Sales managers have plenty of results they are accountable for achieving, but when it comes down to it, like their team members, they’re tied to a number. The unfortunate reality is that it gives managers a convenient excuse to drop actions that aren’t directly related to the number when the pressure increases.
“Unfortunately, salespeople and sales managers are always going to be tied to a number,” says Call. “But there are some organizations that may dictate, along with the number, that there are other areas of performance that should be tied to creative objectives. It is good that top performing organizations entrust the sales team to deliver on revenue. The focus of selling should always be tied to revenue, but what about an instance where a customer relationship is more important than the revenue associated with a customer?
“Sales managers who come up through the ranks like the thrill of the deal and it’s easy to slip back into deal management mode when a good opportunity arises,” he continues. “But a manager committed to developing team members should be looking at opportunities that are well positioned in the funnel. Investing the time to review with the rep why the opportunities are positioned where they are and understanding what can be done to move them farther down the funnel is critical. A good sales manager is committed to learning how to eliminate the rep’s selling challenges and providing an experienced point of view on how to effectively win a deal. The next step is for them to trust the sales rep to execute on a strategic plan after walking through the possible action items.”
It makes sense that when time only permits a limited number of activities in one day, those tied to the bottom line will be given priority. But coaching is one activity that accelerates the development of the sales force, helps ensure adoption of specific sales processes, and eventually allows the best practices of the team to permeate throughout the organization.
Coaching is an investment of time that results in the scaling of best practices throughout the organization and the cutting loose of top-performers to go win more business. As Call says, the right managers will have the initiative to take their team to a higher level of productivity and develop the skills that will afford the team more autonomy in account pursuit.
If coaching is to affect change within the company, certain conditions need to be re-considered. For example, the expectations for the manager in today’s sales organization have increased drastically in number. But has the way they are evaluated changed as well?
“Part of it is that it seems disconnected,” says Call. “If I’m a manager and I’m being evaluated on the performance of my team and tied to a number, is that fair?”
As Call suggests, there could be alternate areas of evaluation that could be added to provide a clearer picture of the manager’s performance and consequential effectiveness in the organization. “A lot of organizations will look at the sales manager and say that his or her top priority is solely to drive revenue, but think about all the other aspects of what it takes to be a good manager: the human resources aspect, interaction with marketing and sales team members and the leadership they’re required to exhibit. The evaluation used to be driven by numbers, but with all the information and data available, that has changed in some organizations.”
Call also mentions that some organizations are making the sales manager’s job (and therefore time and ability to coach)easier by shifting more responsibilities to sales operation departments. “There are organizations that have more of a focus on sales operations. They have a person inside who keeps an eye on the evaluation of information, putting in place metrics such as deal size, conversion ratios, and predictability of the forecast. With that person in place, the sales manager is free to focus on customers and coaching.”
The manager who is able to assess and distill the information is in a better position to identify which reps are doing well and which reps are struggling in their respective areas.
“The manager’s true responsibility is to figure out how to solve those issues, not pulling up spreadsheets or looking at data,” says Call. He notes that he has seen more companies start to ask about installing positions with a sales operation capacity.
Another item Call recommends exploring is having managers focus on development plans for each of their people and determining whether compensation can be appropriately tied to them –some sort of action that ensures the sales manager is devoting time to developing salespeople. It may seem difficult to integrate into the organization’s existing structure but, as the sales manager’s role becomes more complex, the old benchmarks may become ineffective. The chain of effectiveness is for the salesperson to conduct some type of self-evaluation using fact-based information.
The manager is responsible for reviewing the rep’s performance, suggesting areas of improvement and providing support to help them understand how they can be more successful. The manager’s coaching becomes the basis for closing the gap between the fact-based data and the personal performance improvements the reps are clamoring to understand.
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