10 Traits of Top Ranking Sales Managers [Guide]
10 Traits of Top Ranking Sales Managers
[Guide]
[Guide]
[Worksheet]
[Webinar Recording]
Recently, one of the awesome women in #GirlsClub shared that she wanted to move all the way up the sales ladder before trying management. She wanted to be credible to her future team. She had also learned the hard way that just because she could DO sales didn’t mean she could TEACH sales. I was so freaking proud of her at that moment. She knew her strengths and she was not blindly reaching for the promotion. It also gave me pause.
Do we need to do every role in sales before managing? I didn’t. I sold for a short time and then leap-frogged into sales (see my story here).
Truth is, management is not a fit for everyone – regardless of your sales prowess. In fact, maybe because of your sales prowess. I’ve seen top reps make horrible managers and “B” reps be amazing coaches.
It’s really more about your natural behaviors and values than skills. Our (amaaaazing) Marketing Director at Factor 8 is very actively NOT seeking a management role. My bestie says the same thing, “Hell no! Life is better when I’m in charge of my own destiny and not in charge of anyone else’s crap.” My bestie may have a mouth like mine. 😉
So if you’re wondering, “Is sales management right for me?”, start by asking yourself a few questions:
Flipside: As a manager, you actually have LESS control over your daily life, workload, task list, end results, and paycheck. You’re basically being judged by and paid on the average performer on your team. If that last sentence gave you hives, keep driving your own sales car; don’t trade it in for the sales school bus.
If you’re still not sure if sales management is right for you, join me (or watch the recording) for a free session on “Tips To Get Promoted To Sales Manager” where I’ll share my top tips to help you determine if management is meant for you and, if it is, how to get that promotion.
[Webinar Recording]
Regional Vice President of Sales | Chorus.ai
Nicole is the Regional Vice President of Sales at Chorus.ai, leading the Strategic Enterprise Team from headquarters in San Francisco, CA. Nicole has been in business development and sales for 14 years, building her SaaS experience at leading tech firms Responsys, Oracle, Signal, and Medallia. Outside of the sales world, Nicole has a passion for wellness and group fitness, where she has instructed at BodyRok studios and Barry’s.
Sales Development Manager | Sendoso
Katie Pawlik is a Sales Development Manager at Sendoso. Within her first few months at Sendoso, she was able to better develop her sales skills, overachieve her quota, and was promoted to their Enterprise team in April 2020. As an individual contributor, she really enjoyed being able to share with her colleagues the strategies that worked well for her and see how that translated to the success they found. After raising her hand and interviewing for the opportunity to become a Sales Manager, she transitioned into the role this past January and is managing a team of 9 reps and 5 new hires.
Inside Sales Manager | Diabetes Supply
Beca Henrikus is an Inside Sales Manager for Diabetes Supply. She started with the company as their first Intake Specialist. After a few months, she moved to their pharmacy department and worked on her CPhT. Fast forward a few years and she was given a “lead” position in their inside sales department (at the time it was a party of one and she had ZERO sales experience). She wasn’t a trained leader – she was the EXACT opposite. They had a change in leadership that coached her into becoming a better leader and person. After 6 months of working on herself with her new leader, she was ready to be promoted to Inside Sales Manager. She went from just managing herself to now leading 11 wonderful ladies. Participating in #GirlsClub has given her different views on numbers, productivity, and managing people!
VP, Program & Partnerships | #GirlsClub
Angela Salazar is the VP, Program & Partnerships for #GirlsClub and the Owner of Elevate, Leadership and Training Development. With over 14 years of leadership experience, Angela has coached and developed individuals in many different roles, both domestically and abroad. Angela’s passion for identifying potential, cultivating strengths, providing honest constructive feedback, and developing future leaders drives her to be her best. When we are not experiencing a global pandemic, Angela loves attending concerts, traveling, and happy hour with friends.
My first year in sales management was rough. I try hard to celebrate that sweet, young thing instead of cringing, but it’s hard some days. I remember some doozy mistakes:
Go. team.
There were so many things wrong with that email!
Bingo.
Nightmare.
Yeah, these are real stories. It took me about six months to figure out the job and for my team to excel. And we did. We became number one in the division in those 6 months. Most days I think they did it in spite of me! And because I still feel the embarrassment, frustration, and exhaustion in my body as I type this, I’ve spent my career trying to fix it for others.
Factor 8 management curriculum is literally job training for sales managers. Not leadership training with a few sales role-plays, it’s how to do the freaking job. Like I wish someone would have taught me. It’s one of the key 3 ingredients in the over 100+ promotions we’ve earned with our #GirlsClub communities! Here are a few nuggets we teach and share. If you’re a new manager or an aspiring one, I hope you’ll take one (or a few) of our online management courses or programs. They’re bite-sized versions of our Fortune 1000 corporate programs.
