Why Developing Your Sales Managers is Crucial to Your Sales Success
With targets established, Mission Control (sales managers) must establish guidance parameters - clear expectations and standards that tell heat seekers what acceptable flight paths look like. The standards tell your salespeople exactly what's expected and when they're off track from an activity point of view, as well as from a results point of view. The relationship managers will incorporate these expectations into their planning. Once you've established targets and flight path limits, relationship managers and sales team leaders must plan their flights precisely. The more audacious their goals, the more important the planning... and it's the last activity in the world the relationship managers want to do.
"Forget about this," they say. "I need to be calling on customers." The truth is: If they don't plan, that responsibility falls on the team leaders' shoulders. Since sales team leaders simply cannot call all the plays and manage eight, 10, or 15 active salespeople, the whole team and the growth - retention strategy is put at risk. We recommend that sales team leaders ask RMs to develop plans focused on accounts, activities, expected results, and resources needed. Annual territory plans. Relationship plans for critical "must keep" or "must expand" relationships.
Personal development plans that are tied to the specific results an RM is asked to achieve. Once the RMs have developed their plans, managers and RMs should discuss the plans as if the RMs were independent businesses (franchisees) and the sales team leaders were the franchisers. Start the conversations with a discussion of goals - the relationship managers' goals for themselves and their businesses, for their compensation, for their markets. Then, focus on their strategies to reach their goals and the measures they will use to assess whether they're on track. This information enables you, as a sales coach, to look for disconnects between their goals and their activity plans, giving you opportunities to catch potential problems early.
Weekly - focus on deals, activities, field observation, behaviors, and skills. Monthly and quarterly - focus on "managing the business", tracking progress against business plans and making adjustments needed for upcoming periods. Semi-Annually - a formal performance review. These coaching disciplines drive sales results and ensure the appropriate balance between new business development and account retention activities. Sales managers' expectations, coupled with feedback and consequences, change sales behaviors.
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