Tips for Managing Your Sales Team Pipeline [Cheat Sheet]
Tips for Managing Your Sales Team Pipeline
[Cheat Sheet]
New Manager Tips
Help! Should I Be in Sales Management? [“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]
Help! Should I Be in Sales Management?
[“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]
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Critical New Sales Manager Skills to Master [Checklist]
Critical New Sales Manager Skills to Master
[Checklist]
10 Traits of Top Ranking Sales Managers [Guide]
10 Traits of Top Ranking Sales Managers
[Guide]
Leaders: Activities to Start & Stop Doing [Worksheet]
Leaders: Activities to Start & Stop Doing
[Worksheet]
How to Thrive in Your Role as a Sales Manager [Webinar Recording]
How to Thrive in Your Role as a Sales Manager
[Webinar Recording]
Is Sales Management Right for You?
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:
- Am I a natural teacher? If you love mentoring the new kid, lending a helping hand, and being shadowed, this is absolutely your first clue that management is a good direction.
- Does answering lots of questions annoy me? If your daily highlight is being the go-to person, it’s another good clue. (In contrast, my bestie says, “Stop freaking Slacking me! Figure it out yourself! What am I, your mom!?” Not so much someone who’ll love management…)
- How important is control to me? This one’s a double-edged sword. Most great managers have a high “D” factor in the DISC assessment or “A” factor in Predictive Index. Those behavior traits that say things like, “driver, in charge, authoritative, assertive” (in my case…competitive, pioneering, sometimes arrogant. Wait, what?!) When you strive to lead, actually having the title really helps. You feel more in charge of your own destiny and less likely to go crazy based on what “they” are doing above.
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.
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How to Get Promoted to Sales Manager Faster [Webinar Recording]
How to Get Promoted to Sales Manager Faster
[Webinar Recording]
Meet the Panelists
Nicole LaBarbera
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.
Katie Pawlik
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.
Beca Henrikus
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!
Angela Salazar
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.
Thank You to Our Sponsors!
![How to Get Promoted to Sales Manager Faster [Webinar Recording]](https://factor8.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Girls-Club-Logo_pink_medium.png "How to Get Promoted to Sales Manager Faster [Webinar Recording]"){kind=logo}
Navigating Your New Role as a Sales Manager [Webinar Recording]
Navigating Your New Role as a Sales Manager
[Webinar Recording]
5 Things I Learned During My First Year in Sales Management
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!!
- The management screens and responsibilities in CRM (seriously, tell me I had to release orders, that might have helped)
- Meeting prep. I spent 8 hours preparing for my first team meeting. Ridiculous.
- Motivation tactics. Month one I sent out emails to rally the troops behind our first quota . Awful. Really? Email?
- Cadence. What meetings should I be having? When? 1:1 or group?
- Who’s who in the zoo? Who do I call to get a credit line extended? A product ordered? An account moved?
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