Sales lessons learned the hard way

Learning from other's mistakes and failures is a good way to speed up sales management success... When I asked seasoned sales managers what they learned the hard way, and I got these fou

Way

Fourteen Sales

Lessons Learned The

Hard

Learning from other's mistakes and failures is a good way to speed up sales management success

When I asked seasoned sales managers what they learned the hard way, and I got these fourteen lessons

New sales managers can learn to make their job

a lot easier using these fourteen lessons

2 Firing an underperforming salesperson is usually a relief for both parties involved Failing is not fun but it can be the wake-up call needed to re-energize a sales career or choose another career

3 Salespeople always rebel against "the boss." Telling people what to do is not leadership Asking questions and listening resolves many sales management dilemmas

4 Share control and let salespeople buy in Sales representatives who run passionately with their own ideas they usually are more successful

5 Salespeople will have problems that paralyze them, and a sales manager will hear about them Sales people bring their personal problems to work and eventually these can interfere with their performance As a manager it is important to know the difference between counseling someone on a personal

problem and coaching them with a sales problem

6 It is helpful to become conscious of leadership style early Being a leader means knowing when to be autocratic, democratic, or a delegator There is a spectrum of leadership styles and a sales manager will choose all three options at some point

7 Salespeople want to please their sales manager and will often tell them whatever they think they want to hear A manager's reaction to lost sales and mistakes determine how open and honest sales representatives will be with their boss

8 Salespeople may not want to hear what their prospects

really think so they do not ask

11 A sales manager can be an umpire or a referee Disciplining

salespeople is a duty of the sales manager's job The upside of correcting

someone is that it can save them from failure

12 Sales managers are in the belief business First, find out what salespeople believe In order to influence the salesperson's beliefs in a productive way take the time to ask questions and listen to what they

believe about their accounts and level of success

13 The top producer may not be the top performer and customers buy in spite of salespeople The sales manager's responsibility is to monitor salespeople's meetings,

calls, and make certain their performance is based on standards, not on luck

14 Salespeople often do their best selling in the office This happens when

salespeople think the prices are too high for the products they are trying to sell so they try and convince management to lower prices to make their jobs easier in the field with customers The sales manager needs to instill in their salespeople a sense

of pride and appreciation for the product or service they are trying to sell

selling