales managers are desperately looking for resources to improve their performance. This book was written for sales managers who understand the need to develop themselves. They have figured out that they must take charge of their own success. For this book, I distilled over 20 years of my sales management, sales executive and sales executive coaching insights into one simple reference guide. I am always amazed at the positive reaction I continually receive when I share these tips with the sales leaders that I coach. Once you begin, you will immediately begin to benefit from my experience coaching mediocre managers into star sales leaders. You, yourself will become a sales leader to follow. That s the reason why I wrote 52 Sales Management Tips. It is my hope that the insights I share will help you with the many challenges you face in your workplace. I have carefully chosen my 52 top tips based on recurring themes I have seen with my coaching clients. Over and over again, I find myself quoting from my list of tried and true tips. After a

10 while, I have realized that I could extend my reach and create a book to share my tips with a wider audience on coaching to excellence. I have found that sales managers struggle the most with how to: 1. Be a more effective coach 2. Handle their boss 3. Hire sales STARS 4. Drive sales performance and 5. Manage different types of people This book has my top 52 tips of what to do as a sales manager. It is intended to provide provoking, inspiring and witty insights from my 20 years of extensive experience in the area of sales management. My goal is to share with you a year s worth of weekly tips to guide you to success. I understand that many of you are busy and like me have short attention spans. This book doesn t read like a novel. I have taken my best insights and shared them with you in a concise, easy to read format. My goal is not to lecture or speak theoretically. I want to share with you my best practical tips, the nuggets of truth that will provide you with the know-how in how to succeed as a sales manager.

11 My bet is that you are going to want to read this book cover to cover. Each tip can be implemented immediately or stored for future use when a situation arises. I have helped many sales leaders and front line sales managers breakthrough, and I can help you as well. I want you to achieve the success you desire in a sales management role. Time and time again the top sales managers are able to drive sales performance through people. Managers, who can effectively help their sales people improve, will rise to the top. Let the tips in this book be a guide to your success. I hope you enjoy reading my six free tips. Click here to purchase 52 Sales Management Tips

12 Tip #6: The Power of the Pen To increase the chance that your sales reps will achieve a goal they have set for themselves it is critical to have them commit their plan to paper, write it down! When people put pen to paper it has two key benefits. Firstly, they have thought out what specific activities/steps they need to do to achieve their goal(s) and secondly the process of writing crystallizes in the brain what they intend to do. This speaks to commitment. With a written commitment the sales rep takes ownership of the outcome.

13 Tip #12: Proactively Manage your Boss Your boss is no different than you. All bosses want to know two things: one, that you know what your issues are and, two, that you are doing something about them. Put yourself in your boss s shoes. S/he has enough to worry about. If your boss is spending time wondering what you are doing about your issues than they are really questioning whether you are effectively doing your job. Before your boss figures out your issues, communicate and demonstrate that you have a plan to proactively address them yourself. Remember, the best defence is an offence.

14 Tip #27: Manage Your Own Motivation Welcome to management. As a rep you lived in a highly supportive environment. In management the environment is less supportive and filled with stress. It is incumbent on you to stay inspired so you can inspire your sales people. The word inspiration comes from the Latin word spiarae which means to breathe, to live. I have found that there are many ways to keep oneself motivated. You can read a leadership book or take a leadership course. Make sure you take care of yourself, take mental health days, exercise and eat well. Regardless which options you choose, it is essential that you stay inspired because your people need your energy as a source of motivation.

15 Tip #30: Avoid the Plug and Play OK, you have two candidates that you really like. One knows the products, customers and the industry. The other candidate is passionate, driven and eager to prove themself. The easy answer for a busy manager is to hire the sales rep that comes with all the experience. But have you thought about what else they bring to the table? Have you considered the infamous industry baggage? The experienced rep may be easier on the manager for the first 6 months whereas the driven rep will have a slower start, but in 6 months he/she will likely have achieved better sales. Hire attitude over aptitude!

16 Tip #42: The Self-Doubter The Self Doubter: A sales rep that sees and believes everything they do is wrong. These reps are extremely challenging to coach. If you provide direct feedback it may be met with I already do that or reasons why they don t. The Self Doubter perceives any critiquing as weakness and personalizes it as confirmation that they are doing a horrible job! The trick with this type of individual is to lead them through a process of self-discovery and improvement. By asking them a series of questions you can guide them through a process of self-awareness that will lead to an ah ha moment. This breakthrough may seem labour-intensive, but the payback is a stronger rep and increased performance.

17 Tip #50: Beware of Failure to Impact Syndrome Time and time again I have seen it. Sales reps going through their daily activities like robots. They have little impact on each call, they just show up and expect the business. I call this failure to impact syndrome. It is contagious and can spread throughout an entire sales force. It works as long as the business grows. Everyone gets high fives and there is no need to dig any deeper. But what happens when sales are down and senior management starts asking questions? Sales managers struggle to come up with the answers and reps get nervous. The cure: Get out in the field and inspire your reps to be innovative.

18 About Steven Rosen: 6 Free Tips Steven Rosen, is a sales management expert who transforms sales managers into great sales coaches. Steven works with sales executives to hire better reps and managers, develop sales teams that outperform the competition, and by doing so achieve greater personal and professional success. He has authored many articles in the areas of sales management coaching and training. He is a regular contributor to a variety of sales web sites and writes a sales management blog called, Stirring it Up. Steven s mission is to inspire sales leaders, managers and reps to achieve their full business potential. When you hire Steven, you get Steven. He has a hands-on approach and thrives on working directly with his clients in helping them to discover and achieve their vision. Steven knows sales -- inside and out. He s been in the trenches and commanded the troops. Steven builds high performance teams, mentoring senior sales executives and front line sales managers to grow their businesses to new heights.

19 His results orientated approach to corporate leadership, strategy development, execution and building high performance teams in the pharmaceutical and packaged goods sectors defined his success. His expertise in aligning sales and marketing initiatives to achieve key business results and exceed customer expectations has delivered STAR Results from his days as a sales rep to his tenure as a VP of sales for two multi-national pharmaceutical corporations. He is a high energy and colourful speaker who will inspire your organization to realise STAR Results. Skip the learning curve, and let Steven motivate you to achieve the balance and success you deserve. If you are ready to achieve STAR results through a personalized program of leadership coaching, contact Steven at [email protected] or Click here to purchase 52 Sales Management Tips

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