Help . . . . I need a Sales Manager
By Larry Breed
Office Automation Consultants, Inc.
Every business owner is faced with these critical business issues:
1. People – finding, screening, interviewing, hiring, training, managing, coaching, retaining, etc.
2. Prospects – finding, selling and retaining customers
3. Processes – marketing, accounting, sales, support, financial management, etc.
The challenges are even more critical for small businesses in the adolescence of growth, too big to continue to go it alone, too small to afford a sales manager, and too independent to bring in a business partner.
Most business owners approach these challenges in a similar manner.
1. They do nothing, maintain the status quo, and continue to sink to the bottom of the competitive food chain.
2. They work harder and longer hours, which can negatively impact their health and family relationships. Don’t take my word for it; ask your family tonight at dinner. (That is, if you make it home in time for dinner)
3. They promote one of their top sales reps and give them combined responsibilities for maintaining their own sales quota and driving that of the rep(s) they supervise.
I can tell you from personal experience that if you are not very careful, being “promoted” to sales supervisor can be a lose-lose situation for everyone involved. You can lose a significant portion of the production of the sales rep you promoted, because of the extra time they have to devote to their reps, and less time they have to maintain their own sales quota.
They are often overworked, unhappy, and if you don’t recognize it in time, they might become an ex-employee and a full-time top producer with a competitor.
4. They hire a full time sales manager to manage the sales people. Anyone who has ever hired a new sales manger, or promoted a sales rep to be the sale manager over their peers, knows the potential problems that can occur.
Problems don’t disappear with the appearance of a new or newly promoted sales manager. In many cases, a new sales manager can bring or create as many problems as they solve.
a. New Sales Manager: Hiring a new sales manager from outside the company has its challenges. For those of you who are old enough to have adult children who have married and introduced a new son-in-law or daughter-in-law into the family, you know the impact a new family member can have on everyone else.
A new sales manager is a new family member in your business family, and although they may have an impeccable track record, they still have to fit into the existing family. If not, and unfortunately it’s often too late before you find out, other loyal, long-term employees could begin to bail out if the way they are managed is different from what they are used to.
b. Promoting one of your top sales people. There are other factors to be aware of when considering this option.
▪ Can they make the transition, and will they be as successful at managing sales people as they are at selling to customers? The odds of a top sales rep becoming a top sales manager are not very good. You can change a person’s job title and responsibilities, but you can’t change their personality and motivation. So if their personality, interest, and motivation don’t match the new job, then their life, yours, and everyone they come in contact with can become more complicated and frustrating. Just compare Magic Johnson’s record of playing vs. coaching.
▪ Will the old sales team support their newly promoted manager? I’ve seen (and been) one of those top sales people who were promoted to sale manager and overnight transformed from the likeable unofficial leader of the sales team to a demanding taskmaster bent on re-shaping everyone in their own image.
Don’t automatically assume that just because your top rep is admired and respected by their peers, and even deserving to be promoted to sales manager, that they have what it takes to be a successful sales manager, and all of their peers will support them even if they have what it takes. When roles and relationships change, there is always the possibility for disruption.
Talk to them at length, before making the change to make sure that they understand the risks and rewards to all involved in this critical decision
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