Sales Management - The Buck Stops Here

Sales revenue is declining, profit margins are not meeting expectations and we have seen an increase in turnover in our sales force. How do I get our sales manager to fix things and get back on track?

The answer to that question begins by asking yourself another question; do you have the right person in the job of sales manager. Are they a leader or were they simply your best sales person. Do they have real leadership skills? Sometimes rejuvenating your sales force requires a change in leadership. It may even require a change in the sales force; the development of a documented sales strategy or even just a simple territorial restructuring.

However, before you get radical, ask yourself the following questions;

Have you supplied leadership training for your sales manager

Have you provided any coaching or mentoring to support the sales managers efforts

Do you get involved in supporting the sales strategy

Does your human resource department support a formalized program for new sales recruits

Do you show participative support in quarterly or semiannual sales meetings

Is the sales force held accountable do they have scorecards

Is the sales manager held accountable beyond what I call the statistical disappointment review via e-mail

Is your sales force trained in value selling

Do they really understand what it means to be a total solution provider

Have you done exit interviews to determine why sales people have left your company

Nowadays, salespeople must be problem solvers able to generate solutions for customers in their time of need. Therefore, they must possess a great deal of knowledge about your customers business. They must actually define what those needs are because the customer may not know, nor take the time to explain if they do know. Customers want you to have the knowledge and intelligence to comprehend and analyze their problems before showing up at the door. Customers will listen and buy from the salesperson that finds the pain and takes it away.

Sometimes going back to the basics is part of the answer to rekindling the passion. That means revisiting best practice in all areas including targeting, goal setting, customer profiling and action planning. Some of your sales people may have forgotten and some of them may have never known the principles

Selling is a profession that requires Professional Leadership.

Managing a group of professionals with the type of personalities required to succeed in sales is no easy task. So if you have done everything possible to support, educate and train your sales manager and you just cant generate the kind of results you expect, check your expectations. Are they realistic? Are they achievable? Have you benchmarked against friendly competition? If you answered yes to all these questions, then you may have to change sales managers.

Sales management holds the key to meeting company objectives. Effective sales management must build the platform for success. Sales people are not the easiest group in the company to manage. If they were they would not be sales people. Selling is not easy. It takes a special talent, self motivation, self discipline, a passion to succeed and the ability to accept rejection. The reality of the situation is simple. The majority of sales people are not managed well. Today our sales environment leans toward a more multifaceted atmosphere; salespeople must become strategists with a plan. This plan requires more knowledge about the business, better relationships and better solutions. Being a sales manager is not an easy profession. Make sure you are committed to giving your sales manager the support they need.

Check out Ricks new CD series and workbook Unlocking the Secrets to Amazing Sales @ http://www.ceostrategist.com/resources-store/unlocking-the-secrets-to-amazing-sales-incredible-profits.html It is a must addition for your sales training initiatives. Order today and get a bonus copy of Ricks book Turning Lone Wolves into Lead Wolves ----56 ideas to maximize sales. http://www.ceostrategist.com Sign up to receive The Howl a free monthly newsletter that addresses real world industry issues. Straight talk about todays issues. Rick Johnson, expert speaker, wholesale distributions Leadership Strategist, founder of CEO Strategist, LLC a firm that helps clients create and maintain competitive advantage. Need a speaker for your next event, E-mail rick@ceostrategist.com Dont forget to check out the Lead Wolf Series that can help you put more profit into your business.

Young Buck
Young Buck also known as David Darnell Brown was born in Nashville, Tennessee on the 15th of March, 1981. A down south rapper...

Sales Performance Management
Sales management is an integral sub-system of marketing management. It translates the marketing plan into marketing performan...

Sales Lead Management
Sales lead management is one of the key foundations of good sales. If you are a business owner, it is essential for you to ha...

Sales Management and Managing Sales
For those engaged in sales management and trying to control a group of self-starter type sales people you can just imagine ho...

Sales Performance Management
Sales organizations spend a lot of money on systems, processes, and people designed to improve individual salesperson perform...

Sales Management Made Easier With CRM
An effective sales management team is considered to be the backbone of an organization. While sales management was considered...

2007 Sales Management Strategies to Think On!
All entrepreneurs and companies must manage their sales because without sales the company is no longer viable. Sales manageme...

Dont Wait Until Its Too Late To Work On Your Sales Turnaround
Im doing a sales turnaround assessment and planning project right now for a company thats lost a large percentage of its sale...

Automate Sales and Start a Revolution
Sales Management can learn by example from Henry Ford. Almost a hundred years ago Henry Ford revolutionized an industry. This...

Sales Performance Planning
Does your company have a good sales performance planning process? Are your people on your sales team fully benchmarked again...

Sales Managers: Post Your Sales Results Conspicuously!
There is nothing quite like peer pressure to make a sales force manage itself.How can you unleash peoples competitiveness?One...

Sales Management and CRM - Setting up the Central Memory
With the arrival of CRM, the sales process has changed.CRM became a new trends a few years ago. And with this concept of CRM ...

Sales Management and CRM - Digging Into the Memory
...An important step in organizing CRM based sales management was to build up or gather this (central) memory so everybody co...

Sales Management Styles; Iron Fist or Emotional Empathy Efforts
There are many different sales management styles, but which one works the best? Well most experienced practitioners recommend...

Which is Better Hire a Salesperson or Invest in a Sales Assistant?
What does it cost to hire a good salesperson? Many companies spend about one fourth the annual salary of a salesperson on job...

The Need Of Sales Force Automation
We do business in an age of high competition, where most of our competitors have adopted to up-to-date technology and tools. ...

How To Effectively Manage Salespeople Who Are In Remote Locations
If your organization has field sales personnel spread across the country or across the globe, its very important that you pro...

Sales Incentive Program Design
There is a process for developing sales commissions with respect to overall sales compensation that can be followed. The pri...

Effective Teritory Management Is Not Rocket Science
Many salespeople today will waste a great deal of time calling on poor prospects trying to turn poor prospects into customer...

How to Create A Vision For Sales Success
Imagine youre on a crowded company bus. It is a dark rainy night so you cant see outside. The bus is on a winding mountain pa...