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How to Be a Great Sales Manager

Great sales managers are few and far between, but that doesn’t meant that they don’t exist.  While some sales managers are merely top sales guys who got promoted and are awful at management, there are always a few who “get” that sales management isn’t about selling.  Instead, a sales manager has to play six key roles:

Role #1: Coach. Sales managers must help sales pros develop, not just basic selling skills, but the business acumen required to understand larger business issues.  They must identify ways to expand each individual’s ability to contribute to the overall sales effort.

Role #2: Strategist. Sales managers must use their experience and perspective to have guide the sales process, warn of potential problems in the customer account, and provide tactical assistance during specific sales situations.

Role #3: Politician. Sales managers must know how to effectively marshal the internal resources, both inside and outside the sales team, that will be required to ensure that the opportunity proceeds apace.  They must be able to intervene when other groups block sales.

Role #4: Communicator.  Sales managers must communicate the needs of the sales team to the rest of the organization.  Sales managers must ensure that the most important opportunities get priority, and help the company use its limited resources wisely.

Role #5: Educator. Sales managers must ensure that the entire company learns from both its wins and losses,  And they must ensure that credit for both wins and losses is shared among all contributing organizations, without creating either heroes or scapegoats.

Role #6: Recruiter. Sales managers must be able to locate and attract personnel who have the raw talent to sell.  They must take the time to build a “stable” of potential candidates and stay constantly “plugged in” to the pool of available talent.

While understanding how to sell can help a sales manager plays those roles, none of those roles are about selling.  They’re about building a team, managing that team and making the team productive.
Sales managers who “get” that create sales teams that win.  Sales managers who don’t generally make everyone working for them are miserable.