How to be a Sales Manager and Why Not To Take The Promotion

Turn Prospects Into Customers and Opportunities Into Sales.

The Brutal Truth About Sales Management

Twenty five years in sales management taught me one thing – the job stinks. In the process I also learned how to cope with it, or at least my version of how to do that.

Here are my reasons for saying it stinks:

The truth is harder to find than rocking horse crap.
Sales people are dreamers.
Bosses are invariably tossers.
Prospects are a pain in the ass.
Missing somebody else’s number is always my fault.

My First Sales Management Job

Writing this article has reminded me of the first sales manager’s job. Quietly making money and having fun as a territory rep for Nixdorf Computer, I was approached by the branch manager. “We’d like to promote you to sales manager” he said.

“Thanks, but no thanks” I replied. “I’m doing OK, thank you.”

Two weeks later the same guy called me into his office. “We understand you don’t want the sales manager job, but could you help out. We have two new guys starting Monday and nobody to look after them.”

Foolishly I responded “Sure I’ll be happy to help.”

Four weeks later he called me in again. “You’re four guys under headcount. What are you doing about recruiting more?’

That’s how yours truly got suckered in to the world of head count, forecasts, and this month’s number. But actually it’s only the appetizer to the main course.

Some weeks later he calls me in again. “We’re short on the month’s number. Can you do something to help out. Pull forward a few deals. Discount won’t be a problem.”

So me and my six guys worked the phones, pulled tricks and made the number by pulling stuff forward. “Well done” said the branch manager “good job.”

About four weeks later the guy calls me in again saying ” You’re 50% down on this months number. What are you doing about it?”

Of course my response was simple. “Last month you asked me to pull stuff forward, and we did – from this month.” “The cupboard is bare.” “You’ve already had it.”

“Oh” he said. ” I guess nobody has explained to you what its like being a sales manager around here.”

Sales Management Secrets

That was just the beginning of a career in sales management and a lot of lessons got learned along the way, some of which you’ll find in articles here.

So you want the sales managers job?
The Sales Manager is ultimately everybody’s fall guy, with all the problems and none of the fun. There are two types of Sales Manager, and you might not want to be either.

Promoted to the sales managers job. Now what?
You’ve Gotten the Sales Managers Job. And now you need to figure out how to keep it. There’s a lot to learn, and the clock is already ticking. The first hurdle is at most 90 days away. It’s time to develop your own model, and style, for doing the job. There is no perfect template for successful sales management. Every job is a particular cocktail of product/service type, market authority, customer category, marketing support, headcount, team member skills.

New Sales Managers First Quarter
Now the task is finding ways to manage your management. This isn’t easy, but will always be easier during the first quarter than at any other time. Get it right and you’ll be on your way to genuine leadership. On the other hand, get it wrong and you’ll struggle to be in charge of anything.

Sales Management Best Practice
Managing revenue is often the biggest challenge for entrepreneurs and small business principals. Its hard to be a focused on sales when delivering service to customers is a full time job. Unfortunately, somebody has to do it, and that somebody is usually the business owner.

Why Sales Managers Fail
Have you been scratching your head wondering why your sales team is not hitting revenue goals and aren’t going to succumb to blaming the economy? Do you feel like you’re doing everything you can and giving your all as a manager but are not getting consistent results? Read on to determine if you are a product of these 7 reasons sales managers fail: