Sales Management

Effective Sales Management requires first-hand observation of the sales process and an understanding of why any sale was lost, won, or placed on hold.

Only after you know what needs to be fixed or improved is it possible to develop a Performance Coaching plan that focuses on improving a salesperson’s Micro Selling Skills.

It is the 1% improvement in the technique that makes the difference between winning Gold or settling for Silver or Bronze.

Wikipedia defines Sales Management as a business discipline which is focused on the practical application of sales techniques and the management of a firm’s sales operations. It is an important business function as net sales through the sale of products and services and resulting profit drive most commercial businesses. 

Oversimplified, absolutely but believe me when I tell you Sales Management can be one of the most rewarding jobs you could ever hope for.

At times you will find it exhilarating beyond belief, but it also can suck the marrow from your bones if you let it.

Sales Management is all about managing salespeople. Get this right and the sales forecast will always be achievable.

Coach, Mentor, Father confessor, and along the way be prepared to give way more than you will ever receive.

Trust is Imperative

Trust is singularly the most important thing you need to gain if you hope to achieve your primary objective, to achieve and consistently exceed sales forecast.

Gain the trust of your salespeople to the extent they are prepared to share with you their personal goals and objectives. Even if that means they tell you that they want to apply for another job, or promotion or leave to start their own business.

Belief Systems

One of the hardest things to change in a Sales Team is their Belief Systems.

Our tendency to pay more attention to bad things and overlook good things is a result of evolution. The evolutionary perspective suggests that this tendency to dwell on the negative more than the positive is simply one way the brain tries to keep us safe.

One of the biggest challenges you have as a Sales Manager is to develop in your salespeople a positive Self Belief System.

Life is Like a Box of Cherries

Sales Management is a box of cherries. Delivered to your door with a note from one of your former salespeople inside, “Thank you for helping me achieve my dream of starting an export quality cherry farm”.

It took this person eighteen months to overachieve their sales forecast and put that additional commission into irrigating his farm from boreholes paid for with that commission.

Alternatively, it is walking down the street and passing one of your salespeople as he and his wife are getting out of their car. The problem – according to the salesperson he has been in bed for the last two days and is not expected back at work for another 3 days.

I called this salesman on his mobile as I was walking down the street and he told me he was still in bed but hopes to be back at work next week.

Trust, it goes both ways.

Management Style is a Choice

When I was first promoted to Sales Manager, I had a choice, manage reactively or proactively.

Reactive Sales Managers analyze conversion ratios, and outcomes, and report results.

From my perspective, I always managed the space between these statistical measurements and looked at building a Performance Coaching philosophy based on making small changes to their selling skills and the way salespeople worked.

I called this Effective Sales Management and I used Micro Selling Skills analysis to help perfect the development of my sales training initiatives.

Micro Selling Skills

Micro Selling Skills focus on improving the “WHY”.

Why business is lost, won, or deferred. They are the glue between all the qualification processes and everything in between the performance measurements used by sales managers to report and predict the sales outcomes of their sales team.

Micro Selling Skills are like Gold Nuggets just waiting to be discovered.

The ability to fine-tune a salesperson’s selling skills, storytelling, oral communication, telephone technique, listening, written communications, and prospecting, can only be achieved when the Sales Manager spends time with the people tasked with delivering the sales forecast.

Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions

In your capacity as Sales Manager, you can not only build Sales Champions but you can change the lives of these people and build the next generation of Sales Entrepreneurs and Managers.

The bottom line, I have never met anyone who purposefully wanted to be a failure. I have however met a lot of people who wanted to be successful but did not know how to achieve that success.

Performance Coaching

Performance Coaching identifies through observation the Micro Selling Skills that need to be improved and the development of a coaching plan to permanently correct or improve these skills.

The results are long-term sustainable performance improvements.

This approach worked for me and resulted in my team achieving a 180% increase in sales.

I have been to the top and achieved it all and now I want to share my style of Effective Sales Management winning philosophy.

Sales Management Coaching a Winning Sales Team along with this website is my gift to all aspiring Sales Managers who genuinely want to help salespeople be successful.

As a former Australian Sales Manager of the Year, I know the philosophy outlined in the book will help Sales Managers and Salespeople realize their dreams and ambitions.

Sales Management

Performance Coaching is the same the world over. Sport, Management, or Sales it makes no difference.

It’s the 1% improvement in the technique that makes the difference between winning Gold or settling for Silver or Bronze.

Coach Glen Mills from Jamaica has helped not only Usain Bolt become the greatest sprinter ever but notably, he has helped Jamaica gain the identity of the sprint capital of the world.