Sales Management© Overview

Managing the sales force requires selling experience, but not selling skills! The skills required to be a successful Sales Manager are different than the skills that make good sales people.

Sales Management© was developed from over thirty years of experience working with sales managers in a variety of sales environments. It addresses the three major areas of sales management's responsibilities: People, Processes and Business.

The program consists of the following elements:

Pre Work - Each participant is required to prepare: A Professional Development Plan© on themselves, information about a difficult or problem employee and a sales opportunity.

Introduction - Participants are asked to document the characteristics, skills and behaviors of successful Sales Managers. They are introduced to the Sales Manager Matrix©, which they develop, in stages, at the conclusion of each major area covered in the program. This tool is used to document a best practices model for their organization.

Managing People - Managers learn about the four major elements of managing people: staffing, development, directing and evaluation. They discuss staffing and participate in an exercise to define the steps for getting new sales reps to reach acceptable levels of productivity within a reasonable time. After reviewing the elements of directing and evaluating performance, participants complete a Professional Development Plan© on an employee. The plan is reviewed and recommendations made about how they will conduct a performance review.

Managing Processes - In this section of the program, participants hone their skills at managing: the sales cycle, pipeline, existing business and the allocation of sales resources. Participants learn ways to improve sales pipelines, review successful client management techniques and guidelines for allocating sales resources. Finally, using the Win Analysis© method, one of the sales opportunities they have brought in is analyzed. Their standing in the sale is assessed and recommendations are made in regard to ways to improve their chances of winning.

Managing the Business - This module addresses ways to improve sales performance through better management of: forecasting, sales quotas and budgets. Methods and guidelines are discussed for: testing the accuracy of sales rep forecasts, managing achievement of quotas and staying within budgets. The exercise in this section, addresses ways to: improve quota performance and do a better job of matching individual selling skills with opportunities.

Professional Development Plan© (PDP) - Participants receive electronic versions of the PDP for management and sales. These application tools enable managers to assess and evaluate performance.

Sales Management© is not dependent on the use of a particular sales methodology or system. The program addresses the tactical and strategic elements of managing the sales function. Participants are focused, throughout the program, on how they can improve their skills to become better sales managers. Furthermore, the application tools provided in Sales Management© enable participants to implement improvements when they return to the field.