Get Out and Coach!
Most first line sales managers manage between 6 and 12 sales reps. They are the ones responsible for bringing in the sales numbers in their district or area. Sales managers are constantly adjusting priorities depending on their urgency and work extremely hard in this new economy.
With so many competing demands on their time, the tendency is to focus on the activities that are the easiest and the most time sensitive. Who can blame them!
The problem is that many of the day to day activities sales managers perform have little impact on sales performance, i.e., administrative activities tend to be pushed to the top of the pile.
How can they break away from the cycle of addressing urgent but not important priorities?
How can we help sales managers focus more time and attention toward revenue-generating activities?
Sales Generating Activities
The two sales management activities that generate sales are:
1) Attending meetings and conferences with clients and
2) Coaching sales reps.
Research shows that managers who spend more time coaching generate significantly more sales.
Corporate Executive Board Research shows that sales teams receiving high levels of coaching from their managers exceed objectives. Conversely, sales managers who spend fewer hours coaching their reps will continuously underperform on their objectives. The impact between the two is significant. In fact, research shows a 17% difference in sales performance.
What are you doing?
Most front lines sales managers I speak with will agree that focusing on sales coaching is important. What I can’t understand is how the same sales managers are still highly focused on non-revenue generating activities.
My question to sales managers who buy into the premise that more coaching delivers better sales is “if you are not out there coaching your reps, then what are you doing?”
Sales managers, who get sucked into the vortex of sitting in their office and attending numerous meetings, tend to put off coaching time. These managers need to wake up.
- They are negatively impacting their team’s performance.
- They are shortchanging their reps from the benefits of your coaching time.
- They are not helping their organization grow talent nor are they maximizing their sales.
Get out of the Vortex
Don’t get sucked into the abyss of administrative paperwork get out in the field and DRIVE sales. After all, don’t you want to make a difference?
You can become the STAR sales coach your reps are looking for, and you can reap the rewards of blowing away your sales numbers!
Just Stirring it Up!
Steven
