Sales Manager Training

How To Develop Sales Managers

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How to Develop New Sales Managers

Working with newly-promoted sales managers may be my very favorite thing. Maybe that’s because the pain I remember in their position is still a bit fresh (albeit over 20 years old…)

READ: 5 Quick Tips for New Sales Managers

The transition from rep to manager is tough. It’s also risky for both the company and the new manager. Companies lose top-performing reps and serial high-achievers sign on to feel NOT successful for a good six months. I’ve seen some sad stories of new managers flailing, flat-lining growth, or simply quitting in their first year. It’s sad for the manager and it’s a double loss for the company. They lose a manager AND top performer.

So how do we support and develop new sales managers to help them feel more successful sooner? 

1. Talk in detail about the expectations of the new job.

Top reps are competitive, self-centered, and aggressive (said with love, folks). Margaret Arakawa said it best in a panel once. I paraphrase, “Moving from top rep to manager is like leaving the role of the lead actress on stage to become an executive producer.”

Exactly. 

Successful managers focus on:

    • Developing their team

    • Solving problems

    • Creating atmospheres for motivation

    • Prioritizing work

    • Managing admin to clear selling time for reps

READ: Tips for Mastering Call Coaching

What they don’t do is:

    • Close sales

    • Maintain customer relationships

    • Win contests

    • Count on themselves alone to get the job done

    • Sit in the spotlight

2. Be frank that disappointment is OK

Most new managers talk to me about their utter disappointment in their first year. Not with the job (exclusively) but with their team. They aren’t used to relating to reps who aren’t as dedicated and passionate as they were. Help them see that this is normal and talk about strategies for dealing with the frustration. 

Ultimately the buck stops with them and their success is getting the most consistent and high-level performance from these people. Set some expectations! For example, talk about how a sales manager’s success is judged not just by the number but also by:

    • Reduced time for new hires to hit quota 

    • Percent of the entire team to quota – not just overall percent

    • Reduced attrition

    • Rep promotions

Each of these requires a focus on the people, their success, and their development. Sure we want managers focused on the “W,” but it needs to be a Team W, not their personal commission check. Hearing this advice from a leader they respect can help them focus on the right things early and find new ways to get daily wins.

3. Go beyond HR 

If you’re lucky, managers have access to some generic management skills about communicating with others, approving timecards, giving feedback, etc. Helpful stuff. Not job training. Get them sales management skills like:

    • The management cadence: what meetings they need on their calendar and how often.

    • Time management for sales managers: Which is first? The line at your desk? The upset customer? The request for a report from the boss or the deal discount to close a sale? This skill will make or break a new leader. Prevent burnout before it happens!

    • Translating sales goals and driving sales performance: New managers struggle to get beyond managing activity. Help them learn to translate strategy and the big number into monthly, weekly, and daily activities for reps. 

    • Performance 1:1 meetings: Help managers communicate the goal, the performance to date, motivate reps to succeed, and build relationships with their teams during this meeting.

    • Call coaching: Call coaching isn’t natural behavior for high-achievers. It takes an extreme amount of patience, customer focus, and a set process to be successful. Without skill training on coaching, they’ll either skip it or maybe even demotivate their team. Help teach them to do it right before they wind up a statistic. 

    • Find them a mentor: A mentor becomes a safe space to vent, ask questions they’re afraid to ask their Director, and frankly a lifeline. And if you’ve promoted a woman, work to find her a female mentor. Yes, it does make a difference. #GirlsClub can help here if you’re lacking female sales leadership talent.

DOWNLOAD: Critical New Sales Manager Skills to Master

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training for sales managers

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Why You Need Training for Sales Managers

Sales is an ever-evolving landscape, with tools, techniques, and targets shifting regularly. Yet, while we often focus on training our frontline sales reps, there’s a critical group that’s frequently overlooked: sales managers. 

In fact, 60% of new managers fail within the first 24 months in their role. Why? Lack of training and development. Oftentimes, companies will promote reps into management without providing critical leadership skills to prepare them for their new role.

DOWNLOAD: Critical New Manager Skills to Master

Let’s dive into why training for sales managers is paramount and the benefits that come with it.

