The sales management role is the most important job in the sales. It is responsible for developing the sales team to create outstanding sales performance.
Lack of Professional Development
Unfortunately, the training of sales managers has been largely ignored, and they have been left to their own devices to manage sales activity in the best way they can, often without formal training or professional development.
As a result, most sales managers use only a small proportion of the tools available to them and concentrate purely on the achievement of targets and on the delivery of the numbers.
This means they only focus on the ends of sales performance, but largely ignore the means, which is how these targets and numbers come to be delivered in the first place. What is required therefore, is for sales managers to focus on the means of sales performance as well as ends.
Sales Management Tasks
Those elements most responsible for sales performance include leadership, motivation, coaching and team development, which together create the necessary environment for sales success.
This can be illustrated in the diagram below:
Managing Sales Performance
Vision
Sales management must create a sense of direction or VISION, which articulates the Overall Goals of the organisation and the role of sales in helping to achieve them. They must then provide Leadership to ensure these goals are translated into the appropriate sales actions and behaviours.
Mission
Management then need to instil a sense of MISSION, which is how the vision will be achieved. The mission includes the Values & Culture adopted by the sales organisation and the Sales Strategy which specifies how target customers will be approached and engaged.
People
Ultimately, it is the actions of PEOPLE that determine sales success and therefore management must ensure that all members of the sales team understand how they contribute to this success. This implies the definition of Key Tasks & Roles, but also recognises the need for Structure and the importance of Teams.
Performance
People also need to know what levels of PERFORMANCE are expected of them. This is not just in terms of Targets & Activity (The Ends), but also in terms of those key sales Skills & Behaviours (The Means) needed to be successful.
Motivation
Having created a sense of vision and mission and ensured that salespeople understand their role, sales management needs to understand the art of MOTIVATION, particularly the use of Incentives & Rewards that the nature of the Psychological Contract that exists between each salesperson and the organisation.
Development
Finally, sales management are responsible for the DEVELOPMENT of the sales team and should provide Performance Feedback on a regular and early basis to enable salespeople to manage their own performance. Sales managers must also be skilled at Coaching to improve the knowledge, skills & behaviours of the sales team.
The combination of all the above management tools and techniques will ensure that sales managers utilise all means available to create outstanding sales performance.
Customize Sales Management Training, July 2010
