Focus on Sales Managers First
Chris Taylor
Founder B2B Software GTM Consultancy | Operations Executive | Scaling Hyper-Growth | US Navy Veteran | Angel Investor
With few exceptions, every B2B sales program puts enormous focus on ramping new hire sales and technical sales resources at the individual contributor level. Sales managers are put through the exact same process with very little specialization. What's missing (beyond specialized training for managers) is early, meaningful collaboration with existing sales managers as a way to gather their opinions, gain their buy in, and to create co-execution of sales strategy.
"Manager first" gets validated when I check in with a new rep and ask about their success to date, their execution of fundamental processes, and knowledge of the company's core messaging, "I know you said it is important but, frankly, my manager never asks me about that stuff." I'm disheartened to say the least. How did things go so wrong? It happened because the focus was on the new hire and not true coach and mentor: The sales manager. We spend enormous time on the rank and file yet we miss out on making sure sales managers are helping with execution.
Why? Because there are more of them and it's an alluring approach? Because the more junior folks will nod and smile no matter what we say? Hard to know in each case, ther are reasons to fix this problem immediately, and I've put them in two groups:
Positives for thinking "manager first":
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Negatives for thinking "manager first":
Call to action? Think "manager first" in all opportunities to create or improve your way of selling. Get their alignment before any launch. Sit with them through the the use of anything new or updated. This is a time consuming but critical part of helping a sales team to perform. It's a numbers game and working through managers rather than every single account manager gives you a massive numerical advantage.