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Sales managers have a tough job. Professional salespeople are not always the easiest people to manage, and when sales go wrong, sales managers often take the blame.
Unfortunately, this job becomes even harder when sales managers stubbornly believe that these seven foolish, outdated misconceptions are the be-all and end-all of sales management.
By the way, this list comes from an email by management guru named Ray Williams. Smart guy.
Misconception #1: The primary responsibility of management is to manipulate the numbers
Why it's a misconception: While numbers are important, they are always history. Treating numbers as the top priority leads to fluctuating revenue streams, shifting profits between quarters, and in the worst cases, cooking the books to make the numbers look good.
Why people believe it: Management pressure on revenue numbers stems from a combination of fear and incompetence. Because the sales manager doesn't know how to manage people to achieve results, he jumps straight to trying to control the results.
The truth: The primary responsibility of management is to manage activities. While a manager cannot (honestly) manage numbers, he can always manage the activities that drive those numbers. If you focus on what the sales team does and measure the effectiveness of each activity, the daily numbers become an almost inevitable byproduct that requires little attention.
Misconception #2: The manager's job is to know the answers
Why it's a misconception: Every time a manager answers an employee's question, he or she becomes a thief. The manager robs the person of the opportunity to think and grow. While experience has value, people don't learn much when hard-earned wisdom is handed to them on a silver platter, let alone when they are forced to accept it.
Why people believe it: In many companies, sales managers are promoted from the ranks of top salespeople. These individuals naturally assume they were promoted because they "know how to sell," when in reality it was their personality and selling style that got them promoted.
The truth: The manager's job is to ask the right questions. The trick to effective management is to stimulate the thought processes and ideas in employees' own minds that will lead to their success. Great managers know how to help employees discover what they need to improve and how to improve it, and what can definitely be enhanced and refined.
Misconception #3: Quotas are a tool for managing people
Why it's a misconception: Quotas define the minimum performance standard in an organization and for individuals within that organization. When used as a management tool, the manager is placing the highest emphasis on the lowest performance. The result is entirely predictable: the entire sales team aims for the minimum standard and rarely exceeds it.
Why people believe it: Humans are complex and difficult to understand, with various means of motivation. In contrast, quotas are easy to understand, making them a convenient shortcut when it comes to setting goals to motivate the team to sell.
The truth: Quotas are a business measurement tool. Quotas are simply what the organization needs to achieve to meet its objectives. Quotas have nothing to do with what employees want from their employment with the company. They are not motivational, even when the manager uses them as a stick to beat employees with at the end of each month.
Misconception #4: Morale improves when sales increase
Why it's a misconception: Morale improves when sales increase.
Managers often assume that increasing sales will lead to higher morale, ignoring the fact that low morale makes it harder, even impossible, to increase sales. The result is a classic "chicken-and-egg" situation where everyone waits for things to improve while they become less and less inclined to improve them.
Why people believe it: When sales are poor, a hopeless atmosphere easily spreads throughout the organization. People start complaining about the economy, competitors, management, or any external factor they can blame for their failures.
The truth: Morale improves when employees believe that sales will improve. To build this belief, managers must: 1) articulate a clear long-term goal, 2) have the sales team realistically test whether that goal is achievable, which will benefit each team member, and 3) redefine the goal as a series of practical steps that everyone believes are achievable. Note: This initiative must have the support of senior management, or it will die midway.
Misconception #5: Managers should put customers first
Why it's a misconception: When managers preach and practice this long-standing axiom, they neglect their employees, the people responsible for building and nurturing customer relationships. Customers quickly learn that by making demands to the manager, they can bypass the sales representative and get what they want, leading to poor morale, high turnover, and dissatisfied customers.
Why people believe it: Countless "customer-centric" books and lectures make it difficult to distinguish between employees who actually work on customers (like salespeople) and those who support the people who work on customers (like sales managers).
The truth: Managers must put their own employees first. Managers should communicate regularly and comprehensively with their employees and help them when they communicate with customers. Managers should never undermine their employees' authority to handle customer issues.
Misconception #6: Top performers define management competence
Why it's a misconception: Managers often view their top performers as an indicator of how successful they are as sales managers, even though the individual's success is more likely a reflection of that person's drive and ability, whether they were already excellent when hired or were developed by the manager, rather than a benefit brought by the manager.
Why people believe it: Sales teams are often success-oriented and create "stars." While such stars are usually born, not made, it is understandable that sales management is willing to take some credit for recruiting and developing them.
The truth: The worst performers define management competence. The worst performer on the sales team precisely illustrates what the manager will accept, because that person is still on the team. Moreover, the worst performer is a burden to the rest of the team, who clearly know they must work harder to compensate for the manager's willingness to tolerate underperformers.
Misconception #7: Most of management is common sense
Why it's a misconception: When we view the solution to anything as common sense, we often don't take it seriously, assuming our common sense will see us through. The result is that the same problems plague us month after month, year after year, because managers rely on "common sense" to solve them.
Why people believe it: The belief in common sense as a panacea always results in intellectual laziness. It wrongly assumes that people with "common sense" will make the right decisions, and this all-purpose belief in common sense is always the result of intellectual laziness. It wrongly assumes that people with "common sense" will make the right decisions, while those with real expertise will act like impractical nerds.
The truth: Good management requires a complex and diverse set of skills. To get the best out of employees, managers must understand their people and their interests.