Cheryl Peltekis, RN “The Solutionist”
Sales Managers assume 100% of the responsibility for the performance of their sales team, yet receive little glory for their efforts.
I have worked with so many different management positions in our industry. Large clients that have 8 sales managers, down to “Mom and Pop’s” that the owner him/herself is the sales manager.
In most cases, sales managers earn less than their top salespeople. They have the responsibility of evaluating territories, hiring, training, teaching CRM, and they must deliver the number of admits/hours to hit budget.
Yes, the best sales managers work longer hours, endure more stress, and have a greater responsibility than the salespeople they manage. They are looked down upon by most clinical management and are forever in need of something!
Making things worse is the fact that salespeople are harder to lead and manage than any other employee type that work at our organizations.
Sales account executives are emotional and often irrational people who demand attention. Because salespeople are essentially in jobs where rejection is the norm, sales managers are often called upon to be coaches, mentors, mothers, fathers, and sometimes therapists to keep their troops motivated, focused, and delivering on sales goals.
If this is not hard enough, sales managers are often put in the position of shielding their salespeople from corporate policy police, accountants, and operators who have absolutely no understanding of the psychology of salespeople.
It is a wonder why any sane human being would voluntarily choose to be a sales manager.
Though each year thousands of sales professionals give up their sales roles and accept the promotion. They move into new offices and proudly stare at their newly printed business cards with little understanding of what it takes to lead salespeople.
Ill-prepared to perform the job of sales manager, a high percentage of these newly-minted sales leaders are demoted or fired within 18 months. Unfortunately, the sales profession is a graveyard littered with the corpses of failed sales managers who (had they embraced one important principle) might have gone on to become superstars.
Leadership Principle #1
In sales leadership, one principle stands above all: You need your people more than they need you. Another way of saying this is that you get paid for what your salespeople do, not for what you do.
Who Is More Important: You or Your Salespeople?
The fact is, even if the sales manager went on a two-week vacation, and all of your salespeople showed up each day, things would likely be just fine. The work would get done.
Sales Managers Get Paid For What Their People Do
When you get your next paycheck, take a close look at it. The money deposited in your bank account was a direct result of your salespeople’s work. You were rewarded for their performance or non-performance—not yours. To tell yourself anything different is an outright denial of the facts.
As a sales leader, if your salesperson succeeds, you succeed. If your salesperson fails, you fail.
So, it follows that your job is to position your people to win. You must create an environment in which they can succeed, develop their skills, leverage their talents, and remove roadblocks so that they sell. You need them more than they need you. Anything that you do that impedes their success hurts you!
It is time for you to reconsider who manages your team. Home Care Sales has a new sales coaching & management program. It comes with a CRM powered by Playmaker, and it replaces your current sales leader for a fraction of the cost.
Take Dave, a director of sales with four salespeople on his team. Dave constantly demanded insignificant reporting on virtually everything. Each time he asked for a report, it took his people away from sales activities that generated revenue.
One of his salespeople said, “He drove me over the edge of insanity. I’d be on my way to see a referral source, and he’d call me wanting a report on something stupid right then like it was the most important thing in the world.”
What happened to Dave? Dave’s goose was cooked because the talented account executives he had inherited when he took the job quit. He eventually lost a great job and thousands of dollars in incentive bonus because instead of helping his people succeed, he became a roadblock to success.
Far too many sales managers never learn this lesson.
The single most important leadership principle is this: You get paid for what your people do, not what you do. You need your salespeople more than they need you. Give them what they want!
Imagine, your salesperson is armed with a sales message that produces referrals. Your sales team has beautiful, branded flyers and clearly spelled out expectation documents to ensure compliance. Our Sales Coaching & Management done for you has all this and more.
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- CRM for account management
- Sales Process personalized in the CRM.
- Weekly sales messages for the entire year
- 12 weeks of onboarding sales training
- Monthly automated reports sent to leadership.
We are weeks away from launching our new program. Only 25 spots are being offered. Sign up today before they are gone. Sales Coaching & Management done by Home Care Sales is the solution to your growth challenges. Let us help you!
Keep Helping, Keep Serving,
Cheryl Pelekis, RN “The Solutionist”
