A Sales Manager is someone who is responsible for leading and guiding a team of sales people, helping them achieve their KPI’s. They are usually responsible for, and are able to help your business with the following:
- Sales administration
- Hitting the sales team KPI’s
- Managing the team
- Implementation and execution of sales strategies to generate new business
Before Spectrum Coach, Principal Fred managed a sales team. He was once asked how much time he allocated to mentoring compared to managing, and after much consideration he realised that he spent 100% of his time managing and 0% of his time coaching or training. Although the sales team achieved their targets, they weren’t smashing them and they lacked consistency.
It was later on that Fred learnt that he needed to spend 80% of his time coaching, training and mentoring, and 20% of his time managing. To achieve this, he needed to set an agenda for his sales meeting comprising of the following:
- Sales numbers achieved
- Leads
- Appointments
- Sales
- Sales number forecasts
- Hot clients and strategies to close
- Networking KPI’s
If your business completes 1 on 1 sessions with employees, use these sessions to coach them on specific clients and give them strategies to close sales. You should also document these strategies and follow up the next time you meet with that employee to assess if the outcome was achieved.
If your business does have a sales manager, you should take the time to look at what mix they have in managing and coaching, and work to implement some of the above strategies.