Prediction #1: Sales Managers Receive the Enablement they Deserve

By Mary Shea, Global Innovation Evangelist at Outreach

Sales managers have one of the most difficult roles in the go-to-market organization. Often promoted from within their own company, the journey from star individual contributor to sales manager can be tough.?

While on the learning curve, newly minted managers go from running their own “book,” making big variable commissions and forecasting for one, to rolling out territories, leading compensation conversations, and forecasting for 5–7 team members.

In addition to the well-documented challenges sales managers face, they now must be adept at using technology to increase their leverage, and they need skills to analyze data to inform coaching actions.?

In a recently commissioned study conducted by Forrester on behalf of Outreach, respondents said the most valuable attribute in a sales manager is their ability to consume, analyze, and act on data, yet only 30% said their managers have mastered this skill.1????????????????????????????????????????????????

Similar to other roles, the sales manager’s role is changing. As top-tier organizations wrestle for talent, soft skills such as creating a supportive team environment, being attuned to mental health, and hiring and retaining diverse talent will be more important than ever.

Sales managers have historically been under-supported, but in 2022 sales managers will finally get the training and enablement they deserve.?

73% of our respondents said they have or plan to invest in upskilling and reskilling their sales managers in the next 12 months.1

Set your managers up for success in 2022:

• Tune manager enablement to reflect the role’s new responsibilities
• Acquire tools to make managers more effective coaches
• Align a portion of manager compensation to team retention

Want to skip ahead? Review Mary Shea’s five sales and marketing predictions for 2022 on the Outreach blog.?

1. Base: 212 sales leaders in various industries across North America and the UK.

Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Outreach, B2B Leaders Usher In A New Era Of Sales, December 2021