Why Do We Neglect Sales Manager Training?

Often, organizations operate under the assumption that a stellar sales rep will naturally transition into a stellar sales manager. However, the skills required for each role differ significantly. Managing a team, strategizing, forecasting and coaching demand a unique skill set that isn’t always innate.

The Case for On-the-Job Training for Sales Managers
  • Different Roles, Different Skills: A top-performing sales rep doesn’t automatically make a top-performing sales manager. Management requires understanding team dynamics, effective communication, and the ability to inspire and lead. On-the-job training equips new managers with these essential skills.
  • Rapid Adaptation to Change: The sales environment is dynamic. According to a report by CSO Insights, organizations with a dynamic sales process, which includes regular training, reported a win rate of 49% for forecasted deals, compared to those with a random or informal process. 
  • Consistency in Approach: With proper training, sales managers can ensure consistency in sales strategies, team communication, and performance reviews, leading to a more cohesive and effective sales team.

DOWNLOAD: Leader Activities to Start & Stop Doing

Benefits of Training Sales Managers
Short-Term Benefits 

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Long-Term Benefits 
  • Consistent Growth: A well-trained sales management team can be a game-changer for revenue growth. According to research by the Sales Executive Council, sales teams led by supportive managers are 67% more effective at closing deals than those with managers who exert high levels of pressure. This shows that the right training can significantly influence managerial styles and, by extension, team performance.
  • Increased Profitability: The Harvard Business Review highlighted that companies that invest in training see a 24% higher profit margin than those that spend less on training. While this encompasses all forms of training, the impact of upskilling managers – those responsible for driving and guiding the sales strategy – cannot be underestimated.
  • Stronger Leadership Pipeline: On-the-job training prepares sales managers for higher leadership roles, ensuring a robust succession plan. This is crucial for organizational stability; a study by the Gartner for HR (formerly the Corporate Leadership Council) found that organizations with proper leadership training realized a 32% increase in leadership strength, which is directly tied to financial performance.
  • Cultural Cohesiveness: Trained managers foster a positive, consistent culture, enhancing team collaboration and overall company morale. According to a Gallup study, companies with highly engaged teams report 20% higher sales and 21% higher profitability.

On-the-job training for sales managers isn’t just a “nice-to-have”; it’s a necessity. By investing in our sales leaders, we’re not only boosting current performance but setting the stage for sustained success in the future. It’s high time we prioritize sales manager training for those at the helm, guiding our sales teams to victory.

Are you looking for training for sales managers?

Contact us today to learn about our customizable virtual sales training programs
available for reps and managers.


increase sales coaching

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Tips for Enablement Leaders to Increase Sales Coaching Focus

This one is for the enablement folks. Truth: I’m an enablement leader in my heart and soul.

I was just talking to an enablement leader friend who was really frustrated that they spent so many months building a robust training program – rolled it out beautifully – and had to hand their baby over to the sales manager to keep those skills alive. Which did not work…

I’m here to tell you why it’s not their fault.

READ: Why You Need a Sales Training and Enablement Budget

I’ve been both an enablement leader and sales manager and can tell you that sales management is the busiest job in the world. We spend the bulk of our day fighting fires and there’s never been a learning emergency.

So if you’re an enablement or training leader and you’d like some tips to get sales managers to coach more often and keep rep skills alive, keep reading.

WATCH: Creating A Coaching Culture

I’ve got 20 tips to help you increase the sales coaching focus at work. Below are my top 3 (get the rest at the bottom of this article).

#1 – Don’t expect them to do more work. As I said previously, sales management is the busiest job in the world. If you want them to coach, you’ve got to fit coaching into their jam-packed schedule. What meetings do sales managers have often? Rep performance 1:1s, pipeline meetings, team meetings, and sales huddles. You’ve got to find ways for your managers to keep rep skills alive during their existing meetings. 

At Factor 8, we’ve built manager toolkits that have activities a sales manager can run during a sales huddle to keep skills alive after training.

#2 – Make it easy. If they need to build a deck, it’s not going to happen. If they need to create a process, it’s not going to happen. If they need to go on a scavenger hunt to find different information for the coaching session, it’s not going to happen. You’ve got to make it fast and easy for managers. 

