Sales Management Strategies

Sales management strategies of the world's best sales managers may surprise you. They are pretty much exactly the opposite--at least two strategies are--of what all the other managers do.

I have spent my life trying to uncover these sales management strategies; to learn how it is that some sales teams can thrive and grow at incredible rates while others--with the best of intentions and sincere effort--can't seem to figure it out.

The results of this life quest have been worth the effort, and are chronicled in my book, "The Perfect SalesForce: Best Practices of the World's Best Sales Teams". I have discovered that there are six practices that the world's top performing sales teams do differently. This article covers one of those practices: the sales management strategies of the world's top sales managers.

Top managers do two things differently, and these two things occupy 80% of their typical day. These two things are:

1. They police results, rather than activities.
2. They develop their employees' strengths, rather than trying to correct (train) weaknesses.

1. Policing Results, Not Activities.

A result-managed environment is a superior way to run a sales team, but the structure must be understood. Rather than endlessly asking the team how many calls were made or how many quotes were sent our or how many meetings were attended this week--top managers police each salesperson's results only.

The fact is every company I have worked with had two top salespeople who reached the top via very different work ethics and sales practices. Enforcing selling activities therefore doesn't make a lot of sense, since different activities work for different selling styles and work ethics. But as long as everyone reaches the desired level of productivity, who cares?

The world's best sales teams have learned how to support and develop everyone's unique style and approach, while still maintaining fair and common conditions and opportunities for all. As mentioned above, this requires a particular understanding (contained in the report below).

2. Develop Strengths, Not Weaknesses.

This is the most common mistake made by managers today. The vast majority of managers try to augment performance (through training, coaching, support, etc.) in the areas that salespeople are weakest. It sounds logical after all; see where help is needed and then get help. Why train a strength when it's already... well, a strength?

The trouble is, the largest study ever done on natural talent proved beyond any doubt that training a weakness almost never increases performance and if it does, the increase is marginal at best. Getting additional strengths training however, raises performance substantially.

Read the full report (8 pages is a bit long for a Squidoo page...) by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.