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What skills should a sales director possess?

Guest post by: Zeeman Haus

Article Overview: Being a sales director is one of the toughest jobs around, or it can be. If the company were a car, the sales director would be responsible of planning the trip, keeping the driver from making a wrong turn while on the trip, making sure that the car doesn't run out of gas and doing all of this while keeping the kids in the back seat happy and not throwing things at the other passengers.... And somewhere along the way someone needs to stop and go to the bathroom.

What skills should a sales director possess?

Being a sales director is one of the toughest jobs around, or it can be. If the company were a car, the sales director would be responsible of planning the trip, keeping the driver from making a wrong turn while on the trip, making sure that the car doesn't run out of gas and doing all of this while keeping the kids in the back seat happy and not throwing things at the other passengers.... And somewhere along the way someone needs to stop and go to the bathroom.

Yes, that statement was meant to be funny, but it's also accurate, and in my own little way an empathy statement to grab your attention for a little while. (HEYYYYY!) I preach empathy over and over again; empathy for better sales, empathy for better management skills, empathy for customer service etc. But really as a sales director you don't have a lot of time for empathy- or do you?

By the time a person reaches the position of being the director of Sales and Marketing, they most likely have an advanced degree or at the very least, the equivalent of such in practical experience. I am not going to pretend to tell anyone with that level of dedication and education how to run their everyday business, but I am going to offer a few pointers that might help you make your team more effective. (More empathy from me. Are you seeing a trend yet?)

Part of the equation people miss, is equitable skill distribution. Your staff should all have the basic skill set needed to perform their job within the department you oversee. An equitable skill distribution goes beyond that and involves knowing the personal talents of those people in various roles. A good sales person might have a few great ideas in marketing as they listen to what the customer is saying they want on a day to day basis. Think about it; all of the demographical and poling information given in the world isn't nearly as valuable as the person who speaks with the customers and sells on a daily basis. From a marketing stand point, this is important.

The next two things, again are inter-personal. The first being the power of a question mark. Let's just say your sales are huge and they have never been larger, asking the question "How do you think we can sustain this growth?" is a good thing. You will always get a productive answer, even something off base is helpful because now you have a bad option to avoid in the future. Doing so in an informal way and off the cuff can be even more productive than meetings and brainstorming sessions because some people will not always come forward with a radical idea in front of their peers.

The last interpersonal tip is call the "if then" statement. This is a simple one and one of my favorites for several reasons. If then statements can imply the importance of a job: "If you can have that marketing analysis done by Thursday, then I can get right on going over it." Or they can show solidarity and teamwork, which is important because people work harder when they know the "big fish" is swimming with them: "If you will give Mrs. X a call and check on that order status, the I will see about getting it over nighted today." Realistically, you can use this as a tool for delegation as well without making anyone feel like they "do the bosses work" for them.

No, you didn't gain any marketing secrets out of this, more like a brush up on kindergarten manners 101, but these skills are every bit as important as anything else you've acquired. In a way being a sales director is still sales, you've got to sell the company, the practices and methods of productivity to sales/marketing people. That's a tough proposition, so you have to be consistent and maybe a little sneaky.

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Article Tags: effective management tips for sales office, jobs, sales director
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