12 Critical Behaviours to Managing a Successful Sales Team

Critical Behaviour #1: You HAVE TO Recognise the Massive Difference Between Selling and Managing People Who Sell

I stuck this on the TOP of the list for a reason. It’s because it's just Not optional.

(BTW - You can sign up to receive the rest of the email series and get the other 11 Critical Behaviours at this link: 12 Critical Behaviours to Managing a Successful Sales Team Email Series )

Most people who move into a sales team management position (though not all) have already proven themselves as fairly successful salespeople in their own right.

Sales managers are usually people who have always had a clear vision for themselves … but have never really had to care that much about the vision of others.

Which is why newly promoted salespeople are more comfortable referring to their instructions as “my plan” or “my strategy” or our "new direction” rather than as a sales target that needs to be hit by living, breathing human beings.

You can sit there and judge me on that and tell me I’m wrong if you like. You can say my view on new sales managers is off the mark, old school and cold.

Well, let me tell you - it’s not. It’s just that I have the luxury of looking at the sales world with a certain degree of detachment.

It’s just what happens when someone is taken from a job that they’re really good at - and then expected to jump onto a treadmill that’s set on full sprint mode – with an immediate requirement for them to start running - or fall down flat and fly off the back.

You don't have time to re-set - you just GO

This is incredibly important to recognise. And necessary.

Sales managers tend to be incredibly loyal and hard-working people – but they find it a wee bit hard to let go of certain "important" jobs that really need doing - that actually aren’t their jobs to do anymore.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

I know - that you know - how hard a sales job really is. How much effort it takes to make the whole thing look “effortless”.

You’ve got the scars. You already know the things that junior salespeople are yet to find out.

That knowledge - and personal accountability - means sales leaders like to be the one in control of any vehicle they’re travelling in.

'Cos there’s nothing scarier than being driven on a motorway at full speed - by someone who turns to you and says - "You know, I've never had a driving lesson in my life!"

Which is why so many new sales managers keep doing so much of the work that is no longer theirs to do.

On the other hand, there’s almost nothing more exciting, pride-filling and joy-inducing than smashing a sales target all by yourself.

Great salespeople tend to work alone when they're testing their campaigns and strategies. We spend our time mixing words and actions until it all starts to pay dividends - like a mad alchemist in a laboratory creating impossible gold.

We spend half a career working out what works and what doesn’t.

Many times, our ideas just didn’t work - which is why it takes a special kind of person to keep pushing on - someone with a fabulous capacity for reinvention, determination and curiosity.

Which reminds me of lots of friends who are musicians, actors and artists.

They also spend hours sweating over tiny details – stuff that you would never know had been laboured on when you get to witness the - perfect - end result.

However “artists” are somewhat less inclined to care about the commercial aspect of what they are putting together.

Art is so much more of a “it’s my true calling” kind of thing than most aspects of business.

And there’s loads more pressure to do it for the LOVE than there is in most other disciplines (although there are many unsuccessful salespeople and sales managers who cover up their inactivity by telling themselves - and others - that they stay in their industry just 'cos they love it.)

Successful sales leaders know they have a job to do.

It's us that have to make sure the sales target gets hit - because the wages for everyone in the company (including ours) depends on it.

Most of you (especially the people I tend to work with) are selling something that really helps people, something exciting, something of high quality and brilliant value.

You have every reason to be enthused about the amazing people you work with, your products and your service levels.

None of that changes when you move from a sales job to managing sales people.

The biggest PROBLEM with moving into a sales management position - is that no one tells you what a lonely and isolating role it can be. And left alone, we get lost in our own assumptions. We become victims of the limitations of our current capabilities.

We think the hard graft that got us to this point in our career will carry us to the next point. So we just get busier and busier - sucked down into the thick end of thin things.

Many, perhaps most, people who get promoted into a sales leadership role – were people who pulled themselves up to that position with only a little bit of help from others.

Some of us were lucky to have one or two mentors we could use as a sort of template to copy and lean on - but on the whole - we got here on our own merits.

We had to have a tunnel-vision, we had to create our own career path and hit our own sales targets (‘cos sales is definitely not the team sport so many make it out to be).

Which is why it’s such a tough job to get us to reach out for a bit of help when we need it.

We are used to shouldering individual responsibility. And we have an inner voice that tells us stuff like….

