How to Be a Great Sales Manager [“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]
How to Be a Great Sales Manager
[“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]
[“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]
[Webinar Recording]
[“Sales Shot” Workshop Recording]
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[Webinar Recording]
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…
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…
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:
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:
And how do you do this, pray tell?
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:
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.
Every good training program includes the following components:
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?
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.
Contact us today to request information on our customizable virtual sales training programs
available for reps (and managers).
[Webinar Recording]
[Webinar Recording]
[Webinar Recording]
[Webinar Recording]
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.