The 7 Signs of a BAD Sales Manager

Let's be honest here...

A lot of problems within the sales industry boil down to?BAD sales managers.

Ok, you could argue that it goes higher to CEO's and VP's, and whilst they have the ultimate responsibility, it's the sales manager that often makes the biggest positive or negative impact on the sales team.

Great sales managers?are often the key to success for a business, and bad sales managers can be the anchor weighing them down and holding the business back from success.

In this newsletter article we're going to share the?7 SIGNS?of a bad sales manager, and what you can do to avoid them and be the best darn manager possible!

Lets dig in:

Number 1 - They Hire The WRONG Sales People

The first sign of a bad sales manager is that they're hiring the wrong people into sales roles.

They're often the type of person when interviewing who throws the over-used "sell me this pen" question.?

Then when the interviewee starts spewing made up features and benefits of the imaginary pen, they accept that answer as good! They don't actually know how to interview salespeople or what to look for in good salespeople. If the interviewee can "talk the talk" they're often guaranteed to get the role.

They don't check references, they don't challenge any of the claims within the CV, they just ask the same questions, not actually listening to the answer, and then make a choice on whether they like the person or not.

Then, a few months later, they blame the?SALESPERSON?for not achieving their KPI's or targets and have the sack them. A waste of time, money and often has a negative impact on the rest of the team as well.

Number 2 - The Lead From BEHIND Their Desk

One of the worst signs of a bad Sales Manager is that they spend most of their time "managing" from behind their desk. They spend a lot of their day doing supposed "admin", often just scrolling through LinkedIn or sending meaningless emails.

They'll surface every few hours to pace around the office, ask what's coming in, shout at a few people then return to the safety and comfort of their desk. They won't have done any selling in years and purely focus on numbers.

Number 3 - They NEVER Train Their Sales Reps

They'll either use the excuse that they are scared that if they train their reps, they will leave, or that they don't have the budget for it. Either way, they never train their team, they may possibly give them a 1-day induction when they start but that will consist mainly of product training.

There is also a second batch of?BAD?Sales Managers who do train their sales team, but they not the right way. They invest in trainers and provide it for their team but they then do?NOTHING?after the training. They simply use the training as a tick box exercise, just so they can say that they?DID?provide training.

EXTRA BAD SALES MANAGER TRAIT - - - - >

An extension to this trait is not only do they not train their salespeople, but they also don't provide them with the?right tools and resources, for example not providing them with an easy to use and decent CRM!?

A lot of sales teams struggle with their CRM's because they're complicated or not well-designed for salespeople. This is why we recommend?Pipedrive, it's the CRM built BY salespeople FOR salespeople. Voted the No.1 easiest to use CRM and loved by over 100,000 companies worldwide, it's the CRM that actually helps sales teams and companies sell more.?

Pipedrive?is a world leading CRM for user reviews, customer satisfaction and ease of use.?You can check it out for yourself or for your sales team?right here.?(If you follow any link in this newsletter you'll get 30-days to try it completely free and if you do like it and want to keep using it, you'll also get a whopping 20% discount on your entire first year)

Number 4 - They Always Put Too Much PRESSURE On Their Sales Reps

Whether it's setting huge targets, constantly micro-managing, or barking orders all day long, they put an immense amount of (often unnecessary) pressure, on the team. If the VP of Sales, Sales Director or CEO puts pressure on the Sales Manager, they'll come right back into the office and put all of that pressure on the sales team.

Have you closed that account yet? Why not? Why didn't you do this? What didn't you do that? They're also the type of manager who will say on a regular basis "If you don't hit your target this month I don't know if you'll have a job next month", always threatening the team with their jobs unless they hit their numbers.

Some pressure is normal in sales, but bad sales managers take it to a whole new level.

Number 5 - They Don't COACH Their Sales Reps

Bad Sales Managers will be very quick to?TELL?their sales teams what to do but will very rarely (if ever)?SHOW?them what to do. They never jump on the phones and make sales calls with their reps, they never sit and construct emails with their reps, they never jump on LinkedIn and social sell with their reps.

They certainly never listen to sales calls to see what opportunities might exist or where salespeople missed opportunities, they read their emails or check their social activity.

Number 6 - They Are EMOTIONALLY Unstable

They're often angry, stressed, in a state of panic, but then sometimes they're happy and bouncing off the walls. Most of the sales team live on the edge wondering what mood the sales manager will be in each day. Will they come in a good mood? Will they come in a bad mood?

When it's good, boy is it good! They make you feel amazing, they excitable, positive, and full of optimism. When it's bad, however, oh my! Everyone is failing, nothing is acceptable, everyone's jobs are at risk and everyone is getting shouted at.

Number 7 - They Hold Their Sales People BACK

The last sign is that they hold their sales reps back from progression. The fear that someone within their team will become better or more popular than they are and that they will then take their job.

They put them down, make them feel less important and not valuable, and never support their growth or progression. And there it is, the 7 signs of?BAD?Sales Manager!

Our advice? If you want to be a?GOOD?Sales Manager do the opposite of these 7 things!

1. Hire the?RIGHT?people into your sales roles. Have a much more rigorous hiring process.
2. Lead?ALONGSIDE?your sales reps. Make calls with them, sell with them.
3. Invest in?TRAINING?for your team. Help make them the best they can be.
4. Don't put pressure on, take it?AWAY. Empower your team and support them.
5. Become a great?COACH?to your reps. Show them and coach them to succeed.
6. Be?RELIABLE?and dependable to your team. They shouldn't see you stressed.
7. Push your salespeople?FORWARD. If they succeed, you succeed.

There are some amazing sales managers out there who truly stand behind their teams and lead them to success.

If you have one of those amazing sales managers give them a tag in the comments and let's give them some praise!

Now the BEST sales managers make sure their sales team is using the best CRM, which if you work in sales you should know is Pipedrive...

That's why we are incredibly proud to work with?Pipedrive, one of the world's best CRM's used by over 100,000+ companies in 179 countries.?You can try it for free right here.?The best sales managers choose Pipedrive because it is DESIGNED for sales teams and has been voted the easiest to use CRM.

They normally offer 14-day free trial but if you follow one of our links in this newsletter you'll be able to get an?extended?30-day free trial and as a bonus, if you choose to use?Pipedrive?after your trial, you'll get?20% discount?on your first year (that's a pretty amazing offer if we're honest!).

If you're potentially interested in trying?Pipedrive?out, we have a few extra resources that might help:

VIDEO -?The 5 best features of Pipedrive CRM

ATICLE -?10 reasons salespeople LOVE Pipedrive CRM

VIDEO -?Import prospect details instantly from LinkedIn using Pipedrive

ARTICLE -?Why salespeople are switching from their current CRM to Pipedrive CRM