At Factor 8, we’ve created coaching guides for various rep skills that managers can easily use for skill reinforcement. They combine a cheat sheet of what “good” looks like, which questions to ask during coaching, and a ready-to-use worksheet that coaches both the will and the skill with an easy grading form.

#3 – Most managers don’t know what “coaching” means. Sure, they understand the definition, but they don’t know what it means to actually coach a rep and they definitely don’t know what “good” coaching looks like. That means you get a lot of things like this…

“Hey rep, let’s work on this deal.” You’ve been coached. ✔

“Hey team, what’s the forecast?” You’ve been coached. ✔

“Let me get on this call and help you close it.” You’ve been coached. ✔

Folks, this isn’t coaching. As enablement leaders, we know that.

READ: How to Increase Sales Coaching Frequency

So, in training hundreds of sales managers over the last few years, I’ve learned that it’s a tough skill, it’s not natural for sales managers, and they’re too nervous to do it (though they’ll never admit that last one out loud).

Just put yourself in their shoes. Imagine going to a top player and saying “Let me listen to your call and give you feedback on how to do it better.” Sounds terribly nerve-wracking, right?

That’s why we’ve got to address it and build confidence in their sales coaching, call coaching, and rep skill coaching skills.

If you haven’t taught your managers how to coach to build up their own confidence, it’s probably no surprise that you think they can be doing more coaching.

If you’d like to talk about more specific strategies or a particular issue you’re dealing with in making that connection with sales leadership so they really get behind enablement, I’m here to talk. Email me at LB@factor8.com. 


Want more tips to increase the coaching focus at work?
Download our guide on “20 Ways To Increase Sales Coaching Focus At Work.”

Are you looking for sales training?

Contact us today to request information on our customizable virtual sales training programs
available for reps (and managers).


#GirlsClub- A Program for Rising Female Sales Leaders-01

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#GirlsClub: A Program for Rising Female Sales Leaders

If you’re familiar with Factor 8 or #GirlsClub, you may know that I founded both companies, but you may not know how they are intertwined.

Here it is: Factor 8 eLearning and live training classes are repeatedly ranked as the #1 and #2 favorites of #GirlsClub participants! 

Of this, I’m tremendously proud. To have the “required management skills” come out on top with a program that includes Mentors, famous guest speakers, intimate interviews, speaking opportunities, and more… tells me we’re doing something right over here.

While we’re on the subject of good news, a few more “#GC” stats I hope you’ll help me celebrate: 

  • To date, we’ve had over 1400 active participants from 700+ companies in 750+ cities and 25+ countries
  • Over 85% of the women who started the program graduated and certified
  • About 40% started as managers (the other 60% aspiring managers) and over 60% ended as managers – for our last cohort, 24 promotions and counting in under 6 months!
  • Over 13,000 learning “shots” consumed in The Sales Bar over 6 months (AKA pieces of content)
  • The average test score was 95%
  • There were 8 awards given

Our mission is to change the face of sales leadership by helping more women earn leadership positions.

So how’s #GirlsClub different from the training you already know from Factor 8?

  1. We train in cohorts across various companies, industries, and even countries. 
  2. It’s all 100% virtual and the content isn’t customized for any particular company.
  3. We assign the participants (called “Protégés”) to work with their leaders on activities, customization, and application – bottom-up instead of top-down.
  4. We add a curriculum around confidence-building & risk-taking.
  5. Each Protégé gets a Mentor (most are other females, but our male mentors are also super popular).
  6. We do “spotlight” opportunities like LinkedIn takeovers, blog posts, speaking engagements, and more.

Conversely, with Factor 8 programs, your sales team is your cohort. It allows for more customization and deeper dives into situations and needs, customized curriculum and activities, and hands-on coaching for managers and reps. Factor 8 programs usually last a year and can also include certification (with a bit more stringent requirements for demonstrating skills).

We also don’t include all the confidence-building and community portions of #GirlsClub in The Sales Bar for Factor 8 clients. In short: 

Factor 8’s goal is to move the number and change lives. 

#GirlsClub’s goal is to build confidence and change lives.

