The Transition from Sales Person to Sales Manager

One of the hardest steps to make in your career, because it means a total change of mind set. A sales person is naturally selfish, a rebel child, one of the lads or lasses and in control of his own time, work rate, earnings and destiny. As a manager he or she needs to adapt skills that are unknown to them like being nurturing, controlling, being in an adult mode, setting an example, responsibility for others, a role model, not a team member but now the boss.

This can even be harder when you are promoted to then manage the team that you last week were in, so now you are your mate's boss.

Here are some tips to make Sales Management easier:

 Define everyone's role in the new structure, ensure that people have accepted that you are now not their mate but now their boss. If they can't accept it you need to tell them the only option to move forward is to accept or leave.

 Change your environment in the office, change where you sit and change your behaviour, if as a team you always went to the pub after work, as a manager you need to have a different relationship, so maybe just go on a Friday when they have had a successful week and buy the team a drink then leave. You will never gain respect if you try to have the same relationship with the team as you did before.

 Get yourself professional management training - you cannot do the job if you have not been trained to do it.

  Ensure you have issued Key Performance Indicators for every member of your team to ensure people know exactly what you want them to do in each role and for you to monitor that the correct work rate is being met. Have a process in place to report results at the weekly sales meeting.

 Set up a weekly sales meeting to include:

• Minutes from last Meeting
• Activity Levels by all individuals - Performance against KPI's
• Last Week's actual sales against forecast by individuals.
• This week's forecast by individuals
• Monthly forecast by individuals
• Training Session
• A deal analysis to share a good win story.
• Discuss certain account opportunities.
• Any other sales related matters.
• Minutes to be taken with action points and action required by which sales staff, distributed to attendees.

 Run regular 1:1 and field coaching sessions.

 Make team members accountable for their performance, give good recognition and praise when deserved and make sure that staff is aware that under achievement is unacceptable.

The rewards of management are great with the ability to influence other people lives, the buzz of a winning team, the hard side is being accountable for other people's performance and the frustration of team members making decisions outside your control. I.e. your best performer leaves to travel the world.