Article
#3
Whats
a Professional Sales Manager? by Dave Kahle
I was in the depths
of a major depression. As a third year salesperson with a good company,
I was doing well, and was on my way to becoming the top salesperson
in the nation for that company. But business had slowed down a little,
and I didn't have my usual number of proposals out for consideration.
So, I wasn't as busy as usual. As my activity slowed, I began to worry.
My doubts increased to the point where I had thought myself into a
real depression, stuck on the question of "What's the use of
trying?" The more negative my thoughts became, the less energy
I had. My lack of energy led to fewer and fewer sales calls, which
of course, led to less activity. And that led to more depressing thoughts.
I was caught in a powerful downward spiral.
It was then that
I caught a glimpse of what a professional sales manager is like.
Ned was my boss
-- a sales manager of the highest caliber. He could see the symptoms
of my sour state spilling over into everything I was doing. So Ned
intervened. He arranged to have lunch with me, and listened patiently
as I rambled on and on about my problems, my doubts, and my lack of
activity. Finally, after I had dumped all my depression and negative
thoughts on him, he looked me straight in the eye and said, with all
the authority and resolve of someone who is absolutely sure of what
they are saying, "Kahle, that's enough."
I was stunned.
I was expecting empathy, an understanding shoulder to cry on. Instead,
I got a simple, straightforward mandate. Ned knew me well enough to
cut through all the fluff and come right to the heart of the matter.
He said, "That's enough. That's enough feeling sorry for yourself.
That's enough thinking all these negative thoughts. That's enough
sitting back and not working as hard as you're used to. Stop it. You're
better than all this. Stop it right now, today, and get your .....
back to work."
He saw my situation
clearly. And he provided me the direction I needed. That conversation
turned me around. I left my depression and negativity at that lunch
table, and started back into my job with a renewed sense of the possible.
A year later I was the number one salesperson in the nation for that
company.
What made the
difference in my performance was the skillful intervention of an astute
and professional sales manager. He made the difference in my job performance,
and that made a difference in my standing with that company. And that
made a difference in my career. And that lead me to my current practice.
It's entirely possible that I would not be doing what I do now, speaking
and consulting with sales forces around the world, if it weren't for
his timely intervention.
All of us have
become what we are, at least in part, due to the impact other people
have had on us. A professional sales manager is gifted with a rare
and precious opportunity -- the opportunity to play a pivotal role
in the lives of his/her charges. I so value the role that Ned played
in my career, that the last paragraph on the "Acknowledgment"
page of my first book reads, "Finally, I must make special, post-humus
acknowledgement of the contribution made by Ned Shaheen, the best
manager I ever worked for. It was Ned who, years ago, urged me to
'write the book...'"
So what does this have to do with being a "Professional Sales
Manager?" During my 30 + years of sales experience and 16 years
of experience as a sales consultant and sales trainer, I've encountered
many sales managers. Some of have been good, many mediocre. But Ned
was the best sales manager I ever met. He serves as a model for me.
We can learn a number of lessons from him.
First, Ned knew
the difference between the job of a salesperson and that of a sales
manager. He had been a great salesperson -- like many sales managers
around the world -- and had been promoted to sales manager. Yet he
knew the jobs of sales manager and salesperson are completely different.
A salesperson is responsible for building accounts and making sales.
A sales manager, while ultimately responsible for the same results,
understands that his/her job is to achieve those means through other
people. A sales manager builds people, who in turn build the business.
Salespeople focus on selling; sales managers focus on building salespeople.
As a sales person,
I could comfortably take Ned into any account, secure in the knowledge
that he wouldn't try to take over the presentation or usurp my relationship
with the customer. I knew Ned was more concerned with me than he was
about any one sale.
Ned knew that
a salesperson was essentially a loaner, an individual who did most
of his/her most important work by themselves, while a sales manager
was a coach, whose only success derived from the success of his team.
A sales manager's best work is always done, not with the customers,
but with the people he/she supervises.
Ultimately, a sales manager is measured by the results achieved by
his people. Sales, gross profits, market share, key product selling,
-- all these typical measurements of sales performance are also one
of the rulers by which a sales manager is measured.
So, an excellent
sales manager, like a great soccer coach, is ultimately measured by
his numbers. It doesn't matter how empathetic he is, nor how his players
respect or like him, if year after year he produces a losing team.
So it is with a sales manager. Ultimately, an excellent sales manager
produces excellent numbers for his company.
In the five years
that I worked for Ned, my own territory grew by $1 million a year,
and the branch for which he was responsible grew from about $6 million
to about $30 million.
Ned was excellent
at one of the key competencies of the professional sales manager --
he had an eye for talent. He knew how to hire good people. After all,
he hired me! Over the years, I watched him take his time, allowing
a sales territory to go vacant for months, if necessary, while he
waited for the right person to bubble up through his pipeline. Only
one of his hires didn't work out -- which gave him an incredible winning
percentage.
