Sales Blog with Sales Tips

Just about every sales professional I’ve ever worked with has thought of – and dreamed of – becoming a sales manager.

There are numerous reasons for this: boredom in current position, more income, get away from the monthly quota grind, etc. The following are four attributes that upper management looks for before promoting a sales professional into sales management.

The Four Traits Of Aspiring Sales Managers
1. Recently I heard an executive of a very large company say that the reason he promoted a certain individual into sales management was her receptiveness to feedback. Being open to feedback is critical.

2. People like working with people they can count on. Are we on time? Do we take care of important details? Can people trust us? A sales manager’s sales team and the VP of Sales need to know they can rely on the sales manager.

3. Change is something sales managers have to deal with on an hourly basis. If we can’t elegantly handle change, we should take ourselves out of the sales management candidate pool. A good sales manager copes with dramatic change while softening the impact to his or her sales team.

4. Sales professionals who want to become sales managers know they need to grow in their careers and in their industry. They want to grow. Sales tips blogs, magazines, podcasts, seminars, professional organizations and books are part of their ongoing learning regimen.

We need to demonstrate these four qualities in order to be considered sales management material.

It’s Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be
While you might fantasize about being a sales manager, let me warn you that it’s not all roses. Think carefully before you pursue this career path.

You’ll likely have to travel 50%+ of the time. Sounds glamorous. It isn’t.

Top sales professionals frequently make more than their sales manager does. When you factor in a compromised quality of life (e.g. travel), it exacerbates the compensation issue.

The sales budget assigned to a sales manager  is much more burdensome than that of the individual sales professional. Why? You have to rely on others to meet your budget. You’re really going to hate this if you’re a control freak.

The higher up the food chain you go, the less understanding (i.e. forgiving) sales management is of missed budgets. Your VP of Sales couldn’t possibly care less that four members of your 12-person sales team were out with hepatitis all last month.

Sales Tips Wrap Up
One last thought. We’ve all heard the axiom, “Good sales professionals don’t necessarily translate into good sales managers.” It’s true.

However, the opposite is also true. Don’t take yourself out of the running if you’re not the top producer in your company and want to pursue a career in sales management.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

One of the ways we act like children is to only hear what we want – or need – to hear. While it might be entertaining to watch kids practice “selective hearing,” this habit can dynamite our business development efforts.

What Are Needy Ears?
“Needy Ears” are ears that only hear information that supports our self-deception. The deception we’re forcing on ourselves is that the companies we have in our pipeline have real potential when they don’t.

We sometimes feel so desperate to fill our pipeline that we lie to ourselves. The pressure for this can come from within and from sales management.

I used to work for a Regional Vice President who would put the squeeze on her sales force to the point that she encouraged this kind of behavior. The sales funnel for her organization, as a result, was worthless.

Prospects Know When We Have Needy Ears
We all know that customers and prospects can tell when we’re coming from a position of urgent need, when we have to get more business.

When decision makers detect we are listening (i.e. filtering) with needy ears, they will frequently take advantage of us. We unconsciously become their sales slaves by: overly discounting, providing  information beyond what is reasonable, allowing them to play us against our competition and letting them waste our time.

Sales Tips Rx
What can we do to maintain our objectivity and not be a victim of needy ears?

1. Get real with yourself. You know in your gut when a prospect is wasting your time. Listen to that voice and move on. Activity alone does not equal sales. It’s a temporary balm.

2. Start asking hard qualifying questions at the beginning of the sales cycle and throughout. Budget. Time frame. Decision makers. Competition. Product and service fit. Legal roadblocks to contract execution. You get the idea.

3. Finally, and possibly most importantly, find a trusted peer who will be your accountability partner. He or she will ask you tough questions about each prospect in your funnel and help you discard the ones that don’t make sense.  You are free to reciprocate the favor. Think of this as an episode of Clean House. Your “house” is your funnel and your trusted peer is providing the intervention.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

I’ve heard a variation of the following statement many times (not as much lately though).

“I had to pay $1,937,000 for my 850 square foot two bedroom home in California and it was 25 miles outside of LA! And it isn’t even a very nice home! The commute is horrible!”

Keep in mind; these individuals are boasting. They can hardly contain themselves. There are sales lessons we can learn from this kind of buyer behavior.

First, The Ironies
There are a number of apparent ironies when buyers express these sentiments.

• I can’t think of another area where people are so delighted by overpaying. Usually we brag about just the opposite.

• Spending too much money for something doesn’t normally make one look particularly intelligent, just pretentious.

• We all know that if people really have money, they don’t need to talk about it. Talking about it detracts from their intended objective of impressing.

Sales Lessons We Can Learn
The power of time frame. Until recently, homes in California were appreciating. Buyers felt that delaying meant an increase in price. This is a strong buying motivator.

While our products and services may not be dramatically increasing in price, opportunity costs are being incurred and benefits are being lost the longer a buyer waits. We must educate them on these costs and benefits (i.e. return on investment).

The power of perceived value. MBA marketing types spend their whole careers getting us to see value in a product beyond what is actually present.

When we package products or services in such a way that buyers are overwhelmed with the value (as CA realtors have historically done), this increases the got-to-have factor.

People understand they’re going to pay more for what they perceive as added value. Despite what neophyte sales professionals may think, price is most assuredly not everything.

The power of brand – yours and your company’s. Buyers associate themselves with the products they buy. They also associate themselves with the sales professionals who sell them these products.

Customers prefer to have a good feeling about the brand they’re buying and the person they’re buying it from. Who doesn’t like the idea of owning a cool home in California? Whether this feeling is based on logic has no bearing; it’s based on feeling.

Ever wonder why residential realtors dress so smartly and drive Cadillacs?  This is why.

Sales Tips Wrap Up
This sales tips post points out three important buyer behaviors:

1. Either gaining or not losing money will motivate a buyer.
2. When value (whether real or not) is aptly demonstrated, price becomes a secondary issue.
3. Buyers associate themselves with the products they buy and the people they buy them from.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer