Stepping Up to Manage a Sales Team? Here’s What Nobody Told You!

When successful salespeople are promoted into sales leadership positions, no one ever tells them what’s really about to change at work.

Which means they either;

• Treat the new role just like the last one

• Or recognise that their world has just changed – DRAMATICALLY – and try to change with it.

Trouble is most salespeople who make that step – even those who try to embrace the change – tend to find themselves being pulled down by a particularly nasty kind of management quick-sand.

Most think that all they have to do is just keep implementing the sales expertise and work ethic that got them there in the first place – and somehow pass that on to the sales team they’re being asked to look after.

And there is some truth in that.

But what no one ever tells them, is that their new job is not about hitting target.

This new job is about making sure the target gets hit

Subtle difference in words – MASSIVE difference in results.

Great sales management – successful sales management – has always had a small number of foundation stones – genuine principles.

Not so very long ago, sales managers would have been given half a chance to work out what those foundations were and obey the principles.

But the world moves ever quicker, people want results faster – and new sales leaders are made to feel more and more like top flight Football Managers - instant results - or the mounting pressure of imminent failure.

So the time given for people to work out what those foundation stones are, is becoming shorter and shorter.

And there’s always someone ready to step over the last manager’s body after they fall from grace – confident in the belief that they can pull the sword out of the stone even if the last guy didn’t. 

Let me tell you a quick story:

This guy's walking down a street when he falls in a hole.

The walls are so steep, he can't get out.

A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up:

"Hey you, can you help me out?"

The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.

Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts up:

"Father, I'm down in this hole, can you help me out?"

The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on.

Then a friend walks by.

"Hey Joe, it's me, can you help me out?"

And the friend jumps in the hole with him.

Our guy says, "Are you stupid? Now we're both down here."

The friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before, and I know the way out."

And, let me tell you, when it comes to DEEP DARK SALES MANAGEMENT HOLES – there have been times when I was definitely stuck.

I would never advertise myself as the greatest sales manager in the world – and I certainly wouldn’t describe younger me as anything other than a lucky stumbler, especially at the beginning of my career – but it’s that history that enables me to do what I do now.

It’s the very fact that I did fall down – extremely hard and far too often – back then, that I’m now able to help others climb out of the hole – and even show some how to avoid falling down the hole altogether.

You see, it never really helps the rest of us to be told by a “specialist” how good their idea is without history and context.

Because if the person who is trying to help you improve has never lived the problem you’re currently facing - then they’ve never truly felt the pain of the problem you’re living with.

So, with that in mind;

What kind of Sales Manager do YOU want to be?

How do you want to be remembered at the end of your career? 

The person who took their team to greater things?

The person who ran the team that everybody wanted to join?

The person who always helped the team hit target?

To be fair – I don’t think you have much of a choice.

This job is Do or Do Not – THERE IS NO TRY!

And to get you moving in the right direction you need to know that there are 4 principles you must understand.

And you have to hear them from someone who got to grips with them at the coal face.

Something else you need to be aware of....

You need to hit the ground running right now!

Everybody knows sales targets expire every 12 months.

And in 12 months you’ll need to be able to show that you’ve got this Sales Management thing down to a tee

What you need – RIGHT NOW – is;

• A motivated, focused team, who take responsibility for all the things that they are accountable for 
• Together with the knowledge of how best to coach and develop them
• And what you’ll need to do when things go wrong – so that you can handle them in a professional (and legal) manner.

So, you must be asking, “And how do I do that?”

Well, an attendee of last month’s FAME Sales Management Workshop, wrote;

“By the time I got back to my desk the next day, I’d already re-evaluated my game plan. How I viewed the team, my job, my time, my targets – ALL CHANGED. I didn’t realise how close I actually was to the edge of that cliff – thanks….”

Now, you might read that and think,

“Chris – I know what I’m doing and what needs to be done” or “I don’t have the time to change direction – we’re all working at 100mph.”

OK, fine – but here’s the thing;

It doesn’t matter how high you climb a ladder if it’s leaning against the wrong wall

Are you 100% sure your management ladder is definitely leaning against the right wall?

There is no more valuable question to answer than that.

And if you want to get a head-start on your own success – well you’re in luck, I’m going to be showing people just like you how to do just that – at the FAME Sales Manager Workshop in Manchester next week.

If you look after a sales team and want to lead them to the next level - I hope you'll consider it.

To your success,

Chris