We don’t mean to disclude the guys (in fact we award our favorite “Ally” male supporter each year). But I chose to keep #GC women-dominated to create a safe space. 

Studies show women won’t speak up in male-dominated environments nor will they take a risk until they feel 100% confident. So we talk about that stuff. We ask female role models about discrimination, wearing beachwear on company award trips, and yes, even sexual harassment (folks, nearly EVERY woman has had a story). Yuck.

There is a day in the future when my two companies will blend more and I don’t confuse people with my double persona. But for now, what we’re doing with #GirlsClub is really working and I’m not messing with it.

Get it now and want to help or get involved?

#1. Identify female talent and encourage them to get into management. They won’t feel ready. Send them to us. Applications open each Fall and our new cohorts start in April. Learn more at: https://wearegirlsclub.com/apply/

#2. Sign up to Mentor (1 hour/month & 6-month commitment) + free access to the entire program and community. Contact us to learn more about being a Mentor: https://wearegirlsclub.com/contact-us/

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sales team training

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How to Level Up Your Team with Sales Training

If you’ve been reading our blogs, I’m sure you know that I strongly advocate for developing your people. When I was a sales manager and director, this was my special sauce – and I got better results, engagement, and retention than my peers when I focused on sales team training. Then I went and started 2 companies to help other revenue leaders do the same.

Whether it’s team size, competing priorities, or simply a previous failure to plan, I encourage you to invest in your people. In fact, there’s never been a more important time than now to train your people (Hello, “Great Resignation”).

Need help? Keep reading…

Why NOW Is the Time for Sales Team Training

True story: 10 years ago I stood on my first keynote stage and showed a picture of a baby with a headset. I captioned it with, “The ability to train/retrain people will be a critical differentiator.”

Lots of people laughed at the picture, but I don’t think anyone really took note. Please forgive me for what’s about to happen…

I TOLD YOU SO!

OK, now that’s out of the way. Whew, better.

Why you ask? Because it’s next to impossible to find talent. For a good twenty years, the gold standard was:

  • College degree
  • 2 years of sales experience
  • Played a competitive sport

In today’s super-employment and talent-short economy, these people just don’t exist! A good 50% or more entry-level sales rep jobs are BDR/SDR jobs, and the average lifespan of this role is under eighteen months.

So as sales leaders around the world lament the talent shortage (and come together to jointly blame recruiting – poor folks), the smart ones are doing two things:

  1. Hiring new and creative talent sources
  2. Hanging on to the people they’ve got

And how do you do this, pray tell?

Hiring from New Talent Pools

My favorite new hire is a caregiver looking to reenter the workforce (i.e. working moms). These superheroes can multitask, get more done by noon than the rest of us do in 3 days, and frankly, they’re just grateful to talk to grown-ups.

More creative sources:

  1. Tradespeople – If you sell to mechanics, go hire a mechanic.
  2. Customer Success/Service – I’ve literally never recommended this before, but they know your product and will love a chance at commission. Just profile/test first for proactivity and persistence.
  3. English Majors – Maybe THEY can compose a decent email.
  4. Wait Staff – Hustle (period).
  5. Community College Students – Flexible schedules, coin-operated.

Take a hard look at your normal criteria and try to throw half out the window. Hire for behavior vs. skill and street smarts vs. experience.

The key to making this work? You’re going to need a robust sales training program. That’s right, new hire AND ongoing training, PLUS manager development (because these people will need coaching). Listen, even when I’ve trained teams with 2-10 years of experience, they still needed sales skills training. There are some appalling habits out there – not to mention new channels (virtual) and technologies (Zoom) necessitating the upskill.

 

sales training budget

 
How? Outsource what you can and budget for a trainer ASAP. Yes, you’ll need both a budget and an internal person – check out this blog to help create your sales training budget. Here’s why: some stuff HAS to be built.