Get your house in order. A manager’s cadence is akin to a rep’s sales process. It’s the dance steps, the framework, the skeleton on which you’ll hang your management suit. Get it locked down. We teach about six essential manager meetings:
Each of these has different goals, timelines, and preparation actions, but once you lock these in you’re halfway home to getting a hold of your day. If you’d like to see your family or some daylight hours during your first year, believe me, this is key!
Delegate everything you can to these meetings. Keep the line away from your desk and work through needs in their appropriate meeting. It’s like getting file folders for all the crap on your desk. Be clear:
Sales Reps are like water. We will ALWAYS flow to the path of least resistance.
Asking you to help or do it for me will always be easier than me looking it up or figuring it out. Resist, dear friend, resist. Fish. Teaching. Eating. You get it, right? Remember, daylight hours! When we spend all day with a “line at our desk” (remote equivalent: Slack blowing up), we feel GREAT we helped people all day and we had some answers, but then we get to keep working all night to do our real job.
Get really clear on your job role. You’re going to WANT to solve everything for your team because this validates you. We all feel nervous in these new roles and it’s hard to immediately strike the right balance of power. New leaders are either baby tyrants or mother hens. Leading through telling or leading through helping. Find the middle ground. On two sides of the paper, fill them up. Now you know what NOT to do.
Stop doing your old job. The Peter principle is a real thing. It means you’ll keep getting promoted until you reach your limit of competence. Translated, that means until you quit learning the new job and we find you still doing your old job. Don’t fizzle out at the first leadership rung. No, you can’t keep any accounts. No! Uh-uh! Zip! None. Give it to a rep on your team and help them be great instead.
Celebrate failures and wins. Every week come together as a team to talk about the week’s highlights. It keeps you all focused on the W’s, motivated to do it again, and builds unity. Keep it short, but be sure it also includes failures. The best sellers and managers see sales as a sport in which they’ll continuously improve. That means failing. No’s. Lost deals. Hang-ups. For you it means upset. Missed opportunities. Stepping in it with your boss. Share these with your team too. If you can vulnerably share your journey to being the best leader you can be for them, they’ll cheer you on your journey.
So will I.
[Webinar Recording]
In 1998 I moved to Phoenix to take my first Inside Sales Management job at Insight (NYSE: NSIT). We resold technology to the Fortune 500. Mine was a new team with a new leader building new books of business. Read: It suuuuuucked.
There aren’t a lot of “un-tried” leads in the Fortune 500, and my brand new team and I were all struggling. The memory of it is still pretty vivid for me – feeling completely overwhelmed. The frustration at constantly saying “I don’t know,” twenty seven times a day, and the very late nights trying to figure out what I should be doing and then just doing email instead. . .
Today I remember these times to help me guide the Factor 8 team in developing and delivering Management and Leadership training for Inside Sales Managers. As most of you know, we don’t go for BS theory classes at Factor 8, we try very hard to solve real-life problems and impart immediately-applicable skills in class.
Man I wish I’d had that training back then. Scary that some of you out there were BORN when I was doing this. Sometimes I still feel like that 23 year old trying to pretend I knew what I was doing (But I digress).
So what do you remember? I’ll get the ball rolling with the top five things I didn’t know, should have known, wish I’d known. Please share one of yours. What’s a key skill for sales managers that someone should teach them in year one? (Or, if you’re living this right now, what is something you wish they would teach you??) Can’t wait to see the list!!
PS: My old boss from 1998 interviewed me for his Management / Leadership Blog last year. We talked about my first year in leadership and how to be successful. Here’s the link: https://managermojo.com/make-people-successful/.
PSS: And if you want to see what Factor 8 does with live training for managers and leaders, contact us at info@factor8.com.
LB
Once the excitement wears off, there’s a good chance that your new manager is nervous and even a little scared about their ability to succeed.
Here are 10 things running through their head that they’re afraid to tell you (from the point of view of a typical newly-promoted Inside Sales Manager):
I’m sure I missed a few. What was running through your head once you got settled into your first Inside Sales Management position?
Folks, training your managers is critical. Jump out to our YouTube page to learn more about what training to provide, why train managers first, and the online job training we recommend when face-to-face training isn’t feasible. You can also follow Factor 8 here on LinkedIn or at Factor8.com
Lauren Bailey (LB) is the President of Factor 8, and has been recognized by the AA-ISP as one of the “Top 25 Most Influential Leaders in Inside Sales” for 4 years running. You can connect with LB on LinkedIn, Twitter (@Factor8Sales), or the newly launched website – www.Factor8.com.