A professional
sales manager understands the importance of making the right hire,
is always recruiting in order to keep the pipeline of prospective
salespeople full, and spares no expense to make sure the person he
hires meets all the necessary criteria. When I was hired, I went through
four interviews, and a full 10-hour day of tests with an industrial
psychologist.
With all the time
he took to make sure he was hiring the right person, Ned confided
in me one day that, "It is more important to fire well then it
is to hire well." He went on to explain that hiring sales people
is an extremely difficult task, and that even the best sales managers
fail at it frequently. Therefore, it was important to recognize your
mistake quickly, and act decisively to fix it.
A professional
sales manager, then, understands that when it is clear that a salesperson
is not right for the job, he acts quickly, kindly, and decisively
to terminate the individual, allowing both the individual and the
company an opportunity to find a better match. Acting quickly to terminate
a salesperson who isn't working out is both good business as well
as good ethics. To allow a mediocre situation to fester to the detriment
of the company, the salesperson, and the customers is to persist in
a dishonesty.
Understanding
that he works only through his sales people, and that he has the opportunity
to make a great impact on his people, a professional sales manager
makes it his business to know his people. Ned spent days with me in
the field, talking not only about business, but also working at understanding
the person I was as well. He'd arrange to meet me for breakfast or
lunch regularly, even if he weren't spending the day with me. He wanted
to get to know my wife as well, and paid close attention to her opinions.
Several times over the five years we went to dinner as a foursome.
I could never
stop in the office without being expected to sit in his office and
talk about things. And, of course, there was the annual pig roast
at his house, where all his salespeople and their families were invited
to spend a fun day while the pig roasted over the spit. I was always
a person to Ned, never just a "salesperson."
Because he took
the time to get to know me, he was equipped with the knowledge of
exactly how to best manage me. And he always saw the potential in
me, and was ready to correct me when necessary. In the first year
of my employment, I was earning the reputation among the inside customer
support and purchasing people of being difficult and demanding. I
was a hot-shot superstar who didn't take their feelings into consideration,
and came into the office and dumped work on them. Ned let me know
that my ways needed to change. At first, I didn't pay much attention.
My numbers were too good for anybody to be concerned. So Ned let me
know a second time that I was going to have to change. The situation
was so acute, that the operations manager was lobbying to get me fired!
Guided by his firm hand, I swallowed my pride, adopted a more humble
attitude, and bought all the customer service reps a six pack of premium
beer as a gift. My stock inside the company spring up dramatically,
my ways corrected, and my future assured.
A professional
sales manager guides and corrects his charges in order to help them
achieve their potential.
Ned never stopped learning. He would often tell me about seminars
he'd attended, books he'd read, or ideas he'd picked up by talking
with other people. He knew that he never "knew it all."
So it is with every professional sales manager. A real professional
never stops learning. He understands that the world is changing rapidly,
continually demanding new skills, new ideas, and new competencies
from him. At the same time, his salespeople and their customers are
changing also. So, he understands that he has a challenge to continuously
grow and improve, to learn more and become btter at his job. Sales
management isn't just a job, it's a challenge of a lifetime of improvement.
One more observation.
Understanding that a professional sales manager is only successful
when his charges are successful, an excellent sales manager supports,
encourages and gives his sales people the credit.
It was the fourth year of my tenure, and Ned was lobbying for me to
be awarded the "Salesperson of the year" award. It was given
not only for sales performance, but for more subjective things - supporting
the company's objectives and ethics, getting along with other people
in the company, etc. The award was a great honor, and extremely difficult
to win. Each sales manager nominated their favorite salesperson, and
lobbied for one of their charges with the company's executives, who
made the final choice.
The annual awards
banquet was held at an exclusive country club, where the men wore
tuxedos and the women formal evening gowns. When dinner was done,
the speeches were finished and the lesser awards announced, it came
time for the big one, the one I wanted.
The climate was
tense and expectant. The entire room silent as the time approached
for the announcement. Then, as the company president announced my
name, it was Ned who thrust his fist in the air and shouted "YES!"
The photograph that hangs on my bedroom wall shows me shaking hands
with the president and accepting the award. Look carefully and you'll
see Ned standing proudly in the background.
There is a song
that I find particularly moving. Perhaps you know the words made popular
by Bette Midler. It goes like this, "It must have been lonely
there in my shadow... Without the sun upon your face I was the one
with all the glory You were the one with all the strength.
I can fly higher
than an eagle Because you are the wind beneath my wings." Want
to excel as a sales manger? Want to be a true professional? Look at
your job as a unique opportunity to impact others, to select, correct,
support and encourage your salespeople, to achieve your company's
objectives by become a positive force in their lives. It's not a job,
it's a mission. Be the wind beneath their wings.
And perhaps, one
day, fifteen years from now, someone will write about you.
By Dave Kahle,
The Growth Coach®
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