“I’ve been given this job to do, so I’m the one that’s going to get out there and get it done. I’ve just got to get everyone to see - that what's important to me - is important to them too. We can’t afford to get this wrong. The team are counting on me.”

(By the by - if your team are counting on YOU - then you really need to get some help - proper quick.)

Because you MUST move away from the individuality of your old sales role.

And recognise the DIFFERENT kind of individuality that your new role requires.

You have moved from being one of many - to the ONE slightly aside and a little bit up from the many.

That is the reality you need to embrace.

You must. This is not optional.

And it should never be “oh, let’s see how this goes – I’m pretty sure I know what I’m doing.”

No, you need to grow that little bit more - NOW.

And when you DO recognise that this isn’t the same sales paradigm you were living through before, you need to seek out the highest-quality information you can lay your hands on.

This means that if all the information that you consume is free or cheap, the bar is too low.

There are LOTS of free / cheap places to go get your advice from.

And if that’s how you’re building your strategy, you’ll only find and hear things you want to hear – stuff that will validate your current beliefs – stuff that will move you no further forward than you are now - and leave you to struggle with identical issues (although dressed up differently) time and time again.

If you’re content with standing still financially and commercially - while living through some kind of sales management groundhog day - then stick with free or cheap.

If you want to take yourself and your team to greater things, it’s going to cost some money.

It is so true that – in a couple of years from now - you’ll be the amalgamation of the information you took on board and the people you hung out with. Your income, your intelligence, your happiness, and your network will be a creation of the direction you pointed yourself in from today.

So – ask yourself – “who is guiding me to the destination that I want to arrive at?”

'Cos - when you start spending time with people who have already lived through your current situation - people who can show you how to navigate your way successfully through to the other side - it will feel like a weight is being lifted from you.

There is something comforting about it, a dissipation of stress - and once you recognise that genuine help exists from people who actually care, that sense of relief just makes you…. HAPPIER.

I have a client (and friend) who says that referring to my work as "sales training" doesn't do it justice.

Every time we spend time together, he always has some kind of lightbulb moment that carves a more effective solution to one of his current problems.

When you get yourself on a great sales management masterclass or embark on a series of one-to-one sessions with someone you can trust - that weight will get lifted from you too.

You'll go home so much more sure of yourself - and your plan - than you were before.

Your ability to point yourself, and your team, in the right direction will have gone up an extra notch.

It’s like cleaning the mud off your windscreen with your wipers and a spray of water when you're driving.

Everything becomes clearer.

Perfect vision regained.

That’s what it feels like to run a sales team AFTER you’ve taken advice from an experienced guide.

If you’ve not been to an event like that already, you’re missing out on something VITAL.

There are two simple ways to do that with me:

1. The Sales Leadership Masterclasses. I do these throughout the UK and - from time to time - in different parts of the world.

Not so long ago, Trevor Campbell joined me on this masterclass and kindly wrote:

“I went to the Management Masterclass last week after months of putting it off. I wished I had gone a lot sooner. Sales Management explained in a simple, thoughtful and relaxed way while challenging misconceptions you've carried for years. Don't put it off any longer, a day well spent!”

Cheers Trevor ??

You can read more feedback from people who have attended the Sales Leadership Masterclass - and get a better idea of the full day’s content - at this link HERE

2. My 1 to 1 Coaching Sessions - take place either on-line or in person (I always prefer in person where possible). However - you should know - I only work with around 12 people each year on a 1:1 basis, so I maintain a waiting list for people who wish to do so.

To pop yourself on the waiting list, email Sarah ([email protected]) ?- and she will put you on the notification list.

You know, I personally read content and attend events that inform me on subjects that are way out of my comfort zone, to continuously remind myself how much I still have to learn.

You should do the same. Make sure you go check out all my old newsletter posts, articles, podcast recordings and videos until you stop hearing or learning anything new.

And if you decide for some reason that my stuff is not for you - then you should unsubscribe and find someplace else to go hang out – but do it quickly and go there often.

Email Sarah ([email protected]) to get on the notification lists for either of the above options - just let her know which one you're interested in.

I look forward to catching up with you soon

Chris

PS: You can sign up to receive the rest of the email series and get the other 11 Critical Behaviours at this link: 12 Critical Behaviours to Managing a Successful Sales Team Email Series