Sales & Marketing Management - November/December 2007 - (Page 27)

sales employee’s yearly salary, and possibly even more for new employees and management. In addition to sub-par sales, this can do great damage to your bottom line. There also are less tangible and vastly more corrosive costs, including brand name dilution and lack of customer loyalty at the delta. After all, if your employees aren’t happy, their customers won’t be either. According to Nancy J. Stephens, a vice president at PI Worldwide and author of Streetwise Customer-focused Selling, “Salespeople are not only money-driven. They also look for personal satisfaction and rewards. A good personal relationship between a manager and a sales rep builds the foundation to create substantial and exciting satisfactory, Stephens says two kinds of sales managers will typically be found: “First, there’s the manager who is completely focused on the numbers and doesn’t understand how to manage or coach the people,” she says. “They are out of balance, more about the task than the people.” Such old-school managers are usually highly directive, sometimes intimidating and use a lot of forceful tactics. Although the cost of turnover shouldn’t be overlooked, these managers might get away with the situation for a while because they’re bringing home the bacon. “But today,” Stephens adds, “star sales reps are experienced, sophisticated and will probably respond more ager? numbers. In fact, good numbers are just a byproduct of everything else going right.” According to Jan Stringer, Ph.D., besides unfair pay, the main reasons people leave their jobs are lack of communication, lack of job security, underappreciation, favoritism, work overload, micromanagement, incompetent managers, lack of opportunity for advancement, and overbearing bosses. Obviously, quite a few of those are indicative of poor management, not poor workers. the yin, the yang and the young Stephens says a very clear measure of whether someone is a bad manager is the balance between results and retention. If results aren’t meeting expectations, your sales force may simply need training or coaching, which may or may not be the result of a management problem. But if you consistently achieve or exceed your sales goals, yet still aren’t retaining your talent, you can be pretty sure the problem is management. In analyzing a company whose sales performance is not www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com favorably to the manager who leverages their talent more wisely. A supportive manager, rather than a controlling and demanding one, better suits the modern sales environment.” Another reason why sales managers might be completely focused on the numbers is that they might never have “promoted themselves” mentally. According to Kevin Davis, president of TopLine Leadership, Inc. and author of Getting Into Your Customer’s Head, “The biggest mistake sales managers make is that they lack awareness of the complete change in mindset needed to transform themselves from the instinctive behavior of a ‘doer’ to the strategic mentality needed of management.” The second type of manager you will find is the “best friend,” who can be equally (if not more) dangerous. While the relationship looks nice on the surface and everyone might be happy, this type of manager actually undermines his or her sales reps by lowering expectations. This style of management is often seen in very new managers who might not be comfortable with metrics or NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007 SALES &MARKETING MANAGEMENT 27 http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sales & Marketing Management - November/December 2007

Sales & Marketing Management - November/December 2007 Contents Editor’s Letter Management Strategies What “Tell Me More,” Really Means Sales Strategy Marketing Management Motivation/Incentives Training Technology The Brains Behind the Brawn Are You a Bad Manager? Pipeline = Lifeline Feeling the Squeeze; The Foray Mobile Workmate; Seeking the Sights of Pittsburgh; Testing the Social Media Waters. Gadgets & Gear Books That Improve Strategic Thinking, People Skills and Sales Work/Life Take-Aways

Sales & Marketing Management - November/December 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.