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It’s been a month with no sales! Do I sack my sales manager?
| Guest post by: Trent Leyshan |
Article Overview: A sales manager, or more appropriately, 'sales leader' is a key leadership role in any sales driven organisation. That means sacking your sales leader, more often than not, also means bleeding intellectual property (IP) to your key competitors. Moreover, an emotionally charged ex-sales leader may even take some of your sales team and clients with them. Ouch!
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Free Download - Find fear before it finds you By Trent Leyshan |
It’s been a month with no sales! Do I sack my sales manager?
The short answer to this question is a resounding NO! Not unless you enjoy paying your lawyers to dispute unfair dismissal cases.
A sales manager, or more appropriately, 'sales leader' is a key leadership role in any sales driven organisation. That means sacking your sales leader, more often than not, also means bleeding intellectual property (IP) to your key competitors. Moreover, an emotionally charged ex-sales leader may even take some of your sales team and clients with them. Ouch!
Chopping and changing leadership always creates instability and uncertainly amongst the rest of the team. You will also find developing forward momentum difficult to achieve when you are rehiring for the same position, periodically. The cost associated with doing so is also prohibitive for most businesses. So rather than hiring and firing on an ad-hoc basis - your precious money, time, and energy is far better spent put towards developing the right sales leader and creating a foundation of support to enable them to grow with the business over the long-term.
New sales leader:
This person will need at least six totwelvemonths to fit into the culture and develop the change required to create and sustain their success. Don't expect miracles overnight. Seldom is real change made swiftly, nor do results come easily when you really need them. Take your time finding a proven sales leader and once hired, give them the opportunity to adapt and build confidence in their role. This may require some lower sales months in the initial phase that you will need to budget for in advance.
Existing sales leader:
A proven method to stimulate an underperforming sales leader (you see potential in) is to provide them with as much support as possible. Not just a pat on the back and the odd bit of encouragement. I mean, planning and collaborating regularly and making sure the communication lines are always open. In the end, it's always about the team, and if the sales leader is struggling, usually so too is the business. Wiping your hands of your sales leader and leaving them to their own devices when times are tough is ill advised.
Some may respond: "Well that's what I pay them to do! If she doesn't make the numbers, I will find someone who can!" That's the old school carrot and stick leadership approach, it doesn't work anymore, and neither does yelling and screaming at staff members to inspire them to action.
Some of the most powerful relationships I know of in business, are when the CEO and sales leader are totally aligned and working towards the same goals. When this type of synergy and confidence is formed - one or two poor sales months then forms part of a grander plan.
In the end prevention is always better than cure, so before you hire a sales leader ensure you follow a thorough recruitment process. Don't rush it. Listen to your gut and makes sure you engage a proven leader that fits the culture and adds value to your long-term strategy. This blog as seen on SmartCompany.com.au
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Article Tags: budget, communication lines, confidence, encouragement, forward momentum, initial phase, intellectual property, ip, lawyers, leadership role, miracles, money time, nbsp, pat on the back, precious money, proven sales, sales leader, short answer, unfair dismissal cases
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About the Author: Trent Leyshan RSS for Trent's articles - Visit Trent's website Trent Leyshan is founder, CEO of BOOM! A leading international sales training company that specialises in the development of inspirational sales cultures, leaders and salespeople. Early in his career Trent was head tradeshow spruiker and sales manager for Australia's most flamboyant TV salesman, Big Kev. He has since driven two of his own companies from lounge room operations into market leaders. And led sales teams in leading new media and advertising agencies. Trent is a sought after expert and facilitator on sales performance and strategy. He is the Author of sales book, The Naked Salesman: How to walk the talk and sell your way to success! BOOM! develops sales training strategies and delivers inspiring learning experiences for some of the world's most successful and demanding sales driven organisations. Empowering them with modern skills and tools to effectively engage with customers and build stronger and more valuable relationships.
Click here to visit Trent's website   Are you believable My boss wants me to cold call but I have call reluctance How to create positive cash to leverage lump sales cycles The difference between selling with desperation and inspiration No one sees a Naked Telemarketer |
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Re: How do you overcome the fear of rejection while selling?
- Great video Evan,
I have not worked in direct sales in the none Internet world, always in the service sector but many years back I worked as service manager for a national brewer here in the UK and the sales manager was fond of telling all his team that they should get used to rejection, it is part of sales.
My own take on this has always been that some will, some won't, so what, move on !!. I find this is very true with Internet Marketing and I never take any rejection personally as it is not me that customers are rejecting but what I am selling or the way that I am selling it and both of these things can be improved,
regards,
Mal.
Re: What is your worst / best month?
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If you have a minute, vote in our poll and tell us about your sales department breakdown and sales efforts.
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