What Makes a Good Sales Manager?

Author: Nick Evered , COO, Sales Innovation

So, for this context, I am talking about front-line Sales Managers: the people who are directly managing Sales Reps in their day-to-day, working very closely with each individual. I am not talking about Sales Leaders, Sales Directors, VPs, etc, which is a very different topic and one I shall leave until later.

I have spent many years in Sales and seen many Sales Managers, both good and bad. I was recently asked what makes a good Sales Manager. At the time I gave a quick, off-the-cuff response - I don’t really remember what it was but I am sure it was pretty shallow. Subsequently, I have thought about it quite a lot as it’s such a vital position in any sales team. I have delved into my experience, especially when being managed by one. Well, I can start with a simple statement - I was not easy to manage! I am hoping that no manager from my history decides to chime in with a comment. Maybe I can head that off as many adjectives come to mind that have been used in my appraisals, but I will just leave it with my mother’s term from when I was very young - wilful! A dictionary definition - having or showing a stubborn and determined intention to do as one wants, regardless of the consequences. Hmmm, not sure of the “consequences” bit.

Persistence, determination, focus, drive, intelligence and even charisma are some raw characteristics that I believe are important in a Sales Rep. But to be good, you need others such as patience, empathy, discipline, inquisitiveness, communication, reliability and consistency. In fact, these are many of the characteristics and skills that ensure the rep really understands that any action has consequences, both good and bad. Then, the rep shall use actions to achieve the consequences that will help close the deal. So here it is, this is what a good Sales Manager does: provide day-to-day support, guidance, training and cadence to take those raw characteristics, then refine and hone them while developing the others necessary to become a good, if not great, rep.

So, what makes a good Sales Manager? Of course, they need the same characteristics as the rep so they can teach by demonstration, but more than that, they need to have a core personal objective to make every rep who works for them the best rep they can be. The Sales Manager’s success is not determined by achieving the team’s target, for he can do that through one big deal managed by himself or by getting one or two reps to reach those goals. Instead, the Sales Manager’s success is measured by how many of their reps they get to achieve the target and make it to the club. The more reps that feel successful, the better the sales team is going to be, and the better their collective performance will be.