Sales managers have no fixed rules for managing salespeople, and no book can claim to offer a complete set of formulas that can be followed blindly. Managing salespeople is not a static proposition; it requires targeted and adaptive management that changes with the environment, circumstances, and the individuals involved.
So, fundamentally, if sales managers want to manage their salespeople well, they must rely on real-world experience to discover targeted methods. In other words, to manage salespeople effectively, experience must come from reality.
Fortunately, everything follows certain patterns. Although the techniques and methods for managing salespeople vary, there are still some basic principles to follow for effective personnel management.
Although I am a "veteran sales manager" who has fought in marketing for over a decade, I still lack the confidence to clearly tell everyone how to manage salespeople. However, during a training opportunity, in a sales manager training class, I wrote this question on the whiteboard and asked everyone to combine their own experiences, discuss in groups, and brainstorm to arrive at some basic principles.
Finally, I summarized the discussion results into two parts. Below are some of the basic contents.
The first and second groups were composed of older sales managers promoted from veteran salespeople. Their discussion results were simple but comprehensive:
Managers should first be familiar with the business themselves to earn respect. If salespeople respect their managers, the manager's job becomes relatively easier, and subordinates may be more obedient.
Although managers cannot visit the market daily like salespeople, they must still be quite familiar with the market. If managers are familiar with the market, they have a platform to manage people and the market; otherwise, salespeople will think the manager is just someone standing higher than them but useless to the market!
Managers should fully understand their salespeople, including their culture, quality, skills, personality, and hobbies. Managers must put down their airs, first make friends with salespeople, and then manage them.
Position each salesperson and create a development plan. Everyone has expectations for the future, and salespeople's expectations are often not only in their own hands but also require guidance and support from their managers. Therefore, a good manager is one who can plan for salespeople's futures and help them improve.
At the same time, each salesperson has different personality and behavior patterns. Managers should help them find a suitable position within the team or even the entire company, allowing them to fully leverage their abilities. When salespeople feel their manager is good, they naturally follow the manager's arrangements.
As the head of a marketing organization, managers should establish a sound supervision and management mechanism that aligns with the company's business goals. That is, the current management mechanism is no longer about "strict control and heavy management" but about coordination and supervision. Also, focus on key performance indicators and incentive methods. Marketing managers should avoid "grabbing everything at once" without focus or method.
Establish an effective training mechanism to help salespeople grow quickly. The current sales force is large, but few are formally trained. Therefore, they must continuously receive training on the job to adapt to environmental changes and marketing developments. If marketing managers can establish a good training system internally, the overall quality of salespeople will improve, and they will become more self-disciplined, not requiring much management but motivating themselves.
Managers should lead by example and set a precedent. Managers are not only leaders but also play multiple roles, such as being a "lead sheep" at this time. "Leading well is better than managing well" is the essence of good management!
Communicate frequently, guide, encourage the advanced, and pay attention to specific events. Encouraging the advanced means managing with a clear focus and using role models to lead everyone forward. Paying attention to specific events means going deep into practice. Practice is also an important standard for testing management quality.
Regularly visit the salespeople's management areas to solve specific problems. Managing not only with mouth and pen but also measuring the depth of management with feet might be more meaningful. This is what many experts advocate as "management by walking around."
The above basically explains the necessary conditions for being a good marketing manager and managing salespeople well. Although not systematic, each aspect reflects the real-world experience of many managers.
In the same class, the third and fourth groups were not to be outdone, as no one wants to be seen as lacking management ability or unable to manage salespeople. After intense discussion, they proposed the following measures and principles they believed were good.
I. Important Principle: The "Three Publics" principle of fairness, justice, and openness. To manage salespeople well, first establish a good team order. Therefore, marketing managers must project an image of selflessness; otherwise, salespeople will view the manager with bias, and the manager cannot manage the team well.
II. Key Measures
Make good plans: Clarify work goals for each period and determine work plans. Let salespeople fully utilize their abilities and levels under the constraints of goals and plans.
Motivate frequently. At this time, the manager should act as a booster, and the important method to push employees' work is motivation.
Managers should train them personally: This not only demonstrates the manager's business ability but also allows the manager to impart sales skills and communication techniques, reflecting the spirit of mutual improvement and goal achievement.
Key indicator assessment: Develop routine and temporary assessment indicators based on work content. Let salespeople pay attention to both the company's routine indicators and the key monthly tasks. When salespeople complete the indicators well, management has achieved its purpose.
Supervision: Let salespeople understand the significance of supervision to better cooperate with the manager's management. The supervision mechanism ensures that even when the manager is not present, salespeople can follow the rules and do their jobs well.
Use every possible means to stimulate salespeople's initiative. This requires marketing managers to position themselves in a service role, providing logistics and support for salespeople. The success of salespeople is the success of the manager.
Of course, the above aspects of managing salespeople do not represent all of reality and may be simple, but don't forget that both execution and management start with the simplest things. Only by doing simple things well can there be more management skills.
At the same time, as the marketing environment changes, management work is increasingly shifting from management to service. This requires marketing managers to adjust their mindset, position, and way of doing things in a timely manner, thereby continuously improving their management work!
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