Every good training program includes the following components:

  • Sales Skills – outsource – hey, I know a vendor (keep scrolling to contact us 😉)
  • Systems Skills – outsource from your vendor
  • Process Skills – only you know how to get stuff done at your company
  • Product/Service Skills – a trainer can translate boring product info and glossy marketing info
  • Acumen – business and industry – this can go halfsies

It can take up to a year for a strong training headcount to develop all that needs to be taught in onboarding – and then we’ve got ongoing training, manager development, and more. Trust me, you’ll be glad you outsourced for a few years and wish you’d hired twice the headcount by end of year. Here’s another important reason why…

If you’ve been relying on your managers to train their newbies, it’s time to stop. Why?

  1. They’re bad trainers (sorry)
  2. They should be coaching it, not training it
  3. They’re too busy (interviewing alone could be full-time)
How Sales Training and Development Helps You Keep People

The most important thing to remember here is: It’s a buyer’s market.

They literally have five other sales job options. Does the training they get play into their decision to stay? Hell yeah. Research by Forbes states that 87% of millennials want professional development and career growth opportunities (more so than a hefty paycheck!). They may also care more about social causes than their paycheck, but hey – good thing they will inherit the Earth!

If you’re losing people in the first 3 months, it’s a red flag your onboarding program isn’t working. (Six to nine months, I recommend you look at the manager, but that’s a different blog).

The next most important point to remember is: Nobody likes feeling like they stink.

If they feel successful, they will stay. I can’t tell you how many reps have told us they were getting ready to leave before our training, or that they’re feeling excited now to come to work tomorrow. There actually are skills to help them get a hold of more people, capture attention, and get callbacks. Give them the gift of actual selling time with prospects and they’ll keep coming to work.

Development can help you keep folks by aligning skills training to career paths. We both know that reps under 25 would like a promotion for two straight weeks of success and when we don’t feel like enabling that, we just go back to review point one, am I right? So build out micro-promotions with skills training. It will take your trainer a few months to get mapped out and aligned (or contact us to use our standard pre-built skill paths!), and Boom! You’re in business.

Great career paths include time on the job, skills, development, and results. You’ll see rep engagement and longevity increase simply by having and communicating the program. And remember, development is a reward to this generation! Kicking butt!? Congrats! You’ve earned a course to get even better! Crushing the job? Awesome, you’ve unlocked the BDR Level 2 or AE Level 1 career path!

Finally, a word from the guilty. Although I’ve built and delivered and preached thousands of training courses and programs, this is the first year I’m finally putting development into my own budget. Now that Factor 8 is over ten people – all with different jobs – I’ll solve this by simply giving folks a budget to find their own development. Could be a course, a conference, or a coach. Their choice. If your hands are tied every other way, get SOMETHING in the budget so it’s easier next year and the year after. Your future self will thank you.

Ready to invest in sales team training?

Contact us today to request information on our customizable virtual sales training programs
available for reps (and managers).


women in sales

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Apply to #GirlsClub. Stop Doubting.

Ladies, lean in.

Sometime in the last two months, you heard a voice.  No, not the crazy hearing voices kind of voice, but the future you, inspired you, the you-can-DO-this-and-you-SHOULD kind of voice.

I call it my little voice.  And every once in a while, she puts her foot down and she says, “MORE.” Not more please. Not more if there’s some left after everyone else gets some. More NOW, DAMMIT.

More. . . because I deserve it. 

Sometimes this is in a whisper.

You want more out of your career, and I built #GirlsClub to do EXACTLY that.

Now it’s time to apply.  This is NOT a time for doubt.  NOT a time to postpone.  NOT a time to be afraid to raise your hand internally and ask for the time and/or the budget to do this.  Rise up.  Fill out your application and book a meeting with your manager right now. Seriously, right now.

Explain your aspirations.  Give him or her a program information packet you downloaded.  Ask for his or her support.  Sit tall and ask.

That is step one.

It’s a big one.  But it’s critical.  And it is time to do it NOW.

YES, there are scholarships available.  I’m working my tail off so that you don’t have to ask for the full-boat budget.

How about we meet halfway?

You submit the application.  You ask for the budget.  You let them know everything it includes and why it’s worth it.  Let’s keep moving forward, and if we both get “no’s”, we will pull out.

But please, don’t quit now.  I need you to work as hard as I am to get you this new gig.

I can’t WAIT to see your application and your smiling face in this program.

Apply today!

Need help explaining the program?  Download the participant and mentor